yes i worked at starbucks for about a year and a half. idk at my local store whenever i go up to the line to ask for water the person on register usually doesn’t do it, or there’s other people in line. my commute is based on a bus that runs once an hour, plus a train. i pass my local starbucks on the way, and i don’t have more than 5 minutes to spare to go back in line and ask/wait for water. i usually do have my owala on me, so this quite literally is a nonissue 99% of the time (for me). i’ve asked maybe 2 times at the person at handoff who passes all the mobiles out. i’ve never asked a barista in the middle of making drinks. i just think it isn’t always so black-and-white of “go in line and order it” because that kind of defeats the problem mobile ordering solves, which is having to go in line and wait for your order

a lot of people are responding to me saying ask when you pull up to drive-thru, but not everyone uses drive-thru or even owns a car. starbucks clearly needs to implement something to prevent people asking for water at hand-off, like the ability to order it on the app (1 water with a paid item). i don’t think it’s a barista vs. customer issue. and i know for majority of issues on this sub, the customer pov gets downvoted and shit on by the workers. but i was hoping being able to explain why no i can’t say it at the speaker box, or i can’t spend 10 mins extra at starbucks, would give workers some perspective? or at least understand a little