What was up with this dude at Starbucks?

August 1, 2020 3:56 PM

Today I went to Starbucks and a guy outside told me he'd ordered something for an unhoused person on the adjacent street, but the guy didn't want to go in the store, so could I go in and pick it up for him? I thought it was odd but said OK. He wasn't asking me to pay for it.

When I went in, I told the barista "so and so outside asked me if I could pick up their drink they ordered, is that ok?" and the barista sort of rolled their eyes and said "yeah, thanks for being nice, I'll go outside and handle him" or something like that that suggested they'd dealt with this guy before and something weird was happening. But this is the first time I haven't been just asked to buy something if someone wanted money, or coffee. So what was up with the guy?? I think you have to pre-pay if you order something on the Starbucks app, anyway.

posted by nakedmolerats to Human Relations (15 answers total)

Could he just be afraid of being indoors because of the coronavirus, and was managing it in a socially awkward way?
posted by sumiami at 4:10 PM on August 1, 2020 [5 favorites]

and the barista sort of rolled their eyes and said "yeah, thanks for being nice, I'll go outside and handle him"

Maybe this guy has made a habit of paying for drinks by some fraudulent means. It sounds like he didn’t want to go in because he knew he’d be recognized. Just a guess of course.
posted by showbiz_liz at 4:12 PM on August 1, 2020

Guy outside may be "banned" from that Starbucks and/or have fraught relationship with store staff.
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 4:19 PM on August 1, 2020 [22 favorites]

Response by poster: I think the part I don't understand is, why did he add a random story about buying the coffee for a homeless person? I too would have just assumed he was extra afraid of COVID at first. But if he was banned from the store, why didn't he just ask me to get the coffee for him, not for a random third person?

Not an epic concern, obviously, just a weird puzzle. I live in a town where it's common to just be asked if you can buy someone a coffee.
posted by nakedmolerats at 4:28 PM on August 1, 2020

The story about buying it for an unhoused person makes him look like a good guy and probably makes you more likely to agree to his request, because if you refuse it doesn't just inconvenience this guy who for some weird reason ordered from a store he doesn't want to go into, it keeps the unhoused person from getting their coffee.
posted by Redstart at 4:38 PM on August 1, 2020 [27 favorites]

I'll go outside and handle him

I'm taking this to mean that you didn't actually bring a drink out for the person in question. Did you happen to catch if there was a drink ready for them?
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 4:57 PM on August 1, 2020

I think the part I don't understand is, why did he add a random story about buying the coffee for a homeless person? I too would have just assumed he was extra afraid of COVID at first.

He probably hasn’t thought to write Covid into his bit yet.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 5:12 PM on August 1, 2020 [4 favorites]

Over-detailed narratives are a hallmark of people lying. He probably made up the story because you'd be more likely to get a coffee for a homeless person, than a random person who may be banned from the store (him).
posted by smoke at 5:32 PM on August 1, 2020 [16 favorites]

Best answer: Now that I think of it, the name he gave you probably wasn’t his own and instead was one he’d overheard when a customer ordered. If you’re right at the serving counter and have told them you’re waiting for Bob’s drink, they’re going to give it to you without calling out Bob’s name. By the time the real Bob asks what happened to his order you and the perp will be long gone.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 5:32 PM on August 1, 2020 [23 favorites]

Every time I’ve been stopped and asked for money on the street in NYC, I’ve been given an extremely elaborate and convoluted backstory to why the guy needed the money, delivered so as to leave no room at all for interruption. I’ve always thought it must take a lot of practice. Maybe this guy’s in training, so to speak.
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:24 PM on August 1, 2020 [4 favorites]

Best answer: Sounds like the guy is using you to steal drinks people have ordered using the Starbucks app but not picked up yet.
posted by w0mbat at 6:33 PM on August 1, 2020 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: I feel stupid that I didn't think of this angle... Seems like a lot more work than just asking someone to buy you one!
posted by nakedmolerats at 7:08 PM on August 1, 2020

Could be to steal drinks, but unless your store attracts people who stand right outside and say “Gee, my name is Bob, and methinks I will order up a delicious coffee!” I’m not sure how that would work. I place my from inside my car when I’m still in my own driveway.

My guess is that he’s had some spirited discussions with the staff/customers on how George Soros is going to inject 5G into our eyeballs, or something, and now he needs an unfamiliar face to get his order, and he made up the homeless person bit because the truth (Soros! 5G! Who knows!) might make you less likely to help.
posted by sideshow at 11:04 PM on August 1, 2020 [7 favorites]

Best answer: Yeah when you work in customer service especially in food/drink contexts, you get to know just how many extremely weird people with incomprehensible and bizarre behaviour there are in the world. The dude could be infamous at the Starbucks for all kinds of things- harassing the baristas, falling asleep and staying there for hours, pissing himself, theft, doing terrible shits in the bathroom and getting it everywhere... Often these people will latch on to the bar/coffeeshop and it can be hard to get them to stop. Why do they do it? Why don’t they move on? Why do they pull weird scams to get innocent bystanders involved in their weird shenanigans? Who the hell knows, but they are out there, doing this stuff, in really quite high numbers.
posted by Balthamos at 1:40 AM on August 2, 2020 [23 favorites]

Couldn’t you get the exact correct answer by just asking that same barista what the story was on your next visit?
posted by blueberry at 6:08 AM on August 3, 2020 [3 favorites]