Someone at Starbucks is Annoying. By Jeeto.

Ok, so my debit card is a little messed up. My dog, Charles, took it out of my pocket one day and chewed on it a little and the resulting teeth marks occasionally make it difficult to swipe during sales transactions. The key word here being, “occasionally.” And in the unlikely event that the swipe doesn’t read, the cashier will key in the number manually and I will be on my way—a happy, satisfied customer. This is the same sort of “method” I was accustomed to, having worked in customer service for the last 11 years of my life. If the swipe didn’t take (because of card or machine), I kindly entered in the number. No big deal. No fuss. I get my money and the customer moves on.

Does it work that way at the Starbucks in downtown Boise? Let's see...

The last two times that I’ve decided to waste my hard earned money on non-local coffee I’ve been rather annoyed at a particular attractive blonde woman, in her 40s, who’s made it her mission to lecture me about “getting a new debit card” when the first swipe doesn’t take. The first time I was caught off guard and stood there, rather perplexed, when she turned proctor on me and decided to school me in the process of getting a new debit card from my bank.

She told me:

1.) That it’s easy to get a new debit card from my bank. I would just need to request one at my main branch.

2.) That since I’m just requesting a replacement card, that I wouldn’t even have to change my pin number!!!

3.) All about other customers who have screwed up cards (way more so than mine) that she tells to get new cards, too.

I really wanted to tell her that:

1.) I’m not an idiot and I know how to request a new debit card from my bank.

2.) I don’t give a shit that she has to swipe more than once because:
a.) My debit card works just fine with the exception of like 2 places.
b.) She’s the only person who has a problem swiping it at that EXACT same Starbucks.
c.) That I’ve dealt with unfortunate cards for years and never once thought to tell people to get a new debit card—that just comes with the territory of accepting cards.

3.) Sometimes, maybe unbeknownst to her, that requesting a debit card can result in years of torture and dismay when the bank can’t seem to get it right. (When I was with WaMu (now Chase!) I received TWO debit cards that would decline me at every transaction and would only work as an ATM card, even though the bank could never find a problem with them. I eventually stopped using my debit card for like an entire year and then finally when I decided that I wanted to try again, they sent me a card for the wrong account… Needless to say, I’m not banking with them any longer.)

4.) It’s not her business to tell me what I need to do. It’s her business to smile, work through any problems, and serve me a hot/cold beverage.

I didn’t say anything. I just smiled and walked away, confused and bewildered… Like, “Did that really happen?” And I thought that maybe I was just being insensitive to her rights as a public servant and that my debit card delay might have somehow made her day a few seconds off… But the more that I thought about it and the more that I recounted my years in customer service and my years of training OTHERS in customer service, that this is probably a discussion I wouldn’t recommend for my employees to engage in. I guess I have the mind set of, if you’re taking someone’s money, you should do so with a smile and be happy to swipe several times, punch numbers in if you have to, call those authorization lines, swim to the bottom of the ocean… Whatever. But don’t lecture them or make them feel like idiots because YOUR machine has trouble reading THEIR card. Because YOUR machine is not EVERY machine and THEIR card may work at MILLIONS of other locations.

Today, when I went in today with a co-worker I had this same Starbucks associate. And guess what happened again? Yes. But this time I just simply said, “Well it works everywhere else.” And she didn’t seem to care about that… Because she still lectured me like I was five and went into detail about how people come in and give her cards that are split in half… bla bla bla bla… And seriously… Her bitching about my card that took her 3 or 4 swipes took longer than the swiping itself, so obviously she's not concerned about hurrying up.

Needless to say, I will continue to support Java—which I like better anyway. It’s locally owned and my card works there like a charm. The employees remember my name and what I like to drink and they’re always friendly, talkative, and tend to make me feel good. So in some ways, I should thank stupid Starbucks babe for making me see that I shouldn’t bother from straying my usual, local taste. “Thanks!”