To think there’s never any need to scream at staff

[Polarbearflavour]

I was in Starbucks today.

Woman at the next table grabbed a barista by the arm and shouted at her - her coffee tasted funny apparently. The barista apologised and went to make her a new one.

The re-made drink was not to her liking. She stood up and leaned over the counter and screamed at the staff! Apparently it was burned tasting.

Why on earth would you get so upset over a drink? The staff were very calm and remade her drink twice. She uttered the immortal words “I’m never coming to Starbucks again.” Pretty sure she’ll be back! Not sure why she expected the baristas to care if she didn’t return.

I’m sure many of us have been upset, sad, dealing with grief but haven’t felt the need to lash out at staff.

^This. There is no excuse for it.

I feel awful for the staff member who was yelled at AND GRABBED?! Who does that to another human being?

I have anxiety and if someone screamed at me and grabbed me whilst I was trying to do my job I would probably break down in tears and/or have a panic attack.

This customer sounds like an absolute psycho. I would have refused to serve them and got management. (And probably gone home due to upset and stress).

Customers are getting more entitled by the day & it's worse over the phone as they'll say far worse than they would to someone's face.

It's used to be maybe once a week that I was shouted or swore at, now it's daily

I have a thick skin but I have turn strips off a customer for making a young staff member cry

It's disgusting. I've worked in many customer facing rolls and nothing shocks me any more.

We had a man just yesterday shout at us, throw a whole shelf of products onto the floor and threaten that he would be waiting at closing time to kick our heads in - all because we wouldn't accept a return of an item he had bought last week that he later decided didn't suit.

Normally I would laugh that off as him being a prize idiot but because of where I work now I was genuinely concerned it wasn't an empty threat!

@AcaiSmoothie out of interest, why wouldn't you return it? Was it obviously used or broken?

Atrocious behaviour from a grown man! I'd have phoned the police as that's a serious threat.

As an NHS worker we sometimes get upset , volatile patients.

I try to find out the situation and bear in mind that they can be frustrated, in pain, scared, anxious if they're late or angry that they've made the journey but find out it's the wrong day , they;ve attended early or missed it, or sometimes they do have an appointment , but not with me , so while they're arguing they should actually be somewhere else (And no, I cannot just "fit you in" )

I do try my upmost to help. Sometimes I can. Sometimes I cannot. I cannot stop time or create an extra 30 minutes.

Sometimes they are so rude , that when I repeat (over and over if neccesary) I'm afraid you've missed your appointment , it was yesterday . A letter has been sent to you , when you receive it , you can phone ( They phone to book so they know the time)
They think the more they complain the more likely they are to get the result they want .
They won't get a rise from me though, I just think "Thank feck I don't have to live in your head"

Not acceptable behaviour to grab someone unless it is to stop harm coming to them or someone else, never mind the screaming. If we had enough police I'd suggest calling them, for fear they could harm someone vulnerable, or even on the grounds they need help.

Loads of people are generally dicks.

I get that some are having a horrible day, but if someone is at the state they can't properly control themselves they should refrain from facing public for a day. Nothing personal, but there is just simply NO excuse to actually scream at a staff, no matter how horrible people's circumstances are.

It was medicine which we would have no way of knowing whether it had been tampered with after leaving the store.

Not sure why our manager didn't phone the police at the time!

A few years ago, I worked as airline cabin crew. Passengers were sometimes rude/grumpy but nobody ever touched me or shouted/verbally abused me.

I hate the phrase “the customer is always right.” If they steal, abuse staff or lie they are hardly “right” are they?

To all the you don't know what is going on in someone's life, surely that applies to the staff too? I've been screamed at after spending my lunchtime in tears because I found out my sister's best friend had been given 6 months to live. I had to suck it up an be polite to the customer though.

Unless they scream at you first. Ikea Tottenham, looking at you.

And I don't think he was having a horrible day, he was just a cunt who thought he'd get what he wanted by being threatening.

coffee tastes burnt if the barista has over heated the milk.

I have a colleague like this. They'll try it with anyone they deem to be 'lower' than them. I don't care what is going on in their head. It's a shit way to be.

I hate the phrase “the customer is always right.” If they steal, abuse staff or lie they are hardly “right” are they?

Nope. Also when they're wanting you to do something illegal like serve someone underage in their group alcohol, or my ultimate favourite - wanting serving after time despite several prompts. Quite often I get accused of being rude for refusing service in these circumstances, because they kick off and make a big fuss and then realise it's getting them nowhere so when a duty manager appears, and explains the same thing they need to feel justified and so say the bar staff were rude about it. We have CCTV so the customer who accused me of flicking them the Vs didn't get me sacked. But they didn't get anything for lying, because well, what can you do really? But that's probably why, no repercussions.

It’s a strange idea that customer service workers are “below” customers. Once they finish their shift and go into another service provider such as a bank or restaurant, they become a customer!

Oh yes, in the eyes of many customers, being told no = rude!

Nobody should have to put up with violence when they are doing their job, I personally think their management should step on and ask them to leave.

I understand some people may lash out after an awful day. But a lot of people just yell because unfortunately they know it gets the best results. I've seen plenty of people being nice to everyone but awful to the person serving them. I think it says a lot about them.

YANBU. Although I do think Starbucks is pretty gross (and I'm not exactly a connoisseur.). I once (politely) ask them to remake my mocha as it tasted really watery. I assumed they'd got the proportions wrong. They were very nice about it and remade the drink. The second one was exactly the same and I realised that was just how it was meant to taste like. No need to be rude about it though. Just don't go back.

As PPs say, unfortunately this isn't so unusual.
Just the other day spent my break in the toilets crying as someone had ranted and was the straw on the camels back after a long line of people either taking their bad day out on me or just were complete bastards.

We've been doing a lot of work in our house over the last year. We've sadly had to send polite emails of complaint to two companies we dealt with. I was very careful to word my emails firmly but politely. I was astonished at the replies I received. The latest was on Tuesday. I actually had tears in my eyes at how rude and personal the email was, despite me painstakingly wording my email not to offend anyone. I think some people are doing so well, they take customers for granted.

Surprised at the number of people being sympathetic towards the abusive person. Whatever is going on in her life, she has made a choice and she is responsible for that. There's never an excuse to be abusive and threatening like this beyond serious mh problems.

I've spent my teenage years working in cafes before I started nursing 13 years ago, so I have been on the receiving end of lots of verbal abuse! In my experience generally people do this because they feel it works for them and gets results. There are a surpring amount of people who shout at those they feel they can, so they'll scream abuse at the care assistant but never their doctor.

I'm a barista. People get VERY upset about their coffees. I think it's an outlet for other frustrations but it's horrible to deal with.

I'm sad that the manager/supervisor didn't kick her out or at least give her a warning that if she continued to behave in that way she'd be kicked out. Especially if she physically grabbed a member of staff. Nobody should have to put up with that at work.