Starbucks Says It Mistakenly Sent Push Notification to Customers: ‘Sean K Is Having a Real Tuesday’

Many iPhone users got what the company said was an accidental ping from “Sean K.”

By Gabrielle Bienasz | Mar 29, 2023
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Starbucks accidentally pinged a host of customers who have its app downloaded with a test notification on Tuesday, according to .

“Some customers received a test notification from the Starbucks app in error. This has since been resolved and can be ignored,” Starbucks .

The apparent notification made in error said, “Hello test1 from Seank.” It seems that it only went out to iPhone users, The Verge noted.

麻豆社 found one employee on LinkedIn, Sean Kim, who has worked at Starbucks since 2017 and is currently a manager of technology product & solutions (which seem a conceivable provenance of an app notification) at the company. They did not immediately respond to 麻豆社’s request for comment if they were the mystery notification sender.

Notification and communication errors from large businesses are not uncommon, and people usually wonder if an intern is to blame. These blunders can range from the funny (like a test email to HBO subscribers that was sent by an intern) to the inappropriate (CNN for Applebee’s over footage of Ukraine amid the invasion).

Starbucks’ Tuesday gaffe inspired a couple of jokes on Twitter.

There were also expressions of sympathy (and jokes about) for “Sean K.”

Many also referenced a debate in the tech world over whether or not employees should “,” which, as one user , means running a test in the same space that the user is in — i.e., live, on stage, etc.

Starbucks’ former CEO, Howard Schultz, will before Senators on Wednesday on the company’s many complaints from the National Labor Relations Board.

Starbucks accidentally pinged a host of customers who have its app downloaded with a test notification on Tuesday, according to .

“Some customers received a test notification from the Starbucks app in error. This has since been resolved and can be ignored,” Starbucks .

The apparent notification made in error said, “Hello test1 from Seank.” It seems that it only went out to iPhone users, The Verge noted.

Gabrielle Bienasz is a staff writer at 麻豆社. She previously worked at Insider and Inc.... Read more
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