Fare thee well, Starbucks!
Today was my last day working at Starbucks (T___T). The last thing I did was to have a review with my manager -- I got top scores, w00t! It was a series of saying goodbye to co-workers and customers the past few days. I think I'm going to curl up in my bed and mope now...
It's still too soon to post about my fellow partners and how I'm going to miss them (and miss them already), so I thought I'd post about 12 of my favorite customers as a tribute to them. There are so many more awesome customers... check out the name dump at the end of the post.
Peter & Tom - Iced decaf (sometimes caffeinated) Venti soy no ice latte, and iced single Venti unsweetened no ice iced coffee. You two were among the first who got to know me by name, and are always so pleasant whenever I see you in the morning, even when it sometimes takes 2783543 minutes to get your drinks out. I'll never get to tell you this, but the $10 "goodbye present" you gave me last Friday allowed me to buy food (instead of having expired Starbucks pastries) for dinner. I hope to do the same to another barista in the future.
Justin & Mike - Venti drip for Mike. Justin, you're the only iced Venti unsweetened dome lid iced coffee customer who I don't mind seeing at the condiment bar filling up his dome lid-drink with milk à la ghetto latte style, because the random tips you and Mike leave us more than cover for the extra milk. I nearly bawled when you wished me "good luck with everything" (in a Have a Good Life way) yesterday.
Casey - Triple Grande nonfat latte. You bring us cupcakes! Donuts! Candies! Chocolate you make at your job during the crazy Easter season! I know there are a ton of pastries at my store, but yours somehow always taste better, because you took the time to remember us baristas and pack goodies for us.
Grande Red Eye Guy I never learned the name of - You win the patient customer award. When you came back for your second cup of Grande Red Eye the other day, and it was the later morning team on bar that didn't know your drink, you just stood there waiting patiently until I slid over from CBS, saw no Grande Red Eye anywhere in the drink queue, and asked: "Uh... you're waiting for your usual, right?" Even then, you just said yes and waited another minute until I grabbed you your drink. You put all the "where's my drink? I wannit now!" customers to shame. And you tip well too. You rock.
Allie: - My favorite large order (every time) customer. You're always so understanding of us for the amount of time it takes to get your multiple drinks, pastries, DTR items, and breakfast sandwiches out, thanking everyone at least 10-12 times from register to bar. You're an absolutely breath of fresh air compared to all the people who never thought to take the time to look a barista in the eye, smile, and offer up a sincere Thank You.
The adorable old man who orders Venti drips at 6 in the morning - There's never a need to apologize for being slow when you hunt down the 28 cents (used to be 17, heh) so that you'll get dollar bills back for your change, and then proceed to drop $1 for our tip, even doing the same for 54-cent refills. You're definitely a customer who tips with class!
Mike: - Venti coffee with lots of room and RF Blueberry coffee cake with a fork. I know not everyone likes "street folks" staying half the day at the store all the time, but you're courteous, observant, and always so pleasant to the baristas. I take pride in doing a good spin and keeping the condiment stands stocked and clean, and it means so much to me that you notice, and took the extra step that one time to tell me how much you appreciated having me to keep the café area clean every morning.
Robert: - Grande (sometimes vanilla, sometimes cinnamon, sometimes plain) coffee and lots and lots of pastries/sandwiches. You are loud and obnoxious and socially awkward, but we love you for that. As my fellow partner N once said: "Robert's my homeboy." I like hearing your geeky technology ramblings about YouTube videos, cell phone downloads, and the new Apple iPhone (well, I guess now it's all about the iTouch) - even times when you're keeping the 392478 customers waiting behind you, who would get more and more impatient by the moment. Truth is, I was a bit sad when you changed your job and can only visit our store once or twice a week instead of every day.
S (your name's too unique to post publicly): Triple Venti almond nonfat no foam latte. It took time, but I finally got your drink down. And because of you, I decided to try almond syrup for the first time a few months ago, and proceeded to fall in love with it (and other variations that make my drink taste like cherry). Yum!
Rose: - Venti six-pump chai soy no water extra foamy chai latte. I'm flattered that you like the way I make your drink and always ask for me to remake it whenever it doesn't taste right the first time (even though that usually causes much disruption to our deployment, but I won't go into detail here). I think I've finally figured out what you really mean is 7 to 8 pumps of chai, and you like medium- to big-bubbled soy foams. Since you're always so nice to me, I'm willing to make bad foam I'd otherwise cringe at just for you.
Andrea: - Venti 13-pumps vanilla breve extra hot (absolutely) no foam flat-lid vanilla latte. You're the only customer I'm willing to come out to the floor in the middle of my break to make your drink for, and I don't mean this as an underhanded complaint. You're always willing to take the time to make conversations with me when I'm working at bar, and I'll continue to miss that.
Amy: - Triple Venti nonfat latte. You told me you're going to miss me, and I know you really will, because you've asked and genuinely cared about the five or six partners who have moved on to other stores/jobs before me over the past few months. Sorry to add myself to the line of yet another barista you won't be seeing anymore, but I do appreciate your well wishes for me very, very much.
I lied, here's #13: Joan & Dean: - two Grande nonfat lattes. I never see you together, since you seem to take turns buying drinks for each other. It took me about 6 months to figure out you're a couple. When I tell Dean I was leaving, and he said, "Yeah, my wife told me that and was so sad." -- hey, I'm a big enough dot on the radar of your lives to make your day-to-day conversation! I'm sad to see you both sad, but thanks for the well wishes and hopefully I'll bump into you on the street just like I saw Joan walking on Broadway last time.
And the others: - Morgan, Peter (the "Grande Mocha Peter"), Karis, the Venti iced/hot coffee Chinese guy who works for ConEd, Tiffany, Bob, George, J.B., Jessica, Anibal, Grande coffee lady who works at Food Emporium and whose name begins with an M, Sadir, Grande two teabags black tea (and sometimes a plain bagel) lady, Jim, Amanda, Venti (sometimes iced) extra chai chai latte guy, Charles, Grande w/refill lady who always wears a bandana, chai latte Amy, Kevin, triple espresso guy, iced 1/3 decaf triple espresso Erin, chai latte Erin, Heidi, Venti iced coffee Mike, Jeff, Rob, James, Grande Americano Dan, iced triple Grande nonfat latte Dan, Bob, Sarah, Venti no ice iced coffee customer #1 and #2, Katie, Liz, Laurie, Eric, Michael, Larry, Tall coffee with a cup of ice guy, Teresa, Tall Zen tea with a flat lid guy, and the many tens of brewed coffee and iced coffee customers whom I only know by face...
Well, there you go. Positive customer stories and good memories for me to leave the 'Bux with :)
It's still too soon to post about my fellow partners and how I'm going to miss them (and miss them already), so I thought I'd post about 12 of my favorite customers as a tribute to them. There are so many more awesome customers... check out the name dump at the end of the post.
Peter & Tom - Iced decaf (sometimes caffeinated) Venti soy no ice latte, and iced single Venti unsweetened no ice iced coffee. You two were among the first who got to know me by name, and are always so pleasant whenever I see you in the morning, even when it sometimes takes 2783543 minutes to get your drinks out. I'll never get to tell you this, but the $10 "goodbye present" you gave me last Friday allowed me to buy food (instead of having expired Starbucks pastries) for dinner. I hope to do the same to another barista in the future.
Justin & Mike - Venti drip for Mike. Justin, you're the only iced Venti unsweetened dome lid iced coffee customer who I don't mind seeing at the condiment bar filling up his dome lid-drink with milk à la ghetto latte style, because the random tips you and Mike leave us more than cover for the extra milk. I nearly bawled when you wished me "good luck with everything" (in a Have a Good Life way) yesterday.
Casey - Triple Grande nonfat latte. You bring us cupcakes! Donuts! Candies! Chocolate you make at your job during the crazy Easter season! I know there are a ton of pastries at my store, but yours somehow always taste better, because you took the time to remember us baristas and pack goodies for us.
Grande Red Eye Guy I never learned the name of - You win the patient customer award. When you came back for your second cup of Grande Red Eye the other day, and it was the later morning team on bar that didn't know your drink, you just stood there waiting patiently until I slid over from CBS, saw no Grande Red Eye anywhere in the drink queue, and asked: "Uh... you're waiting for your usual, right?" Even then, you just said yes and waited another minute until I grabbed you your drink. You put all the "where's my drink? I wannit now!" customers to shame. And you tip well too. You rock.
Allie: - My favorite large order (every time) customer. You're always so understanding of us for the amount of time it takes to get your multiple drinks, pastries, DTR items, and breakfast sandwiches out, thanking everyone at least 10-12 times from register to bar. You're an absolutely breath of fresh air compared to all the people who never thought to take the time to look a barista in the eye, smile, and offer up a sincere Thank You.
The adorable old man who orders Venti drips at 6 in the morning - There's never a need to apologize for being slow when you hunt down the 28 cents (used to be 17, heh) so that you'll get dollar bills back for your change, and then proceed to drop $1 for our tip, even doing the same for 54-cent refills. You're definitely a customer who tips with class!
Mike: - Venti coffee with lots of room and RF Blueberry coffee cake with a fork. I know not everyone likes "street folks" staying half the day at the store all the time, but you're courteous, observant, and always so pleasant to the baristas. I take pride in doing a good spin and keeping the condiment stands stocked and clean, and it means so much to me that you notice, and took the extra step that one time to tell me how much you appreciated having me to keep the café area clean every morning.
Robert: - Grande (sometimes vanilla, sometimes cinnamon, sometimes plain) coffee and lots and lots of pastries/sandwiches. You are loud and obnoxious and socially awkward, but we love you for that. As my fellow partner N once said: "Robert's my homeboy." I like hearing your geeky technology ramblings about YouTube videos, cell phone downloads, and the new Apple iPhone (well, I guess now it's all about the iTouch) - even times when you're keeping the 392478 customers waiting behind you, who would get more and more impatient by the moment. Truth is, I was a bit sad when you changed your job and can only visit our store once or twice a week instead of every day.
S (your name's too unique to post publicly): Triple Venti almond nonfat no foam latte. It took time, but I finally got your drink down. And because of you, I decided to try almond syrup for the first time a few months ago, and proceeded to fall in love with it (and other variations that make my drink taste like cherry). Yum!
Rose: - Venti six-pump chai soy no water extra foamy chai latte. I'm flattered that you like the way I make your drink and always ask for me to remake it whenever it doesn't taste right the first time (even though that usually causes much disruption to our deployment, but I won't go into detail here). I think I've finally figured out what you really mean is 7 to 8 pumps of chai, and you like medium- to big-bubbled soy foams. Since you're always so nice to me, I'm willing to make bad foam I'd otherwise cringe at just for you.
Andrea: - Venti 13-pumps vanilla breve extra hot (absolutely) no foam flat-lid vanilla latte. You're the only customer I'm willing to come out to the floor in the middle of my break to make your drink for, and I don't mean this as an underhanded complaint. You're always willing to take the time to make conversations with me when I'm working at bar, and I'll continue to miss that.
Amy: - Triple Venti nonfat latte. You told me you're going to miss me, and I know you really will, because you've asked and genuinely cared about the five or six partners who have moved on to other stores/jobs before me over the past few months. Sorry to add myself to the line of yet another barista you won't be seeing anymore, but I do appreciate your well wishes for me very, very much.
I lied, here's #13: Joan & Dean: - two Grande nonfat lattes. I never see you together, since you seem to take turns buying drinks for each other. It took me about 6 months to figure out you're a couple. When I tell Dean I was leaving, and he said, "Yeah, my wife told me that and was so sad." -- hey, I'm a big enough dot on the radar of your lives to make your day-to-day conversation! I'm sad to see you both sad, but thanks for the well wishes and hopefully I'll bump into you on the street just like I saw Joan walking on Broadway last time.
And the others: - Morgan, Peter (the "Grande Mocha Peter"), Karis, the Venti iced/hot coffee Chinese guy who works for ConEd, Tiffany, Bob, George, J.B., Jessica, Anibal, Grande coffee lady who works at Food Emporium and whose name begins with an M, Sadir, Grande two teabags black tea (and sometimes a plain bagel) lady, Jim, Amanda, Venti (sometimes iced) extra chai chai latte guy, Charles, Grande w/refill lady who always wears a bandana, chai latte Amy, Kevin, triple espresso guy, iced 1/3 decaf triple espresso Erin, chai latte Erin, Heidi, Venti iced coffee Mike, Jeff, Rob, James, Grande Americano Dan, iced triple Grande nonfat latte Dan, Bob, Sarah, Venti no ice iced coffee customer #1 and #2, Katie, Liz, Laurie, Eric, Michael, Larry, Tall coffee with a cup of ice guy, Teresa, Tall Zen tea with a flat lid guy, and the many tens of brewed coffee and iced coffee customers whom I only know by face...
Well, there you go. Positive customer stories and good memories for me to leave the 'Bux with :)