The Mistake A TikTok Starbucks Employee Wishes Customers Wouldn't Make
Working in customer service can be brutal for those with even the highest mental stamina. The requests and crazy orders alone, especially at places like Starbucks with infinite mix-and-match options, can make employees feel overwhelmed. So clearly, there is no shortage of the list of things customers do that can rub an employee the wrong way or distract them from their job.
Issues with customers can be as simple as the customer shouting at an employee or forgetting to tip. Other problematic customer behaviors veer into the more complex, from those who order time-consuming drinks like frappuccinos to those who confusingly customize their drink with upwards of more than 20 ingredients.
In some cases, it is not even a customer's order that can distract a Starbucks barista, but their actions, like when many a customer takes the wrong drink after an order is made (via BuzzFeed). It just makes the employee's job even more difficult and confusing. And as is the case with many complaints nowadays, a Starbucks employee has taken to TikTok to air yet another customer behavior, one she finds the most aggravating of all.
Don't distract the workers!
In a now viral video, a user named spacekandii took to TikTok in her Starbucks employee uniform to complain about customers who distract her from making their drinks. According to her caption, many customers "talk to me while I'm [at the] bar," which she implies makes it difficult to concentrate on the orders themselves. The caption can be found alongside a video with her mouthing the words to a popular audio: 'Shh, no. Don't say that,' " (via Daily Dot).
Many viewers of the TikTok video jumped at the chance to weigh in and largely agree with her sentiment. One viewer who also works in the service industry noted instances in which customers "come up to the bar and start to order" instead of going to the register where orders are placed. Another mentioned a time when a customer complained about too much ice in a drink only to have to be told they were actually commenting on another customer's beverage. Others who identified themselves as customers commiserated by offering praise to workers like spacekandii, noting, "I got so much respect for sbux baristas when I'm there at 7:30 am they look like they're fighting for their lives." And since another TikTok user pointed out that employees at some locations may risk a reduction of hours or other penalization for not engaging in "meaningful employee/customer" interaction (via Distractify), the social media consensus is that the customers should know when to hold their tongues to protect those working hard to get them their caffeine fix!