Hello all!

So I got hired by the 'Bux in late October, and so far I'm enjoying it a fair amount. I spent a few years baristaing in several small coffee shops in NYC, so now working at my shop- in a mall, near DC!- is not so bad. Especially when my last job was me, alone, in a horrid reselling-of-Costco-items "cafe", with my bosses being a squabbling married couple. My new coworkers are all pleasant and my SM is very nice and willing to accommodate, especially with the holidays coming up. My only concern is how we have to basically be open 24 hours from Midnight on Thanksgiving to Midnight on Black Friday. My SM has not given us our schedules for then, but has made mention of his preference to just borrow people from other district stores as opposed to having people who know the store well for opening. >:-/

As an absolute aside, I'm wondering if there are any partners from the NOLA or PDX area with City Mugs in stock? I'm looking for one of each and am really hoping I could get them in time for Christmas presents. I bought two DC mugs, and am willing to trade these or cash for anyone who can procure mugs for me.

So... if I use my partner card AND registered starbucks card I should get my 30% discount + my registered rewards, right?

I bought my double tall pumpkin spice latte at $3.90 and got $1.17 off, so my total was 2.73.

Isn't the rewards program supposed to discount the add-shot as well? (bringing the total from $3.90 back to $3.25, then discounting that total, thus making the total around $2.28?)
(I live in Oregon, mystical land of no-sales-tax.)

I ask because I am poor (I even normally bring in my own cup for the 10cents off! I count on that discount!), and also because I thought that the POS did it automatically. My sbux card is registered (just checked) and I thought we could combine these discounts?


Has anyone else seen the partner discount mean that the rewards program is not applied? Or am I just silly and don't know the card policy?

Thanks!

PS: We just learned about the new star rewards program at our holiday meeting. How awesome is that?! I'm way stoked about it, too!

ETA: aight, my bad. You don't get free add-shots with the rewards program. I just didn't realize that for some reason.

I'm headed out to Vancouver, at the end of January, to be a volunteer at the 2010 Olympics. I have 16 volunteer shifts but will be picking up a handful of shifts at Starbucks - in Richmond, most likely (maybe one in Whistler ..) and was sort of curious about the rate of pay. I'm a barista of 17 months from Ontario. It doesn't really matter how much, because any money I make during that month is better than no money (it's costing me a fortune to do haha) but still curious!

Thanks :)

Hmm...has anyone ever tried a pumpkin spice egg nog latte? I have pumpkin spice egg nog at home and it's delicious!

So, my SM just asked me to ask the community if they put curls on PWMs. We are undecided on whether we are supposed to or not. XD;

Are we supposed to? Or are we doin' it wrong? O:

So remember when we all got postcards in the mailbox about the lawsuit of California partners vs. Starbucks? Has any person here spoken to someone from the law firm? They called me last week but I still haven't called back to speak with them. Kind of just curious to know what they're going to ask me and whatnot. Hoping someone here can let me know what's going on with all this...

My store doesn't sell super great merchandise. We get the basics but we don't get any of the cool stuff some other stores get. My issue is this: christmas rollout happened already. I meant to ask sooner but... did any stores ANYWHERE get cool halloween merchandise? Namely tumblers or mugs. I have a bit of a collection going and I like getting tumblers for myself but totally forgot about halloween.

Does anyone still have any? If you do, can you tell me about it and maybe I could buy them from you. I'd pay for it and all shipping costs.

If not:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/New-Starbucks-Halloween-Coffee-Tumbler-Ghost-Pumpkin_W0QQitemZ320445664276QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4a9c0ccc14
Was this a halloween item? I know the lid says Starbucks but they could have just taken a picture of some other tumbler. Is it nice looking IRL?

This is such a crazy thing to post about but I really do have an obsession.

I got a really cool short tumbler in Toronto this summer. It had animals on it and you could change their heads and bodies and legs around to make a different freakish animal. Any other neat tumblers at your store?

Does anyone know why Starbucks plays different versions of some songs? A couple CDs ago, Ingrid Michaelson's "You and I" was on contemporary grind (I think) and I loved it.  I recently downloaded the song and it sounds different.  I can't find the starbucks version anywhere! Anyone know why? I know this is not the first time I've noticed it with other songs.

Can anyone describe to me the proper way to make an undertow?

During the one year I've been here in Austin, TX, I've only had three requests for them - however, one of those requests happened this morning and it threw the entire morning crew off. When I worked in Houston a few years back they were a common request, but I can't really remember how to do it.

Are there any other cities out there that get requests for these? They might be called different things, but the drink I'm thinking of is (I think) layers of vanilla, cold breve, and then some magic trick of pulling espresso shots over a spoon...?

I expect most baristas already know the majority of the information featured here, but it's still presented in a hella cute way:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/coffee

Not completely bento-related, but I use falafel in my bento's occasionally:

'In Pita made the Foodbuzz Top 9 today! The Foodbuzz Top 9 is a photo-driven collection of top-buzzed posts within the Foodbuzz community.

Check it out here: http://www.foodbuzz.com/top9 and be sure to let your friends know.

You may also see your photo in some of the dynamic Top 9 ads running today in the Foodbuzz community. Congratulations again, and thanks for being a part of Foodbuzz!


Cheers,
The Foodbuzz Editorial Team'

Now, 'in pita' is the title for my picture accompanying my falafel recipe, and this meant that my frikkin' recipe made it into the top 9!
This morning it was 5th, but now it's 4th! Look!

Click to enlarge

-proud momma-

Yes I know we are technically a coffee shop
but espresso does *not* I repeat does *not* belong in certain beverages
i.e.
SBS with matcha and breve....and an add shot
and
single bag grande awake tea with steamed foamy breve....and an add shot

Later in the evening after making these someone ordered an iced grande passion tea with three shots of....
I was about to jump over the counter and tell her "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
until she said raspberry
sigh of relief

Although I've been a partner for a year this month, I'll be working in another store for the first time tonight, while it's staff is having their seasonal meeting. Any advice?

I am looking forward to seeing what it's like in a non-DT store!

Hey... not sure if anyone remembers me. I used to post here for awhile, then peaced out for a bit for various reasons. Anyways, its cool to see a lot of the same people are still around. Speaking of, my 6 year anni at Bux is coming up November 27th....geez.

Anyways, I don't really have any specific to talk about. Well I guess today was funny because my co-worker and I were singing "Rock Your Body" by Justin Timberlake really loudly in chipmunk voices and we heard some customers laughing loudly at us. (our cafe is downstairs and our tills/bar upstairs). It was embarassing/humerous.

Well I'm looking forward to posting again/reading barista shanangins/bitching. I have missed it. :)

Here's a weird question/situation for you. My regular drink used to have anywhere from 2(for a tall) to 5 shots (if not an SDX, which was 6-8), but for the last 2 months I've had some odd experiences with caffeine. Anytime I had even a sip of espresso, I'd almost be floored by dizziness and nausea. Iced coffee soon also became a discomfort. Now I can only have one cup of watered down coffee a day, if that - and even a soda or tea afterwards makes me dizzy. I'm not pregnant and not taking any kind of medications. I'm on the depo provera birth control but I've been on it for 2 years and never felt like that.. the only thing I can say has changed is that I have more frequent headaches, but I think it's from my sleeping habits. Has anyone else experienced anything like this???

 Best moment of my day.

My DTO was taking and order and all of a sudden I heard some outbursts from the people near the monitor for the drive thru.  After the interaction was over, I went to see what had happened.  The girl had been in the passenger seat, leaning over to say her order. Apparently her shirt was rather low cut and she was practically hanging out of it. As if that wasn't absurd enough, the guy driving the car then started GROPING HER while she was talking. 

Major kudos to my DTO for keeping it together. He also wins for best possible comment in the situation. 

Me: I kind of want to tell them we have a camera. Like "um, we can see you, dude."

Him: Or: "You want me to use that milk to make your latte?"

Everyone on the floor burst into laughter at the exact same moment, and thank GOD the DT window was closed. Oh dear... what a stupid day.

Honestly, I don't know why I let these things surprise me anymore (let's blame it on all the sleep I've been not getting lately in this case).

BARISTA: Hi! What can I get for you today? *smiles*
CUSTOMER: What's your bold today?
BARISTA: Today our Bold Pick of the Day is Thanksgiving Blend, which is really g---
CUSTOMER: [interrupting] Is it bold?
BARISTA: Yes, ma'am!
CUSTOMER: Is that a new thing?
BARISTA: Well, we have it every year, but this year we've only been offering it since the beginning of this week, so I guess it's fairly new.
CUSTOMER: [long, awkward pause] Okay, I suppose I'll try it.
BARISTA: Sure thing!

No, it's not actually bold. I just gave it as an answer when you asked what our bold was today TO CONFUSE YOU, BECAUSE I'M MEAN LIKE THAT.

Mainly for the baristas who work in licensed/ 'we proudly brew' stores...
Do you brew Terraza for your iced coffee, and brew it at double strength?
It seems that every time I go to a Tarbux or other non-corporate 'bux my iced coffee is super weak, and also doesnt have the same taste as the Terraza.
Not really complaining, but just curious.

Side note: saw a button on our POS yesterday for Marble Loaf...I havent seen it in ages!! Is marble loaf coming back?!

So, on my break now but just wanted to share a story that just happened.

We opened our drive bar because we got slammed, and in the process got a little mixed up, our bar wouldn't open and pull shots.  It was a huge mess.  So, we have a bunch of cars waiting and we get a phone call.

Moi:  Mr. Observant Idiot
Me:  Me.

Me:  Hey! Thanks for calling Starbucks! I am arfinator.  How are you doing??
Moi: Hi, we are calling from your drive through and we've been waiting here for like 6 minutes, could you guys like speed it up?
Me:  Ummm, yeah.
*hangs up*

What was that?  Like seriously?  Do you really think that because you called you are going to get through faster.  I mean we were standing around and moving at the pace of snails until you called, but seriously.  I don't get customers sometimes.

I wish that I had said something like, well, because you called you actually are making yourself wait a little longer because instead of making drinks, I'm now talking to you.