A New Jersey Starbucks Drive Thru Experience Left Me Speechless and Sour
I know there are Starbucks all over the place, but they just opened one near my house and right on my way to work, so I was excited.
Over the weekend I gave the new Hooper Avenue location in Toms River a try.
It was a really nice day and I didn't have anywhere to be, so I got in the obscenely long line and relaxed because I knew it was going to be a while.
Plus, I usually go to Dunkin' because of my commute, so I figured why not mix things up a little bit.
I should say upfront that I'm not a coffee drinker. I never have been.
I've tried it many times and I just don't like the taste.
That's why I've never really understood the "Starbucks," "Dunkin'," "Wawa," and "insert local roaster here" people.
If you enjoy coffee, it must be pretty amazing because people take their java very seriously.
I do really enjoy Starbucks' black tea.
After about half an hour I got to pull up to the speaker and screen to place my order.
I was greeted by a very nice woman who said "welcome to Starbucks, how are you today?"
I said "good, how are you?" She replied "Dandy, how may I help you?"
Can you imagine how many responses this woman gets when she has to ask every customer how their day is going? She probably has some stories.
Anyway, I ordered a grande unsweetened iced black tea with extra lemon.
All of a sudden I see a black tea lemonade pop up on the screen.
I told the woman that the order was incorrect and that I wanted an unsweetened iced tea with extra lemon.
Trust me, I wish I could have their black tea lemonade. It was my go-to for caffeine for many years, but I was recently diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, so I have to cut out the sugar, sadly.
It was at this point that the Starbucks drive-thru employee said something that almost made my head explode.
"We don't have lemons."
I was so confused, but I took the black tea without lemon anyway because I wasn't going to leave that line after waiting all this time without anything to show for it.
There was another wait before I paid for my beverage and picked up my drink.
During that time I was trying to figure out how they don't offer lemons.
Were they out of lemons? Is it possible that a massive chain like Starbucks doesn't offer lemons?
It turns out that if you're looking for lemon at Starbucks, you're not going to find one.
They have lemonade, but no lemons. How is this possible? I still haven't found an answer, but according to a couple of Reddit threads, this isn't a new thing.
If someone from Starbucks comes across this and has an explanation, I'd really like to hear from you.
If you worked at Starbucks, please reach out to me at matt.ryan@townsquaremedia.com if you have an answer because it's simply puzzling to me and has left me a bit sour. Kidding.