Pros
Great coffee & people at the store level, I learned alot about everything coffee and made quite a few friendships with partners and customers. The products were awesome and I took pride in delivering the "experience". The atmosphere in the stores and the pace of the business was enjoyable. They had a decent benefits, bonus structure and tried to live up to the reputation of being a great place to work. The first few years there were all about the "people, place and the products".
Cons
Shortly after the economy went south and the coffee giant announced they were cutting jobs and closing stores, Starbucks lost that loving feeling. It was every man for himself and everything (at least in CA) was now focused on sqeezing every last penny out of customers by selling them our INSTANT coffee. Keeping your job by selling VIA was now more of a priority than giving the customers still able to afford our products a real reason to come back. In the end, good people who bent over backwards to support everything that came down from Seattle were left with a sour taste in their mouths. What I've heard from friends that are still there is that it's not moving "onward" it's only getting worse.
