‘Its same at Dunkin’: New Jersey woman orders from Starbucks drive-thru. Then she tries to add a drink for her co-worker—but the barista refuses

Published

2 months ago

10 May 2026

‘Its same at Dunkin’: New Jersey woman orders from Starbucks drive-thru. Then she tries to add a drink for her co-worker—but the barista refuses

‘She just wanted to be rude.’

This New Jersey woman expresses confusion and frustration over a recent encounter with a Starbucks employee. While at a Starbucks drive-thru, she gets a call from a co-worker. What started off as her trying to do a simple favor for a colleague turned into a more complicated ordeal.

Drive-Thru Order Turns Into An Ordeal: ‘Starbucks…be better’

Bailey Welsh (@baileywelsh) tells viewers about her recent Starbucks experience.

“So, this is genuinely, like, a first-world problem,” she begins, “but I’m just, like, so mind-boggled by it.”

Welsh then explains how, while she was in the drive-thru line at Starbucks after ordering, she got a call from her co-worker asking if she wanted coffee. Welsh says she told her co-worker she has just ordered and can get her co-worker a coffee as well. She then pulls up to the pick-up window, and this is when things go left.

“I had already ordered … and I pull up to the window, and I’m like, ‘I’m so sorry, can you please add another vanilla latte to my order?’ She goes, ‘No.’”

Welsh asks for an explanation.

“We don’t do that. If you want, you have to pull all the way back around and go through the drive-thru again,” the employee explains. Welsh asks again if she can just add another coffee to the order. “No, pull back around,” the employee reportedly says.

“Is that like a flaw with the system? Like, what?” Welsh vents. Unfortunately, Welsh says that there were several other cars in the line once she pulled back around.

The video has 26 comments and over 3,000 views.

Viewers Weigh In

Viewers are torn about whether Welsh was being unreasonable or if the employee was simply being rude.

“Because she’s not the one putting in the orders. They’ve probably already started the orders for the sudden 10 ppl behind you. It messes up the flow,” says one commenter.

“It is silly, but it does mess with drive thru times that corporate watches and scolds the store for, but the way the employee handled it was not ok,” another person chimes in.

“10 cars behind you? I thought you would say you were the only car there if you’re expecting to be able to do that. Add a water or pup cup sure but a whole drink?” someone else asks.

“I wouldn’t mind this if she gave an explanation as to why she can’t and wasn’t rude,” a different person says.

“I would have told them to cancel my order and left. That’s ridiculous,” someone suggests.

“That’s a her problem. Starbucks employees are not like that,” another view says.

Starbucks Customer Service

One viewer argues that Starbucks employees “are not like that.” Is this true? Well, the company sure does try to make sure that employees aren’t. Many say it’s one of the main things that sets Starbucks apart from other chains.

“The Starbucks pillars are anticipate, connect, personalize, and own,” reports The DiJulius Group.

Anticipate: For instance, predict the unspoken request of your customer.
Connect: Make a connection. (While an order placed on a mobile device needs less face-to-face contact, there’s always a way to connect with a customer at a retail location without extending the time.)
Personalize: There are over 170,000 ways you can order your Starbucks drink; people love a personalized experience.
Own: Make the customer feel that you are happy to make their order again if that’s what they want, or offer to make them something different. Whatever it is, own it. If the customer drops their drink, own the experience, and cheerfully give them a new one.

According to this article, Starbucks’ consistent excellent customer service is what makes your experience at Starbucks different from that at other coffee shops. It’s the little things like asking every single customer their name and writing it down on their cup. Things like this are supposed to make you feel cared for at Starbucks. However, it’s clear this was not the case in Welsh’s experience. “Starbucks…be better,” she captions the video.

AllHipHop has reached out to Welsh for comment via TikTok and Instagram direct messages and Starbucks via email. We will update this story if either party responds.