A man shared in a viral TikTok how a Starbucks barista refused to add a banana loaf to his order in the drive-thru.
TikTok user @theprimetimejon told his followers about what happened to him in the Starbucks drive-thru. He stated he was “not being a Karen” but wanted to ask a question for any Starbucks barista that viewed his TikTok.
The TikToker claimed he ordered his daily drink order and as he pulled up to the window to pay, he realized he wanted a slice of banana nut bread, too. When @theprimetimejon drove up to the window, he said he apologized profusely and asked politely if the barista could add banana bread to his order.
To his surprise, he says her response was, “We have a lot going on, so if you have to go all the way back around and reorder.”
The TikToker said he did not care if her response was “right or wrong,” but rather if the way she handled it was “accurate.” He wondered whether the barista could’ve added the bread instead of him having to drive around and place another order.
During an interview with The Daily Dot, @theprimetimejon revealed this took place at a location in Mississippi. Despite going there every day and always being treated well, he said he was never helped by this barista before. The creator claimed he never found out whether the barista was correct in doing this but a lot of baristas in the comments said she was wrong. In addition, he said he didn’t go back and place the order.
“I just said, [OK] and moved on, didn’t want to be annoying. I did not go back around because to me it wasn’t worth it,” he told The Daily Dot via email.
@theprimetimejon I just wanna know😂I know I shouldn’t have ordered at the window but geez🥴but I guess oh well I’ll get the bread next time😪 #theprimetimejon #starbucks ♬ original sound – J
The video garnered over 35,000 views as of Monday, where many alleged current and former Starbucks workers claimed that the barista was in the wrong.
“We have people who don’t realize they pass the speaker and have to order at the window, adding on a banana bread is nothing!” one viewer wrote.
“5 year barista , she was totally in the wrong,” a second agreed.
“As a former 9 year Starbucks Supervisor, yes you can it doesn’t matter how busy the store is! Starbucks has a policy that’s the ‘Say Yes’ Be kind,” a third shared.
However, the most commonly speculated reason as to why the barista may have refused to add the TikToker’s banana bread order was because it affected drive-thru times.
“If it’s realllllyyyy busy, our [store manager] tells us not to do any add ons bc it ruins our drive thru times and messes up the flow of things a bit,” one person stated.
“If it’s during peak we get yelled at for doing add ons,” another shared.
One user said, “My supervisor or manager will tell me to say this at the window b/c there focus is drive thru times.”
“In my store we are not allowed to add anything at the window because of our times BUT if its something simple like a loaf or a cake pop we do it,” a user commented.
Even so, many baristas claimed in the comments that there was still a way for the worker to keep up with her drive-thru times as well as make sure the customer got their order.
“If it’s during peak they might have you pull up front and we’d bring it out to you (cuz we timed) but yes we can add the bread,” a user wrote.
“You can add it at the window but at my store if it’s during peak we will usually have the car pull over so it doesn’t mess up the window time,” another added.
