Just so everyone knows...what happened here was not a refusal to brew a pot of decaf for the customer's decaf mocha frappucino.

Starbucks doesn't use brewed coffee in their coffee frappucinos. They use a powdered coffee base which is reconstituted with water and then mixed with a liquid frappucino base and stored in a refrigerator in pitchers. I dont understand Molly's reference to one barista's solving the situation by brewing a pot of decaf coffee and cooling it down...there is no circumstance where that would be acceptable.

Obviously, there are two kinds, caffeinated and decaf. Most stores sell very little of the decaf variety. In fact, it is not unusual to sell zero in a day especially at the lower volume units. Frappucino base is not supposed to be held overnight so anything that isn't used by the end of the business day gets thrown out.

The combination of very low sales and the inability to carry over to the next day leads a lot of stores to simply not make the decaf frappucino base unless and until someone orders it. Or, as in this case, the barista simply tells the customer they're out or it would take too long to make.

This is not good customer service. Since this seems to be a regular occurrence at this particular store, Molly should ask for the manager on duty and get an explanation from them as to why she can't get her decaf mocha frappucino. If their answer is the same as what she's been getting, she should go to the store manager. If the store manager responds the same way (and a lot would because there are store managers who actually tell their partners to give that excuse) then it should be brought to the attention of corporate personnel.