Starbucks barista says ‘pay it forward’ chain is actually ‘extremely annoying’

While the Starbucks ‘pay it forward’ chain might seem like a lovely idea to most – it turns out many of the employees aren’t too keen on the idea

If you’re a regular Starbucks customer, you’ll be familiar with the coffee shop chain’s ‘pay it forward’ scheme, which involves paying for the drinks of the person behind you in the queue.

On the face of it, it’s a really lovely gesture, and is, of course, designed to function as a small act of kindness which could make a person’s day.

However, it turns out that the scheme isn’t all that popular when it comes to staff working in the store, according to a former barista, anyway.

Hannah Wilson, who worked for the giant company for nearly seven years, says the pay it forward chain is actually “extremely annoying” for people who are working.

“I just want to say publicly, as a former Starbucks barista of nearly seven years, since the current Starbucks employees can’t say it,” she wrote in her public service announcement-style Facebook post.

“Pay it forward is extremely annoying and makes everything confusing. It makes it easy to hand out the wrong drinks and just sucks.”

Going into a little more detail about why the scheme sucks, Hannah quite rightly pointed out that the people in the queue can likely afford their coffee, or they wouldn’t be in there in the first place.

“Instead of paying for the people behind you, who can probably afford their own stuff since they’re in line intending to pay, tip the people making your drinks who have been understaffed for months,” she continued, before concluding: “Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.”

There’s no getting away from the fact she makes a valid point, but not everyone agrees.

“As a former Starbucks employee, this person sounds salty AF. It’s really not that hard to keep up with, and I loved when people would do it for others,” one person commented.

Meanwhile another added: “That’s not quite the point of pay it forward. Not against tipping – but it’s just not the point.”

Leave a Comment