Starbucks Reddit Wishes You'd Stop Asking For This Bagel Request
If you've ever ordered a pastry or breakfast item from Starbucks, you know that the barista always asks if you'd like it warmed up. As for a bagel, they'll certainly toast it for you, but they won't offer to spread the cream cheese. That's apparently like asking the McDonald's cashier to squeeze a ketchup pack onto your Big Mac.
For most folks, it might be common knowledge that the barista is not there to act as your personal butler, but according to Reddit, some customers have higher expectations. One self-identified barista posted to a Starbucks thread recounting how a customer was shocked to discover that her bagel didn't come with the cream cheese already spread on, but rather in a packet on the side.
Judging by the comments of other employees on the thread, customer entitlement of this sort is common and has become a running joke behind the counter. "Sometimes I go into the lobby and cradle the customers while they sip their iced coffee," one proclaimed barista wrote. A reported store manager then added, "We have a palm leaf we use to fan the customers on hot days!"
Not all Starbucks stores present customers with cream cheese packets
While some Starbucks Redditors were just as appalled by the cream cheese request as the barista who posted about it, a handful justified that the customer may have been from New York or New Jersey, where stores and bakeries typically serve bagels with cream cheese already spread on. "When I moved to the west coast and ordered a bagel from Starbucks it was definitely jarring to me that they just handed me a cup and expected me to put it on myself. Now I'm used to it," a customer shared.
According to Marc Fintz, the business development director of the Davidovich Bakery in Queens, the reason for this regional difference has to do with the amount of cream cheese customers are accustomed to (via Slate). One packet of cream cheese won't seem like nearly enough for a customer who's used to eating New York bagels. There, the cream cheese serving ranges from 0.7 to 3.9 ounces, which may sound like a lot to anyone else, but is designed to "justify the up-charge" of the item, Fintz says.