A Starbucks barista’s recounting of an experience with an unsatisfied customer who asked to be surprised by their drink order has prompted responses from current and former baristas who have had similar experiences.
In her video which has drawn over 61,000 views, user Brooke (@neverbrookeagain) says she was asked to surprise a customer who was unhappy that her drink came with an additional charge for almond milk.
@neverbrookeagain #stitch with @kristenalk working at starbucks is no joke yall #starbucks #tobeapartner ♬ original sound – brookie
Brooke, who says she worked at Starbucks for three-and-a-half years, stitched a video from another creator who shared their disappointment with a barista’s response to their “surprise me” request.
“People would come in all the time and order ‘surprise me’ drinks, or ‘can you give me your favorite drink,’ or whatever, right,” Brooke says of her experience in the video. “So I ring this person up one time for a ‘surprise me’ drink. They get to the end or whatever, and they start screaming at me because I charged them for almond milk in their drink.”
Brooke was perplexed at the customer’s reaction.
“I’m like, you told me to give you a ‘surprise me’ drink, I just gave you a surprise?” she says. “That was the reaction. So what she did was not very nice, but honestly, please have some patience with baristas because they are tired and overworked.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Brooke via a comment on the video, as other methods of communication could not be identified, as well as to Starbucks directly via email.
In the comments section, some viewers said the fun of surprise beverages was ruined by a few customers who were unhappy with their results.
“No seriously,” one commenter wrote. “The karen’s ruined surprise drinks.”
“Someone got mad at me because they don’t like blended fruit in their drinks and I gave them a blended mango drangonfruitnlemonade lmao,” another user said.
“I would have a customer who would always order surprise me drinks and get mad when we gave her something she had before,” a further user claimed.
Others said the situation was made worse by customers who had pickier preferences.
“Or it’s super annoying when they want a surprise drink but they’re also like super picky,” a commenter wrote.
“Yeah no it was funny plus half the time people are v picky & don’t like it,” another added.
“If you’re asking for a surprise, you take it, you don’t complain,” a third suggested. “You chose a mysterious destiny, this is no one’s fault but your own if ya don’t like if you’re asking for a surprise, you take it, you don’t complain. You chose a mysterious destiny, this is no one’s fault but your own if ya don’t like.”
