World’s 1st Starbucks got friends’ names wrong 3x, but we’re still loyal

World’s oldest Starbucks at Pike Place Market. —Photo by John Eric Mendoza | INQUIRER.net

SEATTLE — Upon the recommendation of travel guides, my friends and I woke up in the wee hours Tuesday  to see the world’s first Starbucks store here.

We were told the line outside could go for hours, and we wanted to avoid that. There is so much to see in this hilly, eclectic tech city. So every minute counts.

It was around 8:00 a.m. when we arrived at the cobblestoned streets of the historic Pike Place Market, where the first store of the world’s largest coffeehouse chain opened on March 30, 1971.

Much to our surprise, there were no long queues at all. There were only a few customers at that time, in fact — and quite a number of seats available for six of us.

The 92.9-square-meter (1,000 square foot) spot is properly quaint, with hand-built fixtures remaining intact as well as its original Siren logo, the iconic symbol that could be seen in more than 30,000 Starbucks stores worldwide, around 400 of which are located in the Philippines.

Pike Place Market —Photo by John Eric Mendoza | INQUIRER.net

While sightseeing is all well and good, it would be a missed opportunity not to try their coffee.

“It’s the same cafe latte like the ones we have in the Philippines, but the experience is different,” said Ate Mildred, one of my companions.

“It’s Pat who made all the difference,” she told me further, referring to the most senior barista of the store — having worked there 11 years — who warmly welcomed us and showed us around.

As for her name, Ate Mildred used “Ira,” but the barista labeled her cafe latte as “Ayra.”

One of our companions, Ate Mikee, had hers misspelled as “Mayki” while Ate Pia is “Piya.” Phonetic madness.

Ate Mikee’s cafe labeled as “Mayki.” —Contributed photo

On the other hand, Kuya Romeo’s name was correctly labeled as “Romeo.”

As for mine? I did not grab a coffee. Kuya Jekki and I got some of their merch, though. But I reckon my name — John—is hard to misspell anyway, even if they tried.

Despite the naming “issue,” if you can call it that, we had a lovely time at Starbucks in Pike Place. Some of my friends became loyal customers, having returned to the shop a few times.

After returning to my hotel room, I later learned, while doom scrolling on my bed, that a Starbucks store in Manila lost a loyal customer in the person of a certain JP Abecilla.

JP, who ordered a Grande Café Americano and a cinnamon Danish roll, was so worked up when his name got misspelled twice.

It was first misspelled as Jade, which he corrected, prompting the barista to crumple the cup before grabbing a new one.

“I even spelled out the initials: It’s JP, J for Juliet and P for Papa, JP,” he said in a June 2 Facebook post.

A few minutes later, JP said a barista called out: “Café Americano for JC!”

“I didn’t react. It wasn’t my name. I assumed someone else had a similar order. But after several more minutes and the addition of a Cinnamon Danish to the tray, I started to wonder. Still, ‘JC’ was being called, repeatedly and coldly, with no one stepping up. That’s when I realized: they meant me.”

Frustrated and disappointed, JP said he left the store without getting his mislabeled Grande Café Americano.

Expectedly, he was ripped apart in his own comments section, which has since been turned off.

One of the users said, and I concur: “Don’t sweat the small stuff.”

I continued scrolling through JP comments, which is too harsh and unsavory to repeat here, until my eyelids felt droopy. Yawn. This is bad. I would need to attend a meeting an hour later.

I should have grabbed a caramel latte at Starbucks earlier. /atm