By Eric Schoen
Starbucks Baristas
I must admit that I am one of those ‘geeks’ who sits at Starbucks drinking my quad espresso over ice, ice first please before the espresso shots working and people watching several days a week. Many of the items I share with you each week, many topics for columns I write come from people to Eric interactions that I have at Starbucks locations, including my ‘home’ Starbucks on Bronx River Road in Yonkers.
Many years ago I was in an airport somewhere in America, stopped for some coffee at a place I had never heard of, liked the coffee and looked for a store that sold the coffee close to home. I found it in Bronxville, Starbucks’ first store in Westchester. The Bronxville store was followed by a store in Mount Kisco, a wee bit away from little ‘Ol Yonkers.
There is something about sitting in Starbucks, greeting friends and making new ones that intrigues me. For those of you who have been to London, it’s like going to Hyde Park and visiting Speakers Corner to hear people’s thoughts on their world combined with visiting your favorite local bagel store on a Sunday morning and chatting with your neighbors, all waiting on line for a quarter pound of lox, cream cheese and hot bagels. Or a visit to your local diner at peak time when everyone from the neighborhood is there. Or on Park Hill in Yonkers where on Sunday morning folks would go to Mt. Carmel Church and then walk down to Cafe Puglia for an espresso and a box of pastries to take home for Sunday relaxation with the family.
Going to Starbucks for probably 20 years I have witnessed a lot. And each store whether it is in Bronxville, Bronx River Road in Yonkers or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has its own unique culture and habits. That’s what makes sipping your low fat, soy, extra hot cappuccino with 2 1/2 Splenda so interesting.
I have said for years that one day I will write a book on what I have observed during my visits to Starbucks. Like in Bronxville when a man asked for his coffee ‘fast’ to make his train. Or also in Bronxville when a husband running to board the train to his half million dollar job in New York City told the barista he had no money with him and that his wife would soon come by to pay for his coffee.
Or on Bronx River Road where a man comes in with his hair died green. Almost weekly. Or the man who drags his gigantic computer screen in to do work, a computer screen so gigantic that it should remain stationary in his office and not be moved around.
Or at the Ridge Hill Starbucks where a grandfather babysitting his grandchild got his coffee, went over to the condiment bar to add cream and sugar, put the lid on the coffee, the lid was not sufficiently secured and the hot coffee poured onto his grandchild. It was a summer day but thank god his grandchild had long pants and a long shirt on and received no burns.
If you learn anything from this column today, when you take the lid off your coffee to add cream and sweetener, make sure you secure the lid before drinking it. We can send a man to the moon but can’t devise a spill proof cup to hold our daily Java!
Rude customers yelling at baristas, customers making a mess at the condiment bar (you wonder what their homes look like), baristas getting burned from scalding water, customers ordering one drink when they want another and asking the barista to remake their drink and customers leaving their garbage on tables often covered with the cereal their child was consuming.
People leaving the Starbucks bathrooms like a pig sty not even telling staff the bathroom is a mess or without toilet paper. I could go on and on with the disgusting ways people act at Starbucks. They offer mobile ordering now but do I want these pig customers fumbling all the drinks waiting to be picked up possibly contaminating mine.
Knowing what the Starbucks barista goes through, when I heard what happened in the Philadelphia store I was saddened but figured they would fire the employees involved and the manager or give them sensitivity training, the Police would review the incident to make sure proper protocols were followed, and all would learn from this experience. Never did I think of the situation as racist or where Black Lives Matter signs should be displayed.
For every one manager and barista at the store in Philadelphia who screwed up there are 1000’s of managers and baristas across the country and the world who work hard for little money and put up with a lot of crap from customers. They clean the tables and bathrooms only to have customers make a mess again.
Starbucks is doing the right thing terminating the Philadelphia store manager and providing training to its employees. They are closing stores on the afternoon of May 29 for racial bias education. They should provide the training, but closing stores? I could train the employees in an hour so that they could continue their good work and not lose any money from working they desperately need or money from tips that give them a little extra every week.
The incident in Philadelphia was blown out of proportion as most Starbucks employees go out of their way to give good customer service and a good experience when visiting stores. With college benefits, health benefits and stock purchase benefits the company does a lot for its employees. Boycotting Starbucks is ridiculous. You are only hurting your friends and neighbor’s.
Anyway, how can you compare Starbucks coffee to the wishy washy coffee you get at their leading competitor!
Barbara Bush
When I look at the disgusting verbiage coming from President Trump and the pissing contest he is having with Yonkers’ own James Comey or closer to home, the nastiness in the race for Senator featuring Assemblywoman Shelley Mayer and Julie Killian, I hark for the days when people in politics would respect each other, fight it out on Election Day and work together afterwards.
I want classy ladies Like Westchester’s own Barbara Bush, born in NYC, raised in Rye who brought a certain air of elegance to the White House and our country. Yes she had a bite and a lot of spunk to her, but she was a classy lady in everything she did.
What is going on in the political world today. She might have her flaws, we all do but the way Julie Killian’s campaign has gone negative against Shelly Mayer is totally uncalled for. We don’t need that negativism in Westchester. Tell us what you are going to do to make our lives better. If I could I would vote for my friend Shelley and encourage you to do so.
America lost a great lady in the passing of Barbara Bush. I heard her speak at the Memorial Service for the grandmother of a family friend and it was all class, elegance and conversation from the heart.
Boy, could we use that spirit in 2018. R.I.P. Barbara Bush!
Reach Eric Schoen at thistooisyonkers@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @ericyonkers. Listen to Eric Schoen and Dan Murphy on the Westchester Rising Radio Show Thursday’s from 10-11 a.m. On WVOX 1460 AM or download the SIMPLE RADIO app for free from the APP STORE.
