Not a Relaxing Cup of Coffee at Starbucks

Gift card is in the mail.

I am sorry I just cant relate Relax with a cup of coffee that has
caffine in it. Now I would have been highly perturbed had someone
said that to me about my grand daughter. I doubt I would have been as
nice as you were. And quit asking for freebies...its tacky.

lol, I think you contradicted yourself. "A Relaxing Cup of Coffee."
Yeah, sure. With a fussy baby. How did you expect to do that when
your baby was fussing, let alone not expect others to get upset
because you were ruining their relaxation? I have a feeling the baby
wasn't "fussing" and it was more than that.

Well there are other coffee places I guess that may or may not like
your baby "fussing".
But I hardly think it was revenge directed at you for asking for
service or a mistake about whipped cream.

Most parents' feel that their child is 'quietly fussing' when it's
actually screaming bloody murder. Sounds like another entitled Mommy
looking for freebies.

Starbucks intentionally sets up their establishments to be as
appealing and relaxing to the customers as possible - nice interior
design, kind employees and nice music. A squalling child disrupts that
and will drive away their non-crying clientele, so driving any idiots
with screaming brats out is for the better good of their business. If
they remove the disruptive person, they can keep all the other
customers who are within earshot.

If I knew where this particular Starbucks was, I'd personally thank
them for telling someone to remove their whiny baby. Most places don't
have the guts to do that and I applaud any place that does.

So, take your business to Dunkin' Donuts - Starbucks certainly will
not suffer from the loss of your patronizing

I'm not a big Starbucks fan, and I don't like when I'm at a store and
I'm being ignored by employees who are having personal conversations,
BUT if I go to a Starbucks like place, I go to relax - you may not
find your baby annoying but others do. I like children, but I don't
think Starbucks is the place for them.

one thing about our letter makes no sense--you already purchased your
coffee--sounds like you were drinking it...why would you go to Dunkin
Donuts???

I've never bought into the "Starbucks Coffee Culture" and all the
cache' that entails. I don't particularly like their prices and faux
lingo. But I do like their coffee.

What I see in your letter is a percieved rudeness,"I felt I was largly
being ignored" and "I'm pretty sure they were just being rude to me")
it's unclear what the conversation was actually about. I agree, being
approached about an infant's "fussing" does sound a bit harsh, you
don't mention it, but did you politely ask if you could place an order
at any point during the wait?


Asking for compensation without more proof of their intent is a bit
much. "Allegiance to Starbucks" is an interesting choice of words. It
makes it sound patriotic to shop there.

Starbucks is no place for children to be hanging out.

I have two children. Starbucks is a place where people go to unwind.
It is very likely that maybe they received customers complaining about
your baby's "fussing". I had to ask people to leave my shoe store
before because customers were complaining about their screaming babies
and children running around unattended.
I have had to leave Denny's before because my son was throwing a
terrible 2 tantrum and I didn't want to subject anyone else, who were
there to enjoy a relaxing family dinner, to the sound of my son
misbehaving.

No customer should be ignored while employees carry on a personal
chat. You have me on your side there.

As for the "fussing baby" incident, I wasn't there, so I don't know if
your child was merely fussing or was getting ready for a meltdown. I
will say this though: just because the other two patrons didn't seem
disturbed by it doesn't mean they weren't.

As for the giftcard request, eh. Others have said it before me.

I had a lousy cup of coffee at starbucks and sent an email telling
them so .I got a reply back asking me if i wanted some couponds for a
free cup of coffee.I refused the offer.

till that last line.

So basically, your baby was "fussing" and they asked you to quiet
him/her and so you stormed out and for this, they should give you a
gift card to win your "allegiance" back?

If I were Starbuck's, I could do without that "allegiance."

I thought I was the only one. :)

LOL!

Stupid Bitch wants free Starbucks.

THE END

I have three kids. Sometimes, I like to sit down and have a relaxing
cup of coffee. Sometimes my kids make sure that does not happen. :) I
have been in coffee shops and such, and if my little one happens to
get fussy, well...that's his way of telling me that's all he can take.
As infants, toddlers, and beyond, fussing or acting up, although it
may not seem loud to you (who is used to it), is your child's way of
telling you that they don't want to be a part of your fun.
I know you think the store clerk was being rude, but I bet your son
would like to thank him if he could for getting him out of Starbucks
when he clearly didn't want to be there.
I suggest you give the coffee date a shot at another time. Eventually
your child may grow to like it, but right now it sounds like he's just
not ready.

What with the back door buzzer going off 4 times a day to unload
buckets of cash from overpriced coffee onto an armored car, rude
employees, fussing babies, people conducting business via wiress web
access. It sounds downright horrifying.

A store gift card. PLEASE. You can't be serious.

Uh-Oh.

I don't want to debate quiety fussing(tm) and crying with you, nor do
I want to ask if there was anyone other than the 'two mothers' in the
dining room. Just wanted to say that I am one of those insensitive
jerks for whom crying babies are the equivalent of nails on a
chalkboard.

If they were just 'fussing' then the clerks crossed the line, but if
your kids were loud enough that the clerks felt they needed to say
something, then you might want to pay closer attention to the
reactions of the people around you and see if that tells you anything
about the volume of your kids vocalizations.

You asked for compensation. Come on! Really! Shame on you!

Julianna,

IMHO if you were that put out by what transpired you should have
demanded to speak with the manager.

That way the manager knows exactly who was involved, business levels,
etc. and gets a feel for the person offering the feedback in an
attempt to attest to the legitimacy of the claim.

All too often and more so these days it is too easy to skip the step
of notifying managment and go right to a letter on the internet.

That being said, do stop back and let us know what comes of your
letter.

BillR.

Two words: Gimmie Grab

I'm not the biggest pro-child person here, but I've softened my stance
quite a bit thanks to the moms I've gotten to know. So I do think the
employee crossed the line by approaching you over a fussy baby. But
to ask for compensation, I think you should never be allowed in a
Starbucks again, just for being a PITA over something so minor. You
can afford a $4 coffee? You don't need anything for free.

P.S. If the employees were having a conversation when you were trying
to order, I support you 100% in interrupting them to get your order
placed.

There are a lot of holes here.

First off you say "the less than full dining room". Then you say "the
two other mothers in the dining room didn't appear disturbed"

It seems like you are trying to say that the only other people in the
building were the two other customers who were also mothers. But "less
than full" is misleading. It could mean there was ONE empty seat in
the room. Or it could mean that you and the other two mothers were the
only customers in the store. I think you should have clarified here.
If it WAS just the other two mothers then your complaint about the
employees telling you to leave is a little different. Because, yes,
MOST mothers understand fussy babies and it doesnt bother them TOO
much.

Did the other women there have children with them or did you just
assume they were mothers?

I think it was rude of you to make a comment about their conversation.
If you were so close then what were they talking about? Was it work
related? If it was, they had every right to be discussing it. I worked
retail for a very long time and sometimes you have to discuss certain
things in front of customers because there just isnt time to do it
somewhere else. And sometimes you have to keep them waiting for a few
minutes. If they were talking about that they were doing that night or
whatever then thats a different story.

However, one rude gesture deserves another I suppose. But technically
I bet they have the right to ask you to leave if you or your children
are being loud.

A child's screaming, fussing, crying, ect. is all relative. The mother
rarely is affected by the same way strangers are because you are used
to it. Even the other mothers there might have been annoyed by your
child's carrying on.

I am a mother to one and the aunt to 7. And trust me when I tell you
that other people's children drive me INSANE! I can deal with my child
crying. I can deal with my newest nephew crying. I can NOT deal with
other people's children crying. Especially in a place they shouldnt
really be.

The last time I was in Starbucks with my 8 year old son and my then 1
and a half year old nephew something similar happend. It was actually
my son's idea to go there since he loves the organic milk they sell.
Thankfully I have since found them at Walmart.

When I first got there there was maybe to other people in the place. A
little while later the place was packed with a line to the door. It
was about this time that my nephew started getting antsy and wanted to
run around and make a lot of noise. Being that I respect other people
and dont want to be rude, I packed our stuff up and took them outside
to walk around until we felt like leaving. They enjoyed that better
anyway.

I think that the employees probably were out of line telling you what
they did but they might have gotten complaints from other people about
your child.

Frankly, I dont think you deserve anything except an awareness of
those around you.

::cues broken record:: What did the manager say when you bought this
to his/her attention?

Nice freebie grab. Did you drink your coffee?