Starbucks’ Customer War: Students vs Middle-Aged-Women

We understand you are looking for a quiet place to do your work so you ruled out the school library because that’s just too quiet and if you choose your bed, you’ll find yourself studying or working with extra comfort and close to your kitchen, you may doze off. I know what you feel because it happens to me so often.

And without thinking twice, You’ll end up in a familiar place: cozy ambiance, soft (soothing music)! Sound familiar?

Whether you love this coffee chain or happen to think they make the worst drip coffee imaginable, one thing’s for sure: you can always find a Starbucks when you need a jolt of caffeine. So while its coffee quality may be questionable, Starbucks sure is highly dependable.

On December 18, 2014, a Starbucks customer took to Facebook her negative experience not with Starbucks customer service but with another customer. Her Facebook post originally appeared on this site which has gone viral and received negative criticism describing her as boastful for showing excessive pride.

An online commenter even said:

pareho nman clang mali. ung group ng matatanda hnd tama na ppringgan mo ung nkaupa at siksik mo n halos ung sarili mo. ung ngsulat nman d2 obyus nman na mapanghamak sa mahihirap grabe nman mkpangmata ng tao. hnd nman porke mdlas sa sb akala mo nman kung cnu kna. mayabang dn xa n filing nya cla lng n mga mataas s lipunan ang pde mg sb. hnd porke ng order k you will stay there for a day. hello akala mo lng ok lng s sb staff pero s 22o lng inookray nman tlg nila kau. mayaman lng kc usually kya wala cla nggwa. sa tingin ko khit magkaibang mundo ung 2 group of customer n e2 isa lng ang tingin ko pareho lng clang nging walang pinag aralan. even the one who wrote the incident. hahahaha… chepepay dn kau. just like sa group ng mga matnda n sinasabi nyang bastos s story nya.

“A First in Starbucks Robinsons Malolos”

No, this isn’t one of the mainstream obligatory Starbucks photo. This isn’t even an experience happy to tell. But I’m telling it anyway because this is the first time, ever, that I have encountered such ill-mannered people in Starbucks, or any coffee shop for that matter.

My sister and I went to Starbucks Malolos to meet with a high school friend we haven’t seen for long, and hopefully, to de-stress from such a stressful semester. It was convenient because it was the nearest coffee shop from our place.

Being avid patronizers of Starbucks, my sister and I both know how things usually go in SB. This coffee shop is usually used as a study place, a meeting place for professionals, a cozy spot for catch-ups, and so on. Never have we thought of it as fastfood restaurant wherein you are obliged to leave right after you have finished your coffee and consumed your cinnamon bun. No. Coffee shops just do not work that way.

Until today, while we were in the middle of a good conversation with friends we haven’t seen for years, with my frappe almost half consumed and only a fourth of my cinnamon eaten, I noticed a group of old women (maybe in the early 40s) surrounding our group. One of the women even placed her bag on the arm rest of my couch and I let her, thinking maybe, she’s merely waiting in line (because the line in Starbucks Malolos is unimaginably long). But no, they aren’t. They are actually pressuring us to leave and we aren’t even done with our food, and most especially, with our time together. They stayed there and listened to our conversation and when they figured we wouldn’t be leaving any soon, the same woman I was mentioning earlier waved to her friend and said loudly, “Diyan! Diyan kayo maghintay mayayari na yan.” There was another huge group of young college students next to our table who seemed to be catching up, too. And these women circled on this group as well. I felt like the students got pressured in the presence of the old ladies that they were forced to leave.

When they finally got their seats (unfortunately next to us) this woman didn’t get satisfied. She loudly said, which I know is directed to us, “Pag kasi tapos na kumain, alis na.” And my sister, obviously annoyed, answered back.. “Hindi po ito fastfood.”

They were a group of 15 women and the seats still did not suffice. One was even sitting on the arm rest of my friend, which was by the way, a very rude thing to do if you are a stranger. You are invading a personal space and I suppose that is a common knowledge everyone must know. On one of our small tables with my friends’ cups of coffee on, the women even placed their tray of frappes seemingly saying “LEAVE. This is our space now.” They didn’t even establish a division. We were seated side by side with them making us feel unwelcome. (But we didn’t need nor want their welcome anyway)

We pulled our couches away from them and I guess one of the women understood what we were trying to say. She got the tray and placed it back to their table. (Yes. They got space on their table. They did that as an insult but it didn’t work, apparently.)

The same woman I’ve been mentioning didn’t stop there. She’s been babbling, making it to a point that we hear it.

“Tignan mo oh. Yun lang naman binili nila.” (Excuse me miss. You don’t drown yourself with coffee. Starbucks also isn’t new to us that we would get so excited with it and buy everything in their menu. Also, we don’t take obligatory photo of our faces next to a Starbucks frappe to upload in Facebook to show off. Starbucks do not excite us. It can be an everyday thing to us. So don’t brag about the 15 cups of frappe you ordered.)

“Picturan niyo! Picturan niyo!” The same woman got her tablet and took a photo of us. It was late that I realized she did. Had I known it a few seconds earlier, I would have smiled and took a pose. And so I got my sister’s iPad, and took a photo of them too. She said “Ipopost ko ‘to!” with a big smile on her face. I answered back, and said, “Sige lang po meron din po kayo :)” with a huge smile on my face too.

This fight-for-space is getting exciting. I can feel my heartbeat rising, partly because of the espresso, and partly because I never thought I’d get to encounter people like such in Starbucks. I thought everyone recognizes the common courtesy of first-come-first-served. But apparently, I was wrong.

After about an hour, one by one the women started leaving. One even passed by behind us and said “Alis na ko, masyado na kong nagtatagal.” And we’re not naive not to understand that message is for us, too.

The woman finally finished with her food, stood up, and shouted, “WE’RE DONE!!!” And that was damn pathetic. She walked towards us, looking at us from head to toe, what we ordered, with a huge grin on her face,and said “Pag tapos na kumain, alis na.” And as a wrap-up on this fight-for-space, I told her “Dalas-dalasan niyo po sa SB. So you’d know how it is.”

I am posting this as a mere rant. (Or maybe as a response to her threat of posting our photo :)) ) I do not wish to argue with anyone if this post, in any way, seemed to be ‪#‎burgis‬ or whatsoever. Please, we all have such moments wherein we have to fight even for our simplest and most shallow right. So cut me some slack, at least for tonight.

As a college student often spending almost an entire day in coffee shops to study and cram for a requirement, I know how it is to respect the personal space of a fellow student. Although it is not for the purpose of studying, I believe it is a common courtesy to respect a fellow customer’s space and initiative to go earlier than I did, and when I come in and realize there are no more available seats, I go out and look for another coffee shop.

Unfortunately, we cannot expect everyone to think the same way we do. *sigh*

‪#‎culturaldifferences‬

We can see other people’s behavior, but not their experience. Obviously her Facebook post was meant to convey a a message to friends, like how we normally share things to our friends on how our days went.

In everything that we do, there will always be two sides of the coin. People will either see both or just one face.

We were ‘bullied’ and the post I made was meant to tell a story in a personal facebook account with only a few friends, like how we tell our friends on how our days went. Apparently, a lot of people could somewhat ‘relate’ to it that it has reached more than 3,000 shares.

If you’d ask what the need for posting the picture is, it was them who first threatened us about posting it. This is merely returning the favor. We wouldn’t know anyway what they wrote about us. And I never thought as well, that this would go viral in a matter of days.

People are starting to call me names: “matapobre,” “conyo kid,” “palamunin.” Call me whatever names you’d want to call me but I stand firm on this. Respect is earned, not demanded.

It’s saddening, however, how the issue I’m trying to raise on that said post has been interpreted in so many ways far from what I’m trying to point out. This is not an issue of social status, of another cliche rich vs poor dilemma, or the 21st generation kids vs the oldies. This is an issue of respect and the common courtesy of learning how to wait.

For what it’s worth, no we haven’t been there for long. We were there for about half an hour, after falling in line and waiting for our orders to be made. And again, no, none of us were even halfway done with our food yet when this happened. I hope this serves as a clarification.

And to these women, we would have gladly shared with you the couch that has been vacated by my friend who left earlier and have given you the table (wherein you placed your tray on) had you asked nicely.

P.S. This is not intended to bully anyone. This is intended to tell a story of bullying. But someone must have flipped the coin.

Last night I was in a coffee shop for 3 hours I was waiting for friends. As long as you are working I don’t think any one cares. As long as you aren’t being a jackass and harassing other customers you are good to go. Now, if the Starbucks is in the middle of downtown’s financial district, I probably would not stay too long ’cause that might be out of the norm.

Do you study, have business meetings or just hang out at Starbucks? If so, which side are you on? Let us know in the comment section below.