Have you ever stopped to think about why Starbucks misspells your name so often?
There's a fair amount of chatter about this out there on the interwebs, and from conspiracy
theories to barista confessions, we've got all the explanations — surprisingly, there
are a lot of them.
If you're a Britney, Bryan, Alyson, or Zac, you've probably spent most of your life correcting
people on the spelling of your name.
Chances are you've been Brittany, Brian, Allison, and Zach more often than not.
And like it or not, according to one Starbucks barista on the website Quora, these spelling
variations are usually why you end up with a misspelled name on your cup.
As the barista explained:
"You have a name that has more than one spelling, so we take a chance by going with the most
generic version of that name.
For example, writing Caitlin instead of Kaitlyn.
Unless the person spells it out for us, how are we supposed to know?"
The Starbucks employee also offered some words of advice for those people sensitive to spelling
mix-ups when it comes to their precious monikers, writing:
"If it really really matters to you to have your name spelt correctly, just spell it out
for your barista, OR say no thanks when they ask for a name."
The employee also asked that customers not be condescending when it comes to telling
Starbucks baristas their names.
Mistakes are always going to happen -- but you don't have to be a jerk about it.
"Uhhh, do you mean Jacquelyn?"
"Okay.
So that's how it's gonna be."
Here's something you hopefully already know: Starbucks is not the library.
You shouldn't go to the coffee shop expecting a quiet, serene haven in which you can finally
write that screenplay.
Even if you don't have a full house of customers having loud conversations, you've still got
grinders grinding and steamers steaming.
According to more than one Starbucks barista in a Quora thread, the various noises happening
at any given time are a big part of the reason your name might get misspelled.
As one commenter wrote, some machines often sound like a small jet engines to employees
working behind the counter.
Of course, customers don't take this into consideration, and oftentimes don't speak
loudly or clearly enough when ordering.
One barista explained on Quora:
"Usually, if the customer is speaking quietly I'll ask a customer to repeat themselves once;
but beyond that, though, customers [get] irritated that I can't hear them well — so at that
point, I'm likely to just take a guess at the name I'm hearing and hope I'm right."
Remember: project, enunciate, and sloooow dooown
"I'll have a tall cap, triple shot, half caf."
"Small scrap, nipple slap, half half!"
You have an uncommon name
Just like having a common name with many spelling variations, if you have a hard-to-spell name,
or an uncommon name, you've likely spent many hours of your life schooling people on the
correct way to spell it.
Why would that be any different at Starbucks when you tell the barista that your name is
Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, First of Her Name … something something dragons.
If the person taking your order hasn't heard your name before, there's a good chance it's
getting misspelled.
As one barista explained:
"[If] your name is from a culture the barista is unfamiliar with, [they will attempt] to
spell it phonetically."
Again, if your name being spelled correctly is that important to you, you're simply going
to need to spend a few more moments of your time spelling it out.
Have you ever grabbed your drink off the counter, taken one look at the name, and wondered how
the barista could have gotten it so utterly and completely wrong?
Your name is Katie, and somehow your cup ended up with "Marisol" scrawled across it.
Before you start chewing out the barista for their lack of listening skills, you'd better
ask yourself a very important question: Is that so-called mislabelled cup in your hand
even your drink?
One barista on Quora explained that grabbing the wrong drink is a common mistake, writing:
"[People complain,] 'This isn't an extra hot caramel macchiato, and my name is Debbie but
it doesn't say that.'
WELL DEBBIE, maybe if you actually read the sticker you would see that it is very plainly
a peppermint mocha for Sue."
If there's one lesson to be learned here, it's this: Don't be a Debbie.
Unsurprisingly, all these misspelled names generate a lot of buzz across social media.
#Starbucksnamefail is a popular hashtag on both Twitter and Instagram, and there are
even Tumblr pages dedicated to the topic.
But what do all these posts and hashtags really mean to Starbucks?
Brandwatch decided to get to the bottom of that in 2017, when they looked at how much
free advertising Starbucks has gotten from the misspellings by their baristas.
Analyzing Twitter data in the U.S. and U.K. between June 1st and July 18th, 2017, they
found 2,814 mentions of Starbucks that included a reference to the spelling of a name.
Taking into consideration that the company has been putting names on cups since March
2012, they calculated that this amounts to another 75,000 mentions -- and this doesn't
even take retweets into account.
As Brandwatch concluded:
"If this is all a scheme by Starbucks to get free advertising on social media, it's a very
good one indeed."
Think mega-stars are exempt from having their names misspelled on their Venti triple skim
mochas?
Well, think again.
Apparently Reese Witherspoon's barista has never seen Cruel Intentions or Legally Blonde,
because the actress once ended up with "Greece" on her Starbucks cup, prompting her to post
on Twitter:
"Figuring out my Starbucks name…
#ItsReesenotGreece."
Even Oprah Winfrey, who has her own Cinnamon Chai Tea Latte at Starbucks, has had to spell
her name out for baristas.
"Ohfrey… who?"
Winfrey told People magazine about a surprising experience she had while ordering coffee,
saying,
"[...] I just went two days ago and the woman said, "Name?"
I said, 'Oprah,' and she said, 'How do you spell that?'"
The next time your Starbucks barista gets your name wrong, just remind yourself there's
someone out there who doesn't even know who Oprah is.
For shame!
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