Starbucks Baristas Aren't Writing Messages On Your Cup By Choice

From good morning messages to smiley faces and hearts, the short scribbles Starbucks baristas write on your drink are enough to turn a bad day around. But, those random acts of kindness aren't quite as random as you might've thought. Along with the return of classic café features, accepting your reusable cups, and a scale down on discounts, handwriting messages on your cups is a part of Starbucks' new CEO, Brian Niccol's, mission to distinguish the brand as a quality coffeehouse. In other words, the barista isn't being writing you a personalized note by choice. They're mandatory — and, in some cases, aren't personalized at all and have even been written out on the cups by someone beforehand.

This news is a blow to everyone, inciting some particularly hurt feelings and revelations. On a TikTok video posted by a Starbucks barista revealing the policy, one customer responded with a comment saying, "I got a message today on the side of my cup and I thought they were just being nice [crying emoji]." Another said, "I went to pick up my drink and I was like 'Oh they are so sweet'... EVERYTHING is a lie." While a different customer commented, "My barista wrote "Have a good day!" on my cup. Now I know they did not genuinely want me to have a good day [crying emoji]." That about sums it up. But, while customers recover from the heartbreak of the news, Starbucks employees are adjusting too.

While some baristas are having fun with it, others find the task of writing notes on every drink they serve a bit tedious. A lot of baristas have taken the initiative and pre-wrote the messages on stacks of cups, others say that doing so is actually a health code violation and it isn't allowed — which means, in most cases, they're writing them as they go. This makes it particularly stressful for those who work at high volume stores, where baristas can easily meet upwards of 100 customers per hour during peak times. For this reason, employees have been asking for some leniency on the policy to accommodate during the busiest store times. However, for now, that doesn't seem to be an option.

On the other hand, some Starbucks baristas see writing on cups as an opportunity to have fun and express their personalities at work — a mindset that has produced some pretty genius, and hilarious, messages. For example, cortado drinkers have gotten everything from "short n sweet" to "small but mighty" written on their drinks. Others have giggled at puns like "espresso yourself," "thank you soy matcha," and "thanks a latte," or smiled at cute drawings of everything from people jumping on trampolines to cat faces. Some have even received venti cups with more long quote movie/TV and social media references written in paragraphs down the side, which seem to make up for the additional time it must have taken to write them.