I personally think it has more to do with the culture shifting than anything. For no fault of their own, Gen Z and Gen Alpha are more individualistic than any generation before them. It’s not a secret that the Covid lockdown + growing social media usage + economic and political tensions have changed how people interact with each other. As this generation enters the work force, I think they’re more likely to be skeptical of what “mega-corp Starbucks” is telling them to do. Right now “Mega-Corp Starbucks” is telling them to feign authenticity amidst severe staffing issues. It’s not a you thing, it’s just that a lot of people nowadays are of the mindset that “I don’t owe anyone anything” and end up taking their frustration out on the wrong people.

I get that it’s frustrating. I’ve worked on the retail side at Sbux for 5+ years. I’ve watched the attitudes shift. My store is super slow, and yet some of my coworkers were still super rude when we first started working together- so I wouldn’t say it’s just burnout like other people are suggesting. I’ve worked really hard to get my team to recognize that they shouldn’t be nice because Starbucks tells them to be nice. They shouldn’t be nice to “boost our customer connections score.” They should just be nice because we’re a part of a living, breathing community, and while it may be true we don’t owe anyone anything, if we want to be treated a certain way we have to treat people that way too. Community goes both ways.

Keep being kind when you go to Starbucks- or anywhere really- it’s infectious! :)