Starbucks Thailand Tells Teachers "Order More Coffee Or Get Lost"

[Svengoolie]

Starbucks (aka Five Bucks--cuz everything costs Five Bucks), in the States is a bastion for the following: Homeless people who want a clean restroom, fat girls updating their match.com profiles with pics of J-Lo, Sensitive artists working on their new novel (btw. "Rain cascading softly outside, while I sip my Chai Latte" is the most common opening line), Ambulance chasing lawyers signing contracts (it's where I met mine), and as of lately--the Starbucks near my house hosts late night "Apocalypse Cults". Right wing Christian groups who are making preparations for the coming rapture.

Now, Maybe that's just Southern California for you, what is the model for the country you are in?

[MaxYakov]

Starsucks coffee... Wont be seen dead there either. At Black Canyon they serve a very decent Black Canyon hot at a very fair price...

Never mind the coffee. A more important question is, how long can you hang around before they throw you out?

And, just as important: Will they let you flop on the cot you brought with you?

[aussiebebe]

I agree with those who say that Starbucks coffee tastes terrible. I've had perhaps a half dozen in my life (all in the USA) and every single one tasted burnt.

As with most problems like this, technology provides a solution. The cash register receipt should provide a password to the wifi hotspot that is valid for 45 minutes, or however long the business wants its paying customers to hang around before making another purchase.

Well in all the years I have been going in there I have never had a coffee, but I have had a gazillion vanilla frappacino's (spelling ) Try them....yummy on a hot day!

Ah, another frappuccino guy! I'm exactly the same, I don't drink coffee but Starbucks frappuccinos are awesome, aren't they? Glad to know I'm not alone.

[GentlemanJim]

The REAL WORLD is being polluted, destroyed and overdeveloped by capitalist corporations. All I see is every democratic system in the REAL world today, NOT controlled by the people FOR the people but BY the corporations FOR the corporations. The NWCO is upon us amen...

he

But you are contributing to all that right now. The pollution caused by the fossil fuels used to power the computer you are on, the masses of natural resources used just to make the computer. The corporations that build the internet and put up the servers and the broadband connections and the sattelites and...... need I go on. If you dont want to pollute the world and dont like corporations then get off the bloody computer and the internet and go get some candles.

Has this bloke ever heard of ALTERNATIVE ENERGY, The world isnt black and white Bill O reilly, give the grey man a break and let the green life grow between the lines of your narrow mind...

So what are you doing now? Let me guess, sat in an alternative internet cafe, peddling a bicycle arrangement to power a dynamo to give you power for the internet. Meanwhile outside, the generator is running on solar power absorbed today. Now, it is only a few minutes ago you were talking about the real world, so get real.

[MilesCh]

Interesting that I haven't noticed this activity. Perhaps because I won't go near Starbucks to drink their lousy product. And is someone saying they don't charge by the hour for internet usage? If not, perhaps I will visit one and have an orange sugary drink or such.

[GentlemanJim]

I agree with those who say that Starbucks coffee tastes terrible. I've had perhaps a half dozen in my life (all in the USA) and every single one tasted burnt.

As with most problems like this, technology provides a solution. The cash register receipt should provide a password to the wifi hotspot that is valid for 45 minutes, or however long the business wants its paying customers to hang around before making another purchase.

Well in all the years I have been going in there I have never had a coffee, but I have had a gazillion vanilla frappacino's (spelling ) Try them....yummy on a hot day!

Ah, another frappuccino guy! I'm exactly the same, I don't drink coffee but Starbucks frappuccinos are awesome, aren't they? Glad to know I'm not alone.

They can rid me of four hours of shopping fatigue in 10 minutes!! Thanks for the spelling by the way

[Nisa]

Given the OP and the 9 pages of comments covering everything from homelessness, poverty, politics, pollution, ills of society & technology, healthcare, unhealthiness of soy milk, Thai people don't walk anywhere, Thai Governments lack of concern for its people & education, ladyboy bars & ping pong shows, alternative energy .... I am shocked that Thaksin has not been implicated in this (yet).

[Jayman]

Given the OP and the 9 pages of comments covering everything from homelessness, poverty, politics, pollution, ills of society & technology, healthcare, unhealthiness of soy milk, Thai people don't walk anywhere, Thai Governments lack of concern for its people & education, ladyboy bars & ping pong shows, alternative energy .... I am shocked that Thaksin has not been implicated in this (yet).

I'm pretty sure this is a red shirt hatched plot to keep the yellows from getting the tutoring they deserve.

[Reasonableman]

Given the OP and the 9 pages of comments covering everything from homelessness, poverty, politics, pollution, ills of society & technology, healthcare, unhealthiness of soy milk, Thai people don't walk anywhere, Thai Governments lack of concern for its people & education, ladyboy bars & ping pong shows, alternative energy .... I am shocked that Thaksin has not been implicated in this (yet).

And now he has been.

[Jawnie]

It's not just high school kids being tutored, either. I was on a date at the Terminal 21 Starbucks. We walked into the area, looked around and I saw one guy (an adult Thai in business attire) with a laptop using two tables. I walked over and began to sit at the vacant table. He said, "Hey, what are you doing?" It was obvious so I said simple that we want a table. He said I couldn't have the second table because he was waiting for some people to show up for a meeting. I started getting a little steamed, but my Thai lady friend called me off and we sat somewhere else. It doesn't just happen at Starbucks....MacDonalds is another place where one person will sit at a table for four zoned out on a smart phone while people with kids or couples search for seats.

In the US, squatters like this get moved out pretty quickly.

Edited July 25, 2012 by Jawnie

[Nisa]

Given the OP and the 9 pages of comments covering everything from homelessness, poverty, politics, pollution, ills of society & technology, healthcare, unhealthiness of soy milk, Thai people don't walk anywhere, Thai Governments lack of concern for its people & education, ladyboy bars & ping pong shows, alternative energy .... I am shocked that Thaksin has not been implicated in this (yet).

I'm pretty sure this is a red shirt hatched plot to keep the yellows from getting the tutoring they deserve.

Could be something far more sinister too as it appears there has been some kind of family conspiracy against the chain from even when Yingluck first was campaigning for her current role... See: http://www.nationmul...k-30162120.html

Here are some interesting facts about the lady:

- The prime minister-elect likes low-fat Starbucks coffee floats, though while on the campaign trail, she discovered that the Thai coffee brands sold at petrol stations were of comparable quality;

Edited July 25, 2012 by Nisa

[JSixpack]

Lots of free advertising here anyway, they got us there.

I try to avoid large corporations whenever possible and try to keep the little guy (that I identify with) in business, because I was also always the little guy, the man with a business and a family to support.

The little guy usually offers you better service, but he may not always have the product. The little guy is knowledgeable, he has to be, he devotes his life to it. Unlike a large corporation where the boss is really never there and the staff are usually wishing they were somewhere else, don't know how to serve you or what it is they serve......

When that small business closes, it becomes big business. Keep mum and pop working, in whatever country you live.

A lot of unfounded assumptions which really don't hold water in the real world.

Remember that those multi-national companies largely employ local people (your neighbors). Secondly, your assumptions are exactly the opposite of my experience when comparing a 7-11 with a local mom & pop convenience store. The little guy has horrible, ignorant service and expired product (often you have to blow the dust off the product to find the expiration date, if any). The staff at 7-11 are always courteous and I can always find consistency in product quality.

Try again.

+1. Hear, hear!

And in Thailand the prices often aren't marked in the unairconditioned mom & pop, giving the proprietors opportunity to price gouge and practice two-tier pricing for farangs, which they do. Those Chinese Thais are often unfriendly and sometimes downright arrogant. Try getting a refund out of one. I once sold an old 750, bike I enjoyed, and bought a new smaller Honda just so that I could get away from the mom & pop cheating motorbike shops and use Honda dealerships.

Talk to a non-family employee of the mom & pop about the fantastic pay, benefits, and career path.

There's a reason the 7-11s are so successful compared to the mom & popd. I tried mom & pops often when I first came to Thailand. Now unless I need something I can't find at 7-11, I'll always go to 7-11. Anyone with much experience will.

[JSixpack]

Wow, the mention of Starbucks really fires up the posting numbers!

I think the word "teacher", has something to do with it.

Something, but more so the very word "Starbucks." It's always caused a knee-jerk reaction for many of the members. The reasons are

• it's American, appeals to the vast America-bashing crowd here;
  
• it's global, anti-globalists hate it;
  
• it's not Thai, anathema to our Thaier-than-thou farangs;
  
• it's a chain;
  
• it's a corporation;
  
• it's relatively upscale for a mere coffee shop, many can't comfortably afford to go there;
  
• Starbucks coffee tastes like Starbucks coffee--not what some think coffee should taste like, not that they would know anyway;
  
• Starbucks isn't just about coffee but about the other products, service, and atmosphere--which many disingenuously ignore;
  
• some need to cling to a kind of reverse snobbery for illusory self-affirmation.
  

Me, I go to various coffee shops, but, having no political objections, I go to Starbucks sometimes, too. I've never had an unsatisfactory experience there. Starbucks will continue to appeal to a large global market (if not the all-knowing, superior YOU, so what), and I hope it stays profitable so that it won't be going away anytime soon. This new policy intended to get the squatters out should be helpful.

I should add that, as this thread attests, the word "Starbucks" always attracts a swarm of trolls who know that many members here actually like Starbucks well enough and are therefore good targets for winding up. In fact most of the trolls don't even live in Thailand; they may never been to Starbucks and can't afford to anyway, at least, not often; or they secretly either like it or have nothing really against it, just want to enjoy trolling as trolls do.

It's amusing to see the number of highly discriminating coffee connoisseurs on the cheap responding for whom this thread is totally irrelevant as they profess not to go to Starbucks for anything anyway, though Starbucks does offer a choice of beverages including tea.

Meanwhile, we less discriminating (cough), who've got the money and don't have to think about the price (sorry, you suddenly pious Mother Theresas), will just continue enjoying Starbucks if we can find a place to sit.

You know, I like the music in Starbucks, too. Had to listen to some kinda rap in Coffee World once . . . .

Edited July 25, 2012 by JSixpack

[HaleySabai]

Starbucks coffee is crap and their business model is predatory, I prefer to boycott these corporate whores and buy from a local Thai coffee shop.

[blazes]

Good move.

i always get upset when I go to sit after getting a coffee and i see all these student taking all the seats and they do not have any coffee in front of them. i personally think they should limeit the time they can sit there even if they buy coffee, like no ore than 20 min

No need for a heavy hand....if you just go and sit down opposite some sweetheart who has been there for three hours on one drink, you can sip your coffee and stare, just stare stare stare

however, this is doing Starbucks' job for them....

[blazes]

Good - and can they also tell those kids who buy a drink and sit on a 4 person table by themselves for 6 hours to 'get lost' too (although, personally, I'd say it more strongly than that!)

Don't have to be rude and tell them that. It would be enough to ask the staff to come to those tables and ask if they would like to order anything else every 3 minutes. The next step should be cleaning up the table so they would have to move their stuff from it. After few "rounds" there won't be anybody sitting there. Simple. Starbucks should look at any given Chinese restaurant to see how it's done :-)

Yeah, but honestly, who would ever want to prolong their stay in a Chinese restaurant?

[cdnski12]

Turn off the A/C & the bludgers (+ all other Customers) will go away!

[Nisa]

Lots of free advertising here anyway, they got us there.

I try to avoid large corporations whenever possible and try to keep the little guy (that I identify with) in business, because I was also always the little guy, the man with a business and a family to support.

The little guy usually offers you better service, but he may not always have the product. The little guy is knowledgeable, he has to be, he devotes his life to it. Unlike a large corporation where the boss is really never there and the staff are usually wishing they were somewhere else, don't know how to serve you or what it is they serve......

When that small business closes, it becomes big business. Keep mum and pop working, in whatever country you live.

A lot of unfounded assumptions which really don't hold water in the real world.

Remember that those multi-national companies largely employ local people (your neighbors). Secondly, your assumptions are exactly the opposite of my experience when comparing a 7-11 with a local mom & pop convenience store. The little guy has horrible, ignorant service and expired product (often you have to blow the dust off the product to find the expiration date, if any). The staff at 7-11 are always courteous and I can always find consistency in product quality.

Try again.

+1. Hear, hear!

And in Thailand the prices often aren't marked in the unairconditioned mom & pop, giving the proprietors opportunity to price gouge and practice two-tier pricing for farangs, which they do. Those Chinese Thais are often unfriendly and sometimes downright arrogant. Try getting a refund out of one. I once sold an old 750, bike I enjoyed, and bought a new smaller Honda just so that I could get away from the mom & pop cheating motorbike shops and use Honda dealerships.

Talk to a non-family employee of the mom & pop about the fantastic pay, benefits, and career path.

There's a reason the 7-11s are so successful compared to the mom & popd. I tried mom & pops often when I first came to Thailand. Now unless I need something I can't find at 7-11, I'll always go to 7-11. Anyone with much experience will.

I prefer mom and pops shops when local because it is easier to have a relationship / friendship than larger shops where there is constant turnover and less flexibility. On the other side, I like 711 simply because they have more and often cheaper than Mom & Pop store's that don't have the same purchasing power. I also like the national or global companies when out of town because of the consistency of service and products you can expect. I have to say though that 711 staff are usually very friendly and usually very well staffed and even if there is new face from time to time, they quickly remember me and how I like things be it not liking plastic bags unless I buy bigger things, not wanting a straw and what I buy that I want microwaved as opposed to taking home ... they really do have a small neighborhood store mentality/feeling about them and I think CP is known for paying decent wages in comparison to other companies ... As for Family Mart, I find them to be a typical cold corporate mentality with staff who generally are not that friendly.

As for Starbucks ... I will take 3 and 1 any day of the week over their coffee and regretfully the flavored creamers are harder to find here but much prefer the taste of adding some Vanilla flavored creamer to a cup of instant coffee than the taste of a $5 Starbucks flavored coffee. I do like their cold coffee concoctions but find other places to be the same or better for less. I personally can't see, regardless of your wealth, why anyone would pay $5 for either chilled or warmed flavored water ... might be why they have more patrons there for the wifi & a/c than ones their to drink.

One problem I have here with coffee is that the majority of restaurants and even international and US hotels make the coffee much much too strong. I think they believe you are supposed to fill the entire machine with coffee grounds instead of adding just a little.

Edited July 25, 2012 by Nisa

[GentlemanJim]

Starbucks coffee is crap and their business model is predatory, I prefer to boycott these corporate whores and buy from a local Thai coffee shop.

All business models are predatory

[Throatwobbler]

Good - and can they also tell those kids who buy a drink and sit on a 4 person table by themselves for 6 hours to 'get lost' too (although, personally, I'd say it more strongly than that!)

You are so right. I live near Chiang Mai University and this is a universal problem at every coffee shop around here, but especially at Starbuck's. Some students will sit there all <deleted>' day studying...actually I wonder how much studying they actually do because it seems that they spend more time talking or playing with their mobiles!

Just wondering where the nearest Starbucks is to Chiang mai University?

I'm pretty sure there is none anywhere near.

[Throatwobbler]

Oh come on guys really. Were none of you ever students and try and freeload on stuff. Back in the day you were giving it to the Man. Now days you need to realise you are the Man

[bkkjames]

I was in a Burger King in SG not long ago and they had a sign there to the effect "Students are welcome to study and enjoy our food"

Get rid of the free wifi in SB. With 3G smartphones the norm, do you really want people who cant afford one in your establishment anyway? Not really the demographic you aim for is it? Amazing how a person can take 2 hours to eat a brownie so they can sit in the air con, act all hiso, with a mac book open without it turned on.

If I ran the joint, I would give them an alarm clock with 30 mins preset on it. Enough time for even the slowest coffee drinker to finish their cup but short enough for those with nothing better to do to get the hint...you time abusers you!

Personally, since they put up the no smoking bs OUTSIDE, I give it a wide berth. Never ever see a soul sitting on the patio at SB these days.

I used to tolerate all the "one double frap mocha strawberry short whipped cream with a shot of hippopotumas juice" nonsense they like to spout out 3 times when you really just want a black coffee, but when they say, would you like something to eat, and I reply, if i did I would have ordered it, it all became a bit much.

Now if McD's would only do the same....

[andy1308]

Exactly the same thing happens in Singapore and the notices are in English. It's aimed at students as much as teachers.

[mca]

Slightly off topic but what does me is places like SE-ED bookshops where you have to do an obstacle course over people who're sitting on the floor engrossed in a book or slink your way through people standing reading ( not just flicking through in a " Maybe I'll buy it if there's something to interest me" sort of way ) the mags at the magazine display. It's a bookshop not a frigging library. You know, a place of business where they hope for some insanely irrational reason to make a profit. Maybe it's me ( coming from a business family ) but I can't help but think "Cheeky sods"

[Jayman]

Slightly off topic but what does me is places like SE-ED bookshops where you have to do an obstacle course over people who're sitting on the floor engrossed in a book or slink your way through people standing reading ( not just flicking through in a " Maybe I'll buy it if there's something to interest me" sort of way ) the mags at the magazine display. It's a bookshop not a frigging library. You know, a place of business where they hope for some insanely irrational reason to make a profit. Maybe it's me ( coming from a business family ) but I can't help but think "Cheeky sods"

I think you just nailed the root of that problem which is the lack of decent libraries for the public to enjoy. In the US we frequented our local library regularly. Once computers and the internet became the norm the library even had several of those on offer for free public access. You could even check out audio tapes and then as times changed DVD's and the like. Sure they were not the latest release movies but they were free and not a Blockbusters.

Folks like to knock the US for making it's citizens pay taxes but I for one can see some of the positives of that tax money in use. Sure there are also many negatives but I'm trying not to foucs on those.

Do the high schools and Universities even have libraries for student use? What about a public library in each major city? Do they even exist? That could account for why there are so many ppl sitting on the floor in the book store trying to have a read.

[Sayonarax]

Quite ya whinging, Its a place of business not a library.

[PattayaPhom]

Considering they would be working ilegally, am suprised immigration/labour havnt got involved

[PattayaPhom]

Slightly off topic but what does me is places like SE-ED bookshops where you have to do an obstacle course over people who're sitting on the floor engrossed in a book or slink your way through people standing reading ( not just flicking through in a " Maybe I'll buy it if there's something to interest me" sort of way ) the mags at the magazine display. It's a bookshop not a frigging library. You know, a place of business where they hope for some insanely irrational reason to make a profit. Maybe it's me ( coming from a business family ) but I can't help but think "Cheeky sods"

I think you just nailed the root of that problem which is the lack of decent libraries for the public to enjoy. In the US we frequented our local library regularly. Once computers and the internet became the norm the library even had several of those on offer for free public access. You could even check out audio tapes and then as times changed DVD's and the like. Sure they were not the latest release movies but they were free and not a Blockbusters.

Folks like to knock the US for making it's citizens pay taxes but I for one can see some of the positives of that tax money in use. Sure there are also many negatives but I'm trying not to foucs on those.

Do the high schools and Universities even have libraries for student use? What about a public library in each major city? Do they even exist? That could account for why there are so many ppl sitting on the floor in the book store trying to have a read.

Try buying the book and reading it at home!..bit like reading the daily newspaper and not buying...

[mrbiggwigg]

Might be a good Idea to write it in English

why?

I may be wrong, but In the 5 years I've been here I've never seen a Thai teacher teaching in Starbucks

[shunima]

American hospitality in Asia.... Never mind there are so many nice Thai owned coffee shops with better coffee, lower prices and with real nice people serving it.

And none of them near the place I live and/or work. So basically useless for me, aren't they?