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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To find this Starbucks member of staff downright rude???

234 replies

RachelHRD · 09/12/2011 13:29

Just went to a toddler music and softplay session with DD and afterwards went for lunch at the on-site Starbucks. The 2 female members of staff in there are pretty miserable so and so's anyway - for example I bought a sausage bap, croque monsieur panini and cinnamon swirl and asked for a knife and was told 'wait a moment' ??!

Anyhoo I cut up the bap and panini for DD and I to share with the rather pathetic plastic knife and then when I went to cut up the cinnamon swirl noticed several of the plastic teeth of the knife had come off and were attached to the bottom of the cake!!

Took said cake back and despite there being only 1 customer practically had to do a star jump to get their attention Hmm and told them what had happened and could I have a new cake. They reluctantly got one and then told me that 'you have to be careful using the knives' WTF 'I used it to cut a sandwich and a bun not saw through a table!!' and that that's why they don't really give them out and they are only really meant for the pasta salads!! Cos obv you need a knife for a pasta salad!!

I was somewhat taken aback at these comments but coming home am really peeved at the rudeness and the fact that they supply something that isn't fit for purpose and lets face it - if that's what happens when you cut something those knives shouldn't be used as chances are you might end up eating some of the plastic teeth as they are so small!!

Am going to write to Starbucks I think and suggest that maybe they should provide 'real' cutlery in their stores and teach their staff some customer service skills.........

Grrr Angry rant over!!!!!

OP posts:
donnie · 09/12/2011 14:11

kahuna you are so right. Food is a class issue. Every time I request black pudding and eel butties they look at me like I'm a piece of shite....

KateFrothers · 09/12/2011 14:11

Perhaps they deliberately withheld the proper knives?! [conspiracy emoticon]

pigletmania · 09/12/2011 14:12

YABVU they did not sound rude at all. Grin at you star jumping though. They replaced your bun what more do you want!

KateFrothers · 09/12/2011 14:12

They could have cut it for you, with their Knives Of Steel

ROFL

witherhills · 09/12/2011 14:12

how have you got time to write a letter to Starbucks?

ruddynorah · 09/12/2011 14:12

'Unusual' replies? Do you come here often?

You 'looked' at the staff for attention then? It's counter service, so you go up and ask for stuff, same as in greggs.

Hullygully · 09/12/2011 14:12

I'm more concerned at your appalling food choices. Is there a vegetable in amongst the transfats, processed sugar and saturated fat? I think not. What sort of example are you setting for your child?

KateFrothers · 09/12/2011 14:13

Please post your letter Rachel

SuePurblybiltbyElves · 09/12/2011 14:15

I have never been to Greggs or Starbucks but they do sound like fun. Or death-traps. Depending on who you ask.

ShirleyKnot · 09/12/2011 14:15

Wait...What?

AWimbaAllTheWay · 09/12/2011 14:15

Oh, you've already written the letter, was going to offer to do it for you. I've written complaint letters to an online photo print site, M&S (got £15 voucher for that one, result) and Santa, yes you read correctly I complained about Santa this week. I'm on a roll. And no, none of them were particularly important issues, think I'm a bit uptight atm Hmm.

So in conclusion, YANBU, complain away.

JeremyVile · 09/12/2011 14:15

Do you know what OP?

This is the sort of thing that if you mention it in passing to a pal in RL, they'd agree that the staff were miserable and rude a bit crap really...

But if you make a whole post about it on the internet you are inviting far more analysis than could ever be required. And as you can see that analysis often does not reflect RL opinions. The very act of you posting skews peoples reaction.

Live and learn.

Fecklessdizzy · 09/12/2011 14:17

I would never darken their doors again, no matter how good the soft play and croqued paninis ... possibly nuke the site from orbit just to be sure.

Original poster
RachelHRD · 09/12/2011 14:18

Glad this is providing some Friday pm humour Grin

All I want is a flipping metal knife to cut up a sandwich and cake without leaving bits of plastic in it - is that too much to ask :) and that is what I have suggested to Starbucks......

And btw this isn't a stealth boast about how wonderful my life is at all - I suffer badly with depression so getting out of the house at all is a major achievement - disclaimer: I am not expecting any symapthy at all for that comment just to make people realise I'm not boasting just maybe provided too much detail in the opening post Hmm

OP posts:
Original poster
RachelHRD · 09/12/2011 14:25

Hully it was a treat for DD - she gets plenty of fruit and veg, only drinks water and has a generally healthy diet ....... Do tell me what your DC's have eaten today - mung beans, chick peas, half a tonne of spinach????

OP posts:
KateFrothers · 09/12/2011 14:27

We're only joshing Rachel. I bet most of us compose a quick AIBU in our heads at times like that and then go "dear me, I'll be flamed to high heaven if I post that! Ooh look, a squirrel" and forget all about it.

That said I bet we all had our arses properly roasted once before we learnt Grin

Did you have a nice time other than that?

LineRunnerCrouchingReindeer · 09/12/2011 14:28

Never, in the history of plastic knives - and I've handled quite a few, let me tell you - have I know a serration to snap and become detatched from the main body of the blade.

I can't see the cake getting enough purchase on the small serration to force it to snap. The serration isn't long enough.

I'm denying the physics of this.

Although I'm prepared to run experiments.

ShirleyKnot · 09/12/2011 14:30

I worked with a bloke who went on a liver detox diet and he literally could only eat mung beans and chick peas for quite a while. It was fun sharing an office with him. Hmm

Uh, I think it's perfectly OK to want a metal knife - just a bit of a non-event to have got so worked up about IMHO

JeremyVile · 09/12/2011 14:31

Linerunner - I hypothesise there was an exisiting weakness/hairline fracture in the plastic utensil.

An inherent risk in this type of item.

squeakytoy · 09/12/2011 14:32

why did you not just pull the bits of plastic off, you could see them...

your child will eat a lot worse than that in years to come..

BootyMum · 09/12/2011 14:32

Are we sure this thread is not a rather funny wind-up?

I mean it ticks all the boxes - toddler music and softplay session, croque monsieur panini, "asked for a knife and was told 'wait a moment' ??!"...

"I went to cut up the cinnamon swirl noticed several of the plastic teeth of the knife had come off and were attached to the bottom of the cake!!"...

"Took said cake back and despite there being only 1 customer practically had to do a star jump to get their attention and told them what had happened and could I have a new cake"...

"They reluctantly got one and then told me that 'you have to be careful using the knives' WTF"...

I mean the OP is pure middle class comedy gold. Over emotional and a sense of entitlement in an extremely banal everyday sort of situation. Using Starbucks as the setting, the natural home of yummy mummies everywhere.

OP I am on to you. One of the funniest threads of the year imo!

squeakytoy · 09/12/2011 14:34

I am more pissed off that my sainsburys starbucks doesnt do croque monsieurs than anything else... I must write and complain!

They also dont to cups, just great big mugs that you would expect to see on a building site..

Hmm, I can see my starbucks letter of moaning building up nicely here.. Grin

SuePurblybiltbyElves · 09/12/2011 14:34

No, not a wind up. If it was the OP would have missed a fabulous opportunity to fit in some hand wringing at allowing children near hot drinks. In a coffee shop.

OrmIrian · 09/12/2011 14:35

Why didn't you take the plastic bits out of the cake? What a waste!

I suspect they don't supply proper knives because they don't sell things that normally need cutting up. Could you not just have torn the food in 2?

They weren't rude, not really. They just pointed out the fact that the knife wasn't meant for cutting things up - just for use with a fork to eat something that needs cutlery and can't be eaten with the fingers alone.

KateFrothers · 09/12/2011 14:35

DS ate a stone at about 22 months. I was very proud Blush

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