A Starbucks barista has shared the customer tactic that typically leads to them giving out free drinks – and it’s incredibly easy.
Coffee shops remain a popular high street haunt and everyone has their favourite, whether it’s one of the many famed chains found all over the country or a quaint independent cafe. Starbucks is arguably one of the most beloved franchises, boasting around 40,000 venues across the globe.
While cafes offer the perfect backdrop for friends to have a quick catch up, for workers to fuel up in the midst of a busy working day, or as a sanctuary to stop and claim a few moments to oneself, this isn’t always the experience of staff.
Working in a customer service role can be very demanding and mitigating the myriad moods of the general public can be something of a minefield. When customers are polite and friendly, it can go a long way in making an employee’s day that bit better – and it may even get you a freebie.
Kindness is key
One Starbucks barista has been left irritated after being slapped with a one-star review off a customer after an interaction they’d envisioned going an entirely different way. On Reddit, they shared a screenshot of the negative review a customer named Emily left about them.
It read: “As someone who came every single day, I will never come here again. My card didn’t work on the app (which is weird [because] I had money) and the guy who checked me out was rude about it and said I needed to hand it back but I could “keep the water for free” [what]??? All over a four dollar drink – y’all lost a lifelong customer.”
Sharing their version of events, the barista explained: “It was at the drive through, she was driving a Tesla. She got a $7 latte and a water. None of her cards worked and then she asked me, ‘I come here everyday, can I just pay for it tomorrow?’, all I said was ‘No.’
“NOTHING ELSE! She gave me the drink back unprompted, because I was actually [going to] let her have it, because she already had it. And I felt bad for her. She gave it back, and drove away. But then a few hours after my shift, someone sent me this. You can’t win being a partner.”
Fellow Starbucks baristas and coffee shop owners were keen to share their thoughts. One person said: “That’s funny because if you’re nice the barista will generally give it to you. I forgot my wallet once and they just gave it to me free. Made a regular for life because of that. You know she was annoying if they asked for the drink back lol.”
The original poster replied: “My intention was to just give it to her since she already had it. But now that I see who she really is, I’m so glad I didn’t.”
Someone else shared: “I actually had a barista pay for my drink once, because I had planned on using my cash due to my card being left at home. Turns out I was short a dollar and the barista said ‘I gotchu’ and paid for the rest. I’m still trying to catch him on a shift so I can buy him a drink!”
