My bf (with whom I meet all of the requirements to be a domestic partner, meaning that I can be on his insurance etc) works at Starbucks. Am I eligible to use his partner discount? I went to another store today than the one he works at, and knew the barista, and gave her his numbers, and she said “You’re not chaoticbf! But you can have it anyway.” I explained to her that we’re "domestic partners under *$'s rules, but she said that it’s only when the partner’s present.
I’d ask him, obviously, but a) he’s asleep, because he opens in the morning, and b) he’s in a bad mood, so asking about something that may be against the rules would be out.
Are you his DP, or do you simply qualify to be his DP? There’s a significant difference between the two.
If you are his DP, the next step would be to look at the company’s policy on discounts and benefits. If the policy says a registered DP can get the discount without the employee present, then you might want to photocopy that page and keep it with you when you ask for the discount.
My initial guess is that you would not qualify for the discount if he’s not with you. My employer has no difficulty at all in recognizing DPs for big-money benefits like insurance, but he can’t just walk into a branch and open a free checking account - I’d have to initiate something like that.
We aren’t registered as such, because Arkansas doesn’t allow it. I’ll comb the Internet a bit, but I don’t think that the policy would be anywhere but a partner-only accessible page.
Don’t work for Starbucks but do work for another large retail chain. The above sounds similar to our store policies. Domestic partners and spouses can use the discount but only if their spouse/domestic partner is present with them at the time they are purchasing something.
I worked for Starbucks for a little over a year. The discount only applies to the actual partner, not friends and family. If he’s there, and is making the purchase, he can buy whatever he wants for whoever he wants and get the discount, but it only applies to him and transactions that he makes.
Then why would they bother extending any benefits to a domestic partner or spouse? (As a demonstration of my background, all the jobs I’ve had have offered a discount to the spouse of an employee, if they’ve offered an off-the-clock discount to me. I’m not counting places like McDonald’s that only offer you a discount if you’re on the clock, but nothing if you come in on your day off.)
So at my current job, associates and their spouses get 10% off, but since AR isn’t a state where official gay relationships are valid, WM doesn’t offer benefits.
No, not really that weird. Being on his insurance require paperwork. Handing someone else his discount card and saying “just say you are my boyfriend” requires no paperwork, and little effort on anyone’s part.
Which benefit is easier to abuse? The discount card. And so the store policy reflects that, even if the likely cost of abuse higher for the insurance than for the discoutnt.
Yep. My hubby’s been a Starbucks barista for almost 6 years, and this is the official policy. Now, frequently, when I go to his store without him, his co-workers will give me his discount (they all know each others’ numbers). And if I go in while he’s working, but he doesn’t ring me up, they will occasionally ring it up as one of his on-the-clock drinks, so I don’t pay anything. My husband does NOT encourage this, however, because one of his former co-workers got fired for giving drinks to her friends (we live in Seattle, and my husband’s store gets a lot of SB executives as regulars. An exec saw this co-worker giving drinks away for free one too many times, and she got canned.).
I never ask for his discount, or for a free drink – I even feel weird if I’m in another Starbucks and I get a free drink coupon because they messed up my drink. I kind of feel like I’m one of the family, and I’d rather they mess up my drink than someone who might be pissy about it and never come back, y’know?
I believe the policy used to be different, because when my husband started working for Starbucks, I got my drink for free every time I went into his store. It’s possible that that was just that manager being nice, but I think they’ve tightened up some of those policies in the last few years – I’m sure someone thought about how much money that was costing the company, and how easy it would be to abuse it.
I’m pretty happy with my weekly free pound of coffee!
