Peet's Coffee

I'm going to address two main issues in this review: their inability to handle dietary restrictions, and their employee's inappropriate behavior towards my service dog and me as a disabled customer.

DIETARY STUFF I am celiac, and know to ask if the syrup I want at a coffee shop is gluten free before ordering. So I asked, and the barista had no idea. He grabbed the bottle, and I saw it and said "usually that brand is gluten free-- there should be a mark under the ingredients that says gluten free with a little picture of wheat". He looked at the bottle and said "it's not gluten free, I don't see that" and I reacted with surprise. He went to the back and asked his manager and the manager also said it's NOT gluten free. As I was informed of this, the bottle happened to tilt in my direction and I saw the telltale gluten free marker on the bottle: a large symbol of wheat with a line through it, and bold capital letters that say "GLUTEN FREE". It is easy to see. I said hey it says it's gluten free on the bottle. I pointed to the symbol. He was ASTOUNDED. It was just kind of tiring to be in a shop where not only do the employees not know what they even stock/sell, but also have no reading comprehension. Like that was confusing to me. Ok maybe you're new to the job but the words gluten free are RIGHT THERE.

SERVICE DOG STUFF Then, the barista looked at my service dog and said "is that a service dog?" I assumed I was being asked one of the "two questions" that businesses are allowed to ask legally. I said yes. He then asked what my dog does for me. I thought he was asking the second of two questions he's allowed to ask. I told him this is my medical alert service dog. THEN--GET READY-- he asked what's my medical problem, that I need a service dog? Now this, folks, is an illegal interaction in violation of the ADA. businesses are not permitted to ask that. I avoided the question because a) I don't want to share my medical history or disability status with a stranger, and b) it's none of his business and a REALLY rude question. Grown adults should know better than to ask strangers (other grown adults) their medical history, and Peet's should not be training their employees in a way that makes them think this is ok behavior. So I repeated he's a medical alert service dog. The employee continued to push, repeatedly asking me what was wrong with me, what my dog does for my medical condition, what my medical condition is, what I need him for. Keep in mind I was very politely trying to communicate that these are not appropriate questions that I felt comfortable answering. The AUDACITY of a fully grown adult to ask this more than once after I repeatedly dodged those highly personal questions!! I felt soooo uncomfortable. The employees there were all nice enough, but this interaction made me feel unsafe, uncomfortable, and goggled at for being disabled. God forbid a person with a wheelchair or something comes in and is accosted by this employee asking dumb questions like "what happened to you" "why do you need that" etc. so inappropriate, and I'm VERY disappointed that Peet's didn't train their employees to know better.

I iust want to note as well that I work as a teacher, with children. When children ask me these questions (because of course they do, they're children) I say "that's not something I usually tell other people" and then explain jobs that other service dogs do with other people. This is how I interacted with this employee, just with adult words. Here's the kicker: when i do this with KIDS, they respect my answer and move on to other questions like "how do some service dogs learn to do that". This barista didn't get the

How confident are you that this establishment takes safety precautions against cross-contact?

— Somewhat

How much of the menu is available gluten-free?

— Some

How would you rate the taste and quality of the gluten-free food you tried?

— Good