This has to be the worst smell there is....

Kudos to Starbucks for stepping up! They responded quickly and made
an invitation to each person involved to return to a Starbuck's as
their guest. No company can ensure that things are perfect at all
times. They can however, care when things go off track and demostrate
same by responding and making the customer feel valued. Starbucks did
that and for that I thank their customer service department. Thank
you.

I must say...that no food service industry should allow the smell of
vomit! This should have been taken care of instantly. This is very
unsanitary. The minute I walked in and smelled the odor; I would have
walked out and held the meeting at another location. I went to a
Starbucks a couple weeks ago and walked in and it smelled like sour
milk, I left.

Where was this Starbucks? Outer Zimbabwe?

Go to another place. Simple solution. I worry about a business owner
like yourself who doesn't even know enough to come up with that.

You should compensate the others for being too stupid to figure out to
go somewhere else not Starbucks.

Greg....Thank you for taking your time to respond to me personally in
such a proactive manner. The spirit in which you are continuing to
evolve the site is commendable and shines with tremendous integrity.
Your passion is clearly to bridge the sincere consumer with the person
actually empowered to make a difference within corporate America. This
allows hard working companies to have access to information they
otherwise would have no way to envision from real life experience.

This is a valuable means of communication offering great potential for
both parties to become the best of who they are presently and to
grow/learn something new about how they represent themselves; allowing
them to see that they can affect real change for the better in someone
else.

If everyone did something with this kind of potential, however small,
every day.. how big could that become? We each have the opportunity
to spread some negative energy many times each day, as we trip across
it being dished out in our path. When we are encouraged to step up and
create/spread something better, than we run across from others, it
speaks volumes about who we are and whom we can become.

You have put your time and money into providing a stage where this can
happen globally. Accolades to you for stepping up and putting
yourself out there, continuing to stay the course as you aspire to
lofty goals, settling for steps forward every day; trusting that the
path and passion for what you are doing is as important as the
destination.

I for one am grateful to have access to this vehicle that allows me to
capture and pass along an opportunity to be "better"... to stretch my
ability to write, communicate, contemplate ways to make things better,
making well based suggestions in that regard...affecting someone else
to offer them an opportunity to step up and respond in kind...or
not...as they see fit.

Offering information/communication that can manifest the best in
people... now that doesn't sit with me as such a denigrating waste of
my time when I see it that way. If I had even a small part in doing
what you say this letter has done ..passing that spirit along, then my
perception of this experience has been entirely transformed pursuant
to our conversation.

Again, thank you for responding to my inquiry...gifting me with your
time and such an illustrative snapshot of your story..your passion for
your work; giving me a way to recast my experience so my perception
can evolve away from wasting my valuable time and further cementing an
unpleasant experience into the realm of demeaning on your site.

After all that... we'll see if Starbucks steps up to say that their
customers matter to them simply by taking a moment to respond... or
not... after all, the point is in the communication, right?

Best, CJ Gehlke, Entrepreneur, CEO, Co. Founder

Okay, the info regarding (1) whether she spoke to an employee and (2)
why they'd eat lunch after an early morning coffee meeting should NOT
have been buried in the numerous responses CJ posted to the various
responses from others.

I wasn't going to read all of the defensive posts. It was all I could
do to read several of them to get the gist of what is going on.

CJ, you are answering WAY too many responses here. I've not seen that
before. It is not swaying public opinion in your favor.

Inconsistencies:

(1) "The nauseating smell stayed with us for the entire morning and no
one stayed to enjoy lunch after our meeting."

But you said the meeting was at 7:45 a.m. and was to last 45 minutes.
Lunch at 8:30 a.m.?

(2) I saw at least TWO responses here that specifically asked you,
"Did you complain to an employee at that time? What did they say?"
You responded to other comments in the responses, but didn't ever seem
to address this.

So you didn't say anything to the employees at the time? As a
"business owner," wouldn't you want to know of some awful, egregious
error/mistake immediately, rather than days later when it was too
late?

(3) I find it VERY difficult to believe that anyone who owns a
business would take the time and energy continue to submit post after
post in response to people's comments to the original story. You seem
VERY defensive.

If I am wrong, I'm sorry. It's the impression I am getting and
judging by the rest of the responses, many others feel the same way.
If that's OUR take on it, imagine the impression Starbuck's is
getting.

CJ,
While browsing PFB I came across your letter and noticed that you've
takent the time to respond to nearly every posting on here. May I make
a suggestion? Don't. Seriously. It's pointles. You have your point of
view, and certain readers WILL have theirs (as you MUST have realized
when you chose to share your letter), and you WILL NOT convince them
otherwise and the only thing you will do is provide hours of endless
fun for people who get off on arguing via message board (okay, okay,
I've entertained myself via message board debating in the past, I'll
admit it - but over an issue more vital than coffee). By providing
"clarification," all you're really doing is fueling the fires you're
trying to put out. I'd agree you don't have $50 coming for nearly all
the reasons previously posted, and I won't sit here and repeat what I
know you and everyone else has already read. I know you wanted to make
Starbucks "aware," but trust me, the poor saps who had to clean that
mess up and the manager who oversaw them are conscious of how
unpleasant the situation was for everyone. Okay so that's it, you've
made your argument, everyone's response has been recorded and
re-recorded, if I were you I'd say "to heck with what they think" and
move on. Just a suggestion.

WOW...coffee cost 10 dollars? I would never spend 10 dollars on a cup
of coffee. I'm curious. Let me know if you get that 50 bucks from
StarBucks.

Did you say anything to the staff? Ask to talk to a manager? I find it
hard to believe that no one stayed to enjoy lunch because of a bad
smell with their morning coffee. If you want to "gift" your clients,
use your owm money.

This whole thing is ridiculous. I believe a pukey Starbucks falls into
the "s**t happens" catagory. Lets face it you didnt have to stay there
you could have left. Being from out of town is no excuse I'm sure you
could have asked a staff member where the next closest Starbucks was
located, or you could have asked another patron about other dining
possibilities. The fact of the matter is you were'nt stuck you chose
to stay there. You cant go back later and say even though we stayed
and had our meeting and drank our coffe I think we should get
freebies, its doesnt work like that-at least it shouldnt.

The fact that you keep defending your position over and over just
proves to me that you just dont get it. Maybe after a client critizes
your business and asks for freebies that they dont deserve via PF then
you'll get it.

Don't hold your breath waiting for those gift cards. Starbucks owes
you NOTHING!

I don't think I would have held a meeting in a room that smelled like
barf. In my town, there are at least a dozen Starbucks within a few
miles. When I visited Starbucks.com and punched in La Quinta, CA 8
locations came up within 5 miles.

SO, that was the first mistake. The second was, did you complain to
the manager about the unsavory smell when you were there? I have found
Starbucks to be very customer oriented, usually very free with the
comped drinks, free samples, free coupons, esp if you are unhappy? You
didn't mention if you spoke to anyone at Starbucks?

Third, if your clients are nauseated by the idea of Starbucks again
why would they want a gift card to return there? If anyone should buy
the giftcards though I think it should be you, as an apology.

I DO agree though, that if the vomit was in an open area (not in the
restroom) Starbucks should have closed the store for a few minutes
then kept the doors open to air the store out for awhilet. It seems to
me that not doing so is not only unappetizing but also unsanitary. It
takes awhile for the smell to dissipate and of course that is a busy
time of day but I'm sure a sign on the door explaining the situation
would be all the explanation anyone would need.

I just hope your clients didn't think the smell was coming from you.

If I were in your shoes, I would be more worried about their
impression of me and my abilities than those of Starbucks. You are the
one who took them there, caused them to stay there despite the smell
and conducted business in an environment obviously not conductive to
good relations. If you truly want to 'erase this debacle' then you are
the one who needs to spring for the gift cards out of your own wallet,
not Starbucks. They didn't make y'all stay, you did.

yea I dont think their gonna give you anything...

Why were you having a business meeting at starbucks?

What were you trying to sell to multiple clients in a Starbucks at
7:45 AM?

I'm guessing Amway. By all means, please fill me in if I'm wrong. :D

Let's say that Starbucks does not give you the gift cards. Are you
willing to spend the money yourself to get them gift cards since it
your mistake to fail to cancel the order and go to another
coffeehouse. You are talking about how Starbucks can motivate the
customer's to come back. Even if Starbucks does end up giving free
gift cards, don't you think that you should also do something to
motivate them. You could motivate them by giving them free movie
passes or gift cards for a restaurant to motivate them. You admitted
that you did make the mistake of not canceling the order and going
elsewhere, so should you not do something to motivate them. If
Starbucks does give you the gift cards I think that you (thinking the
way you do about motavation)should give them something from YOUR
money, because you failed to cancel the order and go somewhere else.
If Starbucks did give you the gift cards and you presented it to them
they are going to think StarBucks is a company that motivates their
customers while your company does not. So let me ask you this one
more time. What are YOU willing to do to motivate your clients? How
much are you willing to spend. After all you could have simply
cancelled the order and went somewhere else and then you would not
have been in this situation in the first place.

I think you just want the five gift cards for yourself, if they truely
don't want to go back they why do you need gift cards for them. No
offence but if Starbucks was that bad with the smell, a gift card will
not make them want to come back especialy if they recall the
experience for a long time everytime they see a Starbucks location.

I think if the Starbucks was closed because they were cleaning up the
barf smell, then you would probably demanded five gift certificates
because the Starbucks was closed and you could not tret your friends.


It would have been nice if they had used air freshener, but then you
would probably have wanted five gift card's because the smell ruined
your order.

Your letter may have been good if you did not ask for freebies, and
did not exgarrate on some points.

The big bad Starbucks doesn't owe you a thing. You were too cheap to
rent a meeting room so you went to a public place and took up space
meant for real customers so you could have a free meeting room. Then
you complain because someone had the absolute audacity to be ill where
you'd have to smell it. What a horrible experience for you! How do
you deal with such injustice? Wait...I know--beg for gift cards!
Yeah, that'll do it! Seriously, get a grip and realize real life
includes unpleasantness, stop harassing Starbucks for gift cards you
have no right to and realize some people have real problems. Donate
some money to St. Jude's-- those kids have real problems. And next
time, cough up the money for a private meeting room. You owe
Starbucks an apology for attempting to steal from them.

"Each of these people needs encouragement to come back into a
Starbucks again soon and they need to have a great experience in order
to "erase" this debacle."

Why are you so concerned that your colleagues return to Starbucks? You
should be more interested in the impression YOU and YOUR company left
on them. Did you show any of them this letter? I'd be curious as to
the impression that THIS makes on them.

"help me make things right with them by sending me 4 separate $10 gift
cards and one for me as well, totaling 5?"

Ah, you as well. So it's not just about THEM.

"This way I could "gift" each person in a nice card, apologizing and
making an effort to make things right"

Or you could keep all five for yourself. Why not provide the names of
addresses of each person so Starbucks can contact them directly?

"This horrible experinece is the kind of publicity neither I nor you
need."

Well, if you don't want "publicity" for this, don't post about it on a
public forum. I kinda doubt this incident made the NY Times. If it
even happened, that is, and isn't just a pathetic gimmee grab.

"Each of these people needs encouragement to come back into a
Starbucks again soon and they need to have a great experience in order
to "erase" this debacle."

Why are you so concerned that your colleagues return to Starbucks? You
should be more interested in the impression YOU and YOUR company left
on them. Did you show any of them this letter? I'd be curious as to
the impression that THIS makes on them.

"help me make things right with them by sending me 4 separate $10 gift
cards and one for me as well, totaling 5?"

Ah, you as well. So it's not just about THEM.

"This way I could "gift" each person in a nice card, apologizing and
making an effort to make things right"

Or you could keep all five for yourself. Why not provide the names of
addresses of each person so Starbucks can contact them directly?

"This horrible experinece is the kind of publicity neither I nor you
need."

Well, if you don't want "publicity" for this, don't post a

not sure why my post appeared not only twice, but cut off the first
time! Sorry guys.

I don't think she intends to give any of the gift cards to her
clients. I think she wants all five for herself. Who even knows if
this really happened. She is just trying to bribe them.

"It's not about a freebie..it's about motivating people to rewrite the
memory of a terrible experience so they'll return again."

Does this sound like psycho-babble BS to anyone else or something
learned in a "business" seminar?

If these people were YOUR clients and you were trying to impress them,
then YOU should take it upon yourself to give each of them a gift card
at your own expense. That way they'll think more of you than
Starbucks.

One time at a concert, I wasn't seated more than five minutes when the
person right in front of me vomited. Just my luck. However, an
employee immediately put something down to cover and clean it up, and
the smell was completely gone within a minute. I would think
restaurants would be aware of a product like that. I guess I just find
it hard to believe the smell was as bad as you described.

Close the store because somebody puked in it? Ha ha, you're quite a
funny person.

I work in retail, and people do puke in my store. All we do is block
the area off and clean it up as best we can, spraying air fresheners
to try and kill the smell. ANd we do sell food products.

It is very obvious to me you're just fishing for freebies.

Barf happens. It happened at Starbucks but it could happen anywhere.
Did you say anything at the time? Or did you just sit there and
complain about the smell amongst yourselves?
I do have a "better idea" for you. Let it go. Your letter reeks (no
pun intended!) of fishing for freebies. Maybe that's why everyone is
accusing you of doing so. I seriously doubt that the other 4 people
are never going to enjoy Starbucks delicious coffee again because one
Starbucks had someone throw up in it. What are the odds of that
happening when you go back? Are you really that traumatized? If you
choose not to go there again, it's truly your loss, not theirs.
Not to mention you aren't the only people that were there that day.
Maybe they should just have a free coffee day for everyone who came
in. Really, I'm sure you aren't the only ones who found the smell
offensive, so if you should be compensated, shouldn't everyone else?

lol, CLOSE THE STORE to clean it up?

So what happened when you complained to the employees? What did they
say?


Why should you get $50 bucks when you probably didn't spend nearly as
much as that? You could have taken your coffee to go. I highly doubt
that because of this one incident that none of you will ever go to
Starbucks again. If that IS the truth then you are just being
immature!

I have to agree with the other posters.....this is COFFEE for cyring
out loud, not a lobster dinner. Starbucks cannot control the odor of
someone being ill, and if it was a bad as you are attempting to
portray, I wonder how $50 in gift cards will "Re-write" the
experience?

You've got to be joking asking for freebies. Because you were to cheap
to arrange for a meeting room you want $50 worth of coupons. The staff
cleaned up the mess even though it wasn't their fault someone got
sick. Think of that poor employee who makes minimum wage cleaning that
mess. Next time spring for a meeting room or if meeting with clients
use an office. No wonder lots of complaints are ignored.

Next time try going to a place for your business meeting that actually
caters to meetings. There are many hotels and restaurants that have
conference/meeting rooms. What would you have done if Starbucks was
full that morning and you had nowhere to have your "meeting." You are
just fishing for freebies here.

You can't be serious. They cleaned it up. Sometimes you're still going
to have an odor.

You stayed and you want freebies? Yes, it would have been on the
difficult side to leave considering it was a meeting but you decided
to stay.