It invariably happens, every six months or so, that the Starbucks on Pearl Street (Store #07922) in Albany (the only Starbucks in the downtown Albany area, where my office happens to be) ends up breaking my heart. After avoiding it and settling for Dunkin Donuts or Cider Belly for my mid-day coffee break after their last fiasco, I had given them another go, and there was a different cast of characters operating the caffeine machine so I had hope there would be improvements in the service. Alas, it was not to be.
I don’t take an early lunch, so by the time I get out for coffee it’s around 1:30 or 2 PM – not exactly rush hour. Yet for some reason, with all the socializing and singing and general lollygagging, the time it took to get coffee was stretching into ten to fifteen minutes. I started keeping track as a game to see how long it would take and live-tweeting the whole thing. Sometimes it was good – and I was happy to point out if a drink came in under five minutes (I didn’t have to do it that often). Mostly they were falling between nine and twelve minutes. Still strange, since I don’t usually have such issues at other Starbucks, but hey, this is Pearl Street.
That said, sometimes there’s no excuse for taking fifteen minutes to make a drink. Especially when I see you socializing and laughing and pausing work to finish a story on how short you are and always shave been all your life. I’ve worked in a number of places – retail stores, a restaurant, and all sorts of offices. In every situation I love to see people enjoying their work day. An office that gets along well and shares laughs and genial conversation during working hours is generally one that is putting out quality work. But there’s a balance, and when you start delivering one coffee drink every fifteen minutes, something is wrong.
On this day, I entered and found the usual line of three or four people, and a few more awaiting their drinks. Behind the counter, there were three baristas. One was mopping the floor and making a big production out of it. “Oh, this mop is so heavy! It’s, like, twenty pounds!” One was half-heartedly making drinks, but with the growing line and group of people waiting, she didn’t seem to be moving very quickly. Still, three people in front of me wasn’t bad. So I waited. And waited. And waited. A guy who was also waiting finally approached and asked about his egg sandwich, which they had apparently forgotten about. The woman in front of me also got the wrong order and they had to remake it. Throughout it all, the baristas continued to hold their side conversations instead of simply focusing on banging out some coffee. Fifteen minutes after I got there, my drink was ready.
My comment was, admittedly, a little snarky: “15 minutes later…” I said, with a little laugh.
The barista didn’t find it funny. “Well,” she huffed, “I just had to make a bunch of drinks before you.”
I wasn’t having it either. “I know. Last week it only took 13 minutes to get a coffee.”
She did not go silent. “That’s how it works,” she challenged. “Everyone wants Starbucks.”
Umm, not anymore. See you in another six months for the next Twitter showdown.
Post Script: That Starbucks location has since shut down. There are now zero Starbucks stores in downtown Albany.
