RSS… I think I prefer Dunkin’ Donuts.
Jan 07
Why Starbucks Sucks Comments Off
If I am paying four or five dollars for a cup of coffee I like my server to be polite. When I walk into Starbucks, Peet’s or Espresso Royale I like to be greeted with a smile… or at the very least, simply greeted. I like someone to take my order in a timely fashion and actually make eye contact with me. Hey, I hate my job too… but I’m still smiling and wishing you a nice day when I order my drink at 7:30am, Ms. Barista, so I’d like the same courtesy.
When I’m the 20th person in line at a Dunkin’ Donuts or McDonald’s during the morning rush and enter the shop as 3 buses have just emptied outside, I don’t expect my server to smile, be polite, or wish me a nice day. I am just happy for them to shout “Next!” and hand my coffee over in a matter of seconds. Is this a double standard? Perhaps, but you get what you pay for. For $.99, you’re shouted at and your coffee is slid to you across a greasy counter; for $4.59, perhaps you could be treated well and spoken to like a human being. Right?
Well, things seem to be a reversed here in Harvard Square. I visit the Church Street Starbucks 3-5 times a week. Each day I wait in line for at least 5 minutes. Each day I am at the counter for at least a minute before someone even looks at me (despite there being three or four people running around behind the counter). Each day, even though I order the same drink from the same girl, my order is not remembered. Rarely do the baristas smile, make eye contact, or wish me a nice day (all three of which, by the way, are things baristas are told they must do). They seem inconvenienced to be there, angry that I’m using a debit card, and completely just fed up with life in general as they roll their eyes and sigh their way through their shift.
When I began working in the neighborhood I would visit the Dunkin’ Donuts at JFK and Eliot Street every morning. My order was the same every day: a medium black coffee and a reduced fat blueberry muffin (which is cheaper than a triple grande skinny vanilla latte). After about a week one of the women at the counter would see me at the end of the line and have my breakfast ready for me by the time I got to the register. She would smile and say, “Good morning! How are you today? Medium black and low fat blueberry muffin?” I would nod, hand over my $3.31, and she’d smile and say “Goodbye! Have a nice day!”
A few weeks ago, due to a little bit of Christmas debt, I stopped into Dunkin’ Donuts again after about a 6 month haitus. I got off the 86 bus, followed the crowd through the orange doors, and waited in line for no more than a minute. When I got to the register, my old friend greeted me. “Good morning! I haven’t seen you in a long time! Medium black and low fat blueberry muffin?” I love her.
