February 27, 2008
Starbucks' National Re-Programming Camp - Did It Work?
Visitors to all the standalone Starbucks across the country yesterday evening couldn't get their buzz on. Why? Because of the temporary national shutdown. Starbucks workers, like these on busy Masonic (where there will be a rally to make that avenue safer at 11:00AM this morning by the way), learned how to do things the Starbuckian way last night.
So. What do think, espresso fans? Did it work? Were the "parters" (aka workers) "energized"? Was your customer experience "transformed"? Do their donuts still taste like plastic? Are the employees now forced to look like that hot guy with the long beard over at Ritual Roasters? We're dying to know.
Image credit: Jim Herd
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gourmet button?
maybe its made of 'recycled' plastic.
gourmet automatic?
would have been nicer if the effort went all the way. ie. changing machines wouldve attracted more coffee fanatics, not to mention would lose affinity of the crappucino population. ohwell.
iguess the training was based of how to push a button with more style.
I know very well what a PR campaign smells like and it's coffeeish.
Mine still slightly tasted of pee this morning. Tangy almost.
nice one fizz.
i guess that means they haven't changed their be kind to the homeless strategy. oh well. i will continue to boycott them until they do.
It's a tough call between Starbucks and RR....when I go to Starbucks I get coffee that tastes burnt.
Ritual Roasters , on the other hand, serves up a nice serving of attitude and condescension if you're not deemed cool enough. Funny, it makes the coffee taste as bad as Starbucks!
Here's a tip for anyone going to starbucks - never order the coffee. It's always burnt and usually acidic from sitting around all day.
Get an americano instead. Trust me. Try this. I resisted too, but thank god I came to my senses.
Last night I cooked up some popcorn and headed down to my neighborhood Starbucks, not to get coffee (duh), but to watch the people who wanted to get coffee be turned away.
Wow, I thought the people at the Light Brown Apple Moth meeting the other night were irate-- but their outrage can't hold a candle to a Starbucks customer getting rebuffed. Every other word out of the customers mouths last night were naughty.Andrew Dice Clay would have blushed. It was awesome.
The big difference I noticed this morning was that the guy behind the register said "Where did they move that one to?" for every order, as he looked confusedly at the screen, and the girl working next to him had to stare at the screen too. It was like a game of Concentration right there behind the counter.
FAIL!
In a related story, people walked next door to Peet's and enjoyed an excellent cup of coffee.
So for three hours, Starbucks employees brewed Kool-Aid instead of coffee?
I knew this was coming seven years ago.
Starbucks To Begin Sinister 'Phase Two' Of Operation