I was waiting for my bank appointment across the street.

Otherwise no, I never go to Starbucks. There's nothing good to eat or drink.

Anonymous wrote:If that's what is nearby when I want a drink or drink and baked good, I go there. What am I supposed to do, stand on the sidewalk or sit on a planter and gnaw my food? Drink while walking? Uh no.

All of their baked items are frozen and full of seed oils. It's garbage.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I travel for work and will go to Starbucks between appointments some times. You never know if an indie shop will have wifi or a comfy place to hang for a little bit. You know Starbucks does.

Most locations are now gross and post Covid they seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel for staff.

I don’t feel comfortable sitting in proximity to mentally ill homeless people while on a $2000 laptop.

My theory is the veteran baristas cashed in with that generous state and federal Covid unemployment and moved on from the service industry.

This is purely by design. My 21 year old went through three rounds of interviews between two locations (one referred him to the other) and he didn't get either job. He had experience and availability. Starbucks is actually choosey on who they hire.

Their cortado is a perfect — even better if you ask for it to be made with half and half. So darn good.

Anonymous wrote:I travel for work and will go to Starbucks between appointments some times. You never know if an indie shop will have wifi or a comfy place to hang for a little bit. You know Starbucks does.

Most locations are now gross and post Covid they seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel for staff.

I don’t feel comfortable sitting in proximity to mentally ill homeless people while on a $2000 laptop.

My theory is the veteran baristas cashed in with that generous state and federal Covid unemployment and moved on from the service industry.

Also to be clear I'm not disparaging you - sometimes you need that easy consistency and SBUX provides that.

Anonymous wrote:I travel for work and will go to Starbucks between appointments some times. You never know if an indie shop will have wifi or a comfy place to hang for a little bit. You know Starbucks does.

Literally why every single chain on earth exists

My kid had tutoring there. This was before Covid.

There are two Starbucks near me and one of them is actually one of the cleaner, more pleasant coffee shops in my neighborhood. Like there is also a Blue Bottle, a Maman, and a couple others nearby, and I would choose the Starbucks if I needed somewhere to work or hang out for a bit because the seating is more comfortable, it has better temp control (the Maman is always super hot for some reason), and I feel anonymous/invisible there in a pleasant way -- no one bothers me.

The other one is kind of meh but it's near my kid's school and I will sometimes stop in and sit for 5 minutes if I'm early for pick up and want somewhere to read a book.

I'm a tea drinker and the earl grey at Starbucks is fine, plus usually cheaper than other places. They use Harney & Sons which I also use at home, so it's actually a wash for me in terms of quality.

People who meet friends for coffee.

Cute little neighborhood coffee shops are not ubiquitous. And may have no restrooms available for customers.
LaCoop in Arlington Forest is a place I really really wanted to like. But the baked goods are stale and the medium roast beans were scorched last time, $18 wasted. (I know roasts.)
I went back to ordering George Howell coffee. He sold his first businee to...Starbucks because they wanted rights to Frappucino.

I travel for work and will go to Starbucks between appointments some times. You never know if an indie shop will have wifi or a comfy place to hang for a little bit. You know Starbucks does.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a very cute local coffee shop I go into. It's very clean and the young owners are very nice. The Starbucks near me is dirty and rundown.

Once the a-hole faux "progressive" billionaire founder forced all locations to open their doors to loiterers and drug addicts, Starbucks became gross. The same a-hole billionaire just posted on LinkedIn that he moved to Miami (to duck Washington state income taxes, like a true parasite).

Who cares? This is a business people don't have to patronize. It's not like a bus stop shelter or a library where people don't have a choice. These businesses can do what they want and you can go somewhere else.

Anonymous wrote:I have a very cute local coffee shop I go into. It's very clean and the young owners are very nice. The Starbucks near me is dirty and rundown.

Once the a-hole faux "progressive" billionaire founder forced all locations to open their doors to loiterers and drug addicts, Starbucks became gross. The same a-hole billionaire just posted on LinkedIn that he moved to Miami (to duck Washington state income taxes, like a true parasite).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do not go to Starbucks. I prefer real sit down cafes/restaurants that serve coffee in a ceramic or porcelain cup/mug.

This. Swigging cappuccino out of a paper cup as you walk is barbaric.

*plastic-lined paper cups. Enjoy those microplastics!