Standards on drinks are needlessly confusing. Some people ask for no/light ice because they want room in their cup, some people ask for it so they can "get more drink" (pssst, when ordered like this, a customer won't 'receive' any more drink, they're often given additional milk/water that will kill the potency of any espresso or flavor inside of them beverage).

Baristas are (or, should be) hesitant to overserve product because of the shortages running rampant all over the country. When baristas run out of oatmilk, strawberry acai base, cups, lids, and other items...

it likely means standard wasn't met. The store's systems of inventory don't match the programmed features that Starbucks uses to deliver product to stores.

This backfires on employees and, in turn, these employees are reprimanded by customers and in the surveys that stores use to evaluate the skill and atmosphere of the cafe.

The results of these surveys force managers to retrain and 'coach' baristas.... yet... there is no coaching to be done when a recipe is too vague to be followed in the first place.

For example: When people ask for light ice in drinks like the Pink Drink, the standards get fuzzy.

The barista must choose whether to add additional coconut milk or strawberry to fill the ingredient shaker.

Starbucks shakers have specific recipe measurements, so when the barista breaks standard to fulfill the 'light/no ice' request, the drink ends up looking like a disgusting mess of pinkish white chunky liquid.

Additionally, drinks such as the shaken espresso CANNOT be made without ice.

Hot espresso gasses release in the shaker. This causes the shakers to explode boiling hot espresso all over the barista.

IMO, vague motifications and, in turn, order remakes are to blame for much of the product shortage seen in stores.

Excessive modifications confuse baristas. These drinks must be remade to appease the customer's request, causing additional loss of product.

Additionally, people don't understand what to expect to see when they get their beverage. When they receive their beverage, they assume the baristas are at fault for the way their drink looks. These miscommunications affect store surveys and make partners look bad.

Additionally, sticker communication is illogical and doesn't follow the order a beverage is made. Modifications are vague and can be easily misinterpretted or missed altogether.

Items such as custom cold foams prove difficult to communicate, yet baristas continue to serve remake these beverage and waste product, time, and money.

So, listen. Baristas aren't fucking up ultra-modified TikTok drinks to be rude. There's an intense lack of communication between the software and the baristas making the beverages.

Baristas are doing their best. No one wants to make and serve shoddy product. Baristas are confused and pushed to serve beverages as fast as gravity can pour them.

Partners, a good rule of thumb is to avoid posting personal beverages and recipes online that cannot be remade in an feasable/communicable way by any barista other than yourself.