In the era of sports Tivoing, Starbucks baristas are powerless to avoid having the game ruined by thoughtless, chatty customers… or are they? Apparently, one Boston-area barista is fighting back. Do think this worked?
The sign reads:
Customers,
Please try not to talk about the Celtics game. I am recording it and watching it when I get home tonight. I would really prefer to not know the outcome ahead of time.
Thanks.
An extra bold request [Passive Aggressive Notes]
(Photo: Passive Aggressive Notes )
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Wow, I can’t believe the level of hostility that is directed to this guy or gal. The person is making a simple request, which, judging by some of the responses, I’m sure someone was more than willing to be a d*ck about and blurt it out. It’s not like he or she was asking to see your receipt on the way out. C’mon, people, this isn’t corporate censorship or a slippery slope. Get over yourselves. I, as a fellow sports nut, would honor this request. Go Lakers!
He/She did ask politely, it wasn’t like it was a demand or anything.
And I ask people all the time to not spoil _____ for me (movie, show or whatever) since I usually see AFTER it happens, because I’m working.
@FightOnTrojans: I can! It’s standard here at this site.
@pecheckler: How so?
Another example of someone not knowing that the world doesn’t revolve around them or what they like. I would have been one of the spoilers. Not that sports or sport fans matter much to me anyways. How people put that much enthusiasm into merely a game when they could put it toward something meaningful in life always amazes me.
It’s completely inappropriate for a store employee to request that the customers inconvenience themselves for his or her sake no matter how politely they do so…@FrugalFreak is right on the money. If I were to come across a sign like that I’d simply take my business elsewhere. (After taking a photo and sending it to SB corporate.)
@TheManator: Not unless I spoil it first.
Just in case he hasn’t heard yet, “Rosebud” was his sled…
I think we’ve all been in a position where we asked our coworkers, friends or family not to spoil a movie or show for us. But to ask the entire public not to talk about something just for you is way over the top. I personally would not appreciate some stranger walking up to me, or putting up a note, asking me not to talk in earshot of him. And if it was an establishment making the request (or an employee acting on its behalf as in this case), it would certainly put a bad taste in my mouth regarding future visits to that particular establishment.
Starbucks is not this employee’s personal livingroom where he can dictate (or request) what people should or should not converse about, regardless of how innocent or harmless the request may be.
He should be reprimanded immediately.
He is dead right, good for him. I hope it worked and no one was a complete dick to ruin it for him. As for being reprimanded, get a life.
Very few of you live in Boston, apparently. The barista was having some semi-serious fun with the sports-crazed fans in our area. I guarantee nobody there was offended.
You have to know your audience. And you folks have to stop taking yourselves so damned seriously. Lighten up!
It was a simple request, not “poor customer service” as some readers liked ti point out.
On the one hand, I sympathize with the writer and his/her intent. I even let out a little “aww”. Out loud. Really.
On the other hand, what about the customers who wanted to hang out and talk about whatever strikes their fancy? They, being decent folk, should now feel pressured to censor their discussions in a public meeting place? Sorry. Starbucks is a business and people should feel free to have all sorts of typical conversations.
On the third (yes, the third hand): whatever you do, don’t think about flat basketballs. Don’t do it! No flat basketballs. Now, what was it you wanted to talk about?
I doubt anyone spoiled it for him. It’s Boston – the playoffs are serious business.
It’s obviously the person buying the coffee’s fault. What? No blame the consumer posts?
“Shut up” and “Please” are at opposite ends of the manners spectrum. The note does not say “Shut up”
Yuck foo, Charlie
Jeez, I can’t believe the meanness and humorlessness of some of the replies…did someone run over your dog today, or what??
I don’t care about sports, but I’ve asked all my co-workers not to say anything about Battlestar Galactica around me because I still haven’t gotten last season’s DVDs from Netflix.
Nah. Obviously none of yall are from Boston. There is an honor code around sports. No one would have talked.
I think if the person just wrote a nice note and put it up at the beginning of the line, nobody would be offended.
@FrugalFreak: Yes, instead of sport, you prefer consumerist. Your attitude is simply rude.
Each person deserve respect toward their hobby. So maybe you should do something more useful than commenting this article. Ooups, I’m being redundant.
@Bladefist: Because you’d like to see what happened rather than be bombarded by fourth-rate catchphrases and unfunny jokes*?
Editor’s note: Scott Van Pelt, Kenny Mayne, John Buccigross and Neil Everett are exempt, due to actually being entertaining.
@Lambasted: Feeling cranky today?
@ZekeSulastin: Slow news days? Around these parts, that’s being merciful to Ye Olde Barista…e.
@Bladefist: Are you a homo?
@InfiniTrent:
Bladefist is known for saying stupid things.
And hey, he did say please right?
@Bladefist:
Don’t flatter yourself, because no one is “fired up” at your stupid comments, we’re just annoyed with them.
@Craig:
Oh my God some of you people need to get a life. Sending a note to SB corporate? You people are the definition of “asshole.”
Is it that hard not to talk about a game while ordering a coffee if politely asked? Is it that hard not to be a dick?
Apparently yes.
Perfectly reasonable request, and you’re a jackass if you ruin it for this guy.
The barista is doing his job and doesn’t want his entertainment ruined.
@Victo: As if today is any different than any other day. LOL!
Hey, give me some credit though. I did stopped short of calling for his head. No one should be sent to the guillotine until at least their second absurd request infraction.
The guy asked nicely, so I’d oblige.
I’d like a grande, extra hot, cavs 88 celtics 77. Oh, and one blueberry muffin.
I think it’s kinda cute.
boy! an employee has some serious balls to put up a sign like this towards customers!
In the average workplace this would get you written up(or at least bitched at) by the boss in a heartbeat!
Sorry but in the service industries (like serving coffee to people), you just dont make trivial requests of your customers like this.
I gotta deal with similar things like this when i tape a particular TV show I like. But I just deal with the accidental spoilers like you are supposed to. I would NEVER tell/request a customer to not talk about something.
BTW…. I’d ruin it for him just because he had the balls to ask me not to talk about it. And just because people are such fanatics about sports.
I “don’t get” sports so it’s okay for me to ruin someone’s day just for a cheap thrill. Right?
God bless the internet.
@shortandsweet: Starbucks trying to ‘educate’ us?
Are you serious? How long have you worked there?
The only VENTI thing at Starbucks is the arrogance. BTW, their coffee-flavored beverages are teh suck.
http://www.peets.com rulez.
@TheManator: Why? I think the sign is in poor taste and pretty unprofessional, but would it make you happy to ruin it for him?
I have several TV shows that I like to watch, but I am not home when they are on, so I record them. I have a coworker who knows this – and delights in coming in and spoiling the endings for me. He even admits he doesn’t really watch the shows, he just thinks it’s funny to ruin the endings for me.
The sign is unprofessional and rude.
Unfortunately, the sales clerks (“baristas”) at Starbucks seem to think they’re entitled to dictate the customer’s experience — you must order this way or we complain that you’re stupid, you must tip or we’ll spit in your drink (both documented on a well-known SBX gossip site) . . . and now, you may only discuss specific, approved topics.
Somehow, I’m not surprised their business is off and stock prices are in the terlet.
I was in this same boat for the past 4 years when I lived in LA and tried to follow Buffalo Sabres hockey by recording it while I was at work and watching it when I got home later. It worked fine at first, but then when we started making national television appearances that all went out the door…
Terminator XVII – The Commentator Wars
@homerjay: If you record a NSACAR race, does it make it more exciting if you watch it on fast forward?
Couldn’t you just set up a camera on the local interstate and watch that on fast forward?
1. It’s Boston
2. Don’t eff with people who make your food
@gomakemeasandwich: wouldn’t annoyed be fired up?
@stanfrombrooklyn: everyone who doesn’t watch sports is a homo? so you just watch it to prove to yourself your not?
I tried this during the World Cup a few years back–I put a sign on my office door saying “Please do not talk to me about the USA-Mexico game.”
A co-worker came by my office and said, “Why, are you a Mexico fan?”, thereby pretty much giving it away. Thanks, dude.
@bobfromboston:
finally, someone who understands! the fact that this sign makes perfect sense to people from boston is what makes me miss my hometown so much (relocated for grad school). putting up this kind of sign is absolutely NOT rude, and if people who go into the store are offended, chances are high that:
1. they are not from boston nor massachusetts;
2. they need to pull the wrench out of their @$$;
3. they are mentally ill;
4. THEY are the ones who are self-centered. yeah, you heard me right.
since i’m not in my car to end this post on a boston high note (aka a long, hard BEEP): eff the haters!!
I love how the folks from Boston in this thread have anointed themselves “World’s Greatest Sports Fans.”
Yes, the world revolves around you!
I kid.
Not really.
It doesn’t surprise me that this is a Boston area Starbucks. I travel all over the country and found that, for the most part, the Starbucks folks were somewhat friendly.
My wife and I used to spend an average of $300/month at Starbucks, mostly at the local branch in Peabody. After being called on the carpet by the store manager for allegedly making an off-color comment to one of the baristas, and subsequently getting ignored all the way up the corporate ladder when I tried to persue the matter to confront the allegation, they can tuck their $3600/year. No small wonder that they’re down 22% in sales.
Oh yeah, the comment was an apology for making the barista wait while I was fumbling to get coins out of my pocket. “Its tough to get change out of (the pocket of) tight jeans”. The jeans were my own.
I love all the angry gnomes saying both “I’d ruin it for him” and “I don’t follow sports anyway!” It’s clearly a game going on while people are in the store or just ended recently. Those gnomes don’t know what happened anyway. The people who do know are fans and probably are just happy to meet a barista who is also a fan. They won’t ruin it for him.
So, for those of you who think it’s OK to request that customers not talk about the game, what if the topic he didn’t like were children? Could he ask you not to talk about children – your children, having children, something some child did – while in the store? What if it were sports in general? What if it were politics? These are all things I don’t want to hear about in the work place, but it would be grossly inappropriate for me to even just request of my customers that they not discuss these things. That’s precisely what customer service is about – putting the needs of the customer ahead of my own.
He’s guaranteed to get more people talking about the game by mentioning it in a sign like that.
He would have been better off not saying anything.