Was a woman making Starbucks workers’ lives harder, or was she being “gaslit?” According to TikTok viewers, it’s the latter for a customer who went to pick up her mobile order only to be chastised for doing so.
In a viral clip, TikToker Quela (@quela_fowler) films herself at a Starbucks drive-thru picking up an order she ordered through the mobile app. However, what was supposed to be a smooth interaction made her feel thrown off after a manager got “upset” with her.
“Starbucks manager got on the headset and was upset that I mobile ordered,” Quela writes in the text overlay. She sits in the driver’s seat, speaking to a worker at the intercom. After informing them she’s there for her order, the worker says they’ll check on it. Then another worker, whom Quela identified as the manager, hops on to speak with her.
“Hey Quela, so looks like we’re still working on that,” the manager tells her. “Normally, we ask that you wait till you get a notification on your app just because that way you don’t have to wait for us to finish it.”
She then tells Quela to pull up and they’ll “try to finish it when you get up here.”
‘It says it was ready’
At the window, the worker again tells Quela that she should wait until the app tells her the drink is ready.
“It says it was ready,” Quela replies. “So that’s why I came through.”
The worker appears surprised at this revelation and tells her they still haven’t “pulled the sticker” and were still on the sixth drink order for the day.
Quela added in the caption that “the manager said I didn’t know how to work the app and then pretended to not hear me.” She notes that the barista was “super nice,” however.
Quela ends up getting her order, with both parties confused as to why the app told her the drink was ready when it wasn’t.
Luckily, it appears one of Quela’s viewers may have known the answer to that.
Was Starbucks ‘gaslighting’ her?
“Ex Starbs barista here,” a user commented. “They pull the sticker and hit ‘ready’ on the iPad for your drink to make it look like they’re making drinks quicker than they are. That’s why it said it was ready. They’re gaslighting you.”
“Not your fault they are behind when the app said it’s ready,” another said. “Girl, you’re nicer than me.”
Another said the worker was “basically insulating they’re behind and their numbers are going to turn red by having you wait at the window more than 30ish seconds.”
But if that were true, why would a Starbucks worker want to appear that they are making drinks faster?
Does Starbucks time workers on mobile orders?
Yes. In its new training documents shared in March, Starbucks reduced its wait time for mobile and delivery orders to 12 minutes, per Entrepreneur. In-store and drive-thru orders were also reduced to 4 minutes. According to the article, it’s unknown whether the coffee company had timed goals previously. It’s safe to say now, however, baristas will have to pick up the pace to keep customers happy.
It’s possible Quela’s baristas were trying to meet the timed goal, resulting in the app notifying her it was ready when in reality it wasn’t. However, there could be another reason the worker was annoyed that Quela showed up before it was ready.
Starbucks workers have been vocal before about customers placing mobile orders seconds before arriving to pick up. In one Reddit post from 2023, a customer asked baristas why they always sounded annoyed when they picked up their order.
Several shared timing as the main reason for their irritation. According to several comments, folks place an order mere seconds or minutes before pulling up. This causes Starbucks workers to rush, and slows down the drive-thru line, making it a longer wait time for everybody.
However, as Quela said her order was ready, it doesn’t seem she was in the wrong. Several in the comments also didn’t think the worker was upset, but many agreed that the “speech” was unnecessary.
“They dragged that out. So rude to mention it twice and make you feel like you did something wrong,” a user said.
Starbucks’ new policy changes anger customers
The timed goals appear to be one of the several policy changes the new CEO enacted earlier this year. One of the more controversial ones has been the free water policy. Now, only purchasing customers are allowed to request free water, and you can’t buy the water either. Folks must pay for something first. This rule now applies to using the bathroom and hanging out in the store, too. This reverses Starbucks’ previous open-door policy.
@quela_fowler I’m still a bit confused why she was upset with me if my order was ready? I was showing them my order was complete (so I didn’t get this part on camera) but the manager said I didn’t know how to work the app and then pretended to not hear me. ): The barista at the window was SUPER nice though!!? I used to be a barista and I’m always really patient with my drink orders. I wished her a good day #starbucks #coffeeorder #manager #fyp #creatorsearchinsights ♬ original sound – Quela?
The Mary Sue reached out to Quela via Instagram direct message and to Starbucks via email.
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