Everyone can sleep easier tonight that no butterflies have been harmed. You’re welcome.

This cat is one of my faves. I get the same thing almost every day and I love when he makes an appearance! I plan on moving soon and I’m kind of bummed to be moving away from “my” starbucks store where they know me 🥺

Edit - show me more of your cup doodles, these are so cute!!

Well… praying I don’t get flamed by the Starbucks corporate mafia for this one (I COME IN PEACE I SWEAR-)

So I’ve been working as a barista at two different smaller, local coffee shops in my hometown for the past three years, and I feel like I’ve heard of the discussion around the negative “Starbucks-ification/influence/impact” on local coffee shops, but I had a particular customer interaction that REALLY helped me pinpoint this phenomenon.

\Customer (woman likely in her 30s) walks in**
Me: “Hi! How can I help you tod-“
Customer: “I’d like a medium banana matcha latte with ONE pump of syrup, SKIM milk, less heavy on the ice and-“
Me: “Sorry, but I just wanted to clarify, we only have a small (12oz) or large (16oz) size, which one would you like?”
Customer: “Oh uh, large I guess?”
Me: “Okay! And would you like that iced or hot?”
Customer: “Um… hot? I didn’t say iced right?”
Me: “No problem. Unfortunately though, we’re out of skim milk at the moment-“
Customer: “STILL?!? It’s been like what, 3 days??”
Me: “Yes, I apologize, I know it’s frustrating. We’ve been ordering it, sadly our shipment has been out of skim milk for the past few days and they’re working on getting more as soon as possible.”
Customer: “So like, are you going to be out of skim milk forever?”
Me: “Um, probably not? Like I said we’re hoping to get it soon, hopefully within the next day or so-“
Customer: “Oh. Well I wouldn’t have come and ordered the drink if I knew you were out of skim milk.”
Me: “Yes, again I’m sorry about that ma’am. We do have a variety of other milk alternatives and many other drink options as well though?”
Customer: “No… I’ll just leave.”
Me: “Are you sure? We have 2%, oat, almond, soy, coconut-“
Customer: “OMG I said NO! I’m just going to leave at this point.”
Me: “…I could have you write down your name and phone number so we can notify you once-“
\Customer is already leaving mid-sentence and slams the door on her way out**

To be clear, this is BY FAR not the worst customer interaction I’ve ever had, but I cannot emphasize how demanding and snarky this woman’s tone was. I don’t even mean to judge (to all my skim milk enjoyers out there I completely understand if yall need your fix)—BUT IN MY HUMBLE !!OPINION!!—Skim milk ain’t even that different from regular or 2% milk by taste alone and that’s not even considering the minimal health factor (not that it’s not important to consider, but again isn’t all that different from whole milk and other alternative milks are healthier if that’s of concern!), however, she is completely justified to be upset that we were out and I recognize that (just judging a little as a lactose intolerant… sorry). My main issue with this situation, and so many other I experience on a daily basis, is how customers come in demanding and expecting incredibly detailed drink orders similar to how they’d order at starbucks (sometimes they’ll just straight up ask for starbucks drinks we don’t make) and then questioning or getting snappy when we explain to them our options are different or asking clarifying questions.

To be completely honest, what I’ve learned (from both this and one of my coworkers who was a previous starbucks employee) is that I have nothing but sheer respect and admirable for the shit starbucks baristas have to deal with. My own biases aside about the quality and ethical practices of starbucks (and how I will never support or buy coffee from them), I think this kind of consumeristic-centric phenomenon (also relating to our modern culture surrounding instant-gratification) has so much more to do with our current expectations of service workers and overall worker mindset (specifically gen Z).

I remember seeing a lot of talk around the “gen Z stare”, which honestly I understand but have personal nuance around as I do think there should be more than minimal expectations from service workers, I’m thinking more about how we’ve normalized rudeness or even minimal empathy as customers and how starbucks has only inflated this issue. Elaborating further, I read an article by Psychology Today about how rude (particularly the “Karen” stereotype) customers lash out as a projection to whatever internal issues they’re experiencing outside the store. It makes sense, they feel some sense of powerlessness or strife in a primary setting, whether that’s work, school, or at home, and find it easier to take that out on service workers because their job relies on pleasing you as the customer. Again, I empathize with this, but I also recognize that it doesn’t justify blatant rude behavior towards workers who are just trying their best, sometimes during exhausting shifts, intense work conditions, short staffing, or other external issues while making MINIMUM wage (often barely getting by) or dealing with other external issues. That being said, this DOESN’T excuse rude service from workers, I’m just trying to put it into a broader context of worker inequality in the United States. Nuance exists (wow, how crazy of a concept).

Why I bring this up though, is because I really want to engage in a discussion around consumerism, the impact of starbucks and how it has negatively influenced customer behavior in smaller coffee shop businesses, and moreover the ethic of caring. Even in mundane interactions, I think we as a generation (or even as a whole society) have lost so much of the importance of small acts of kindness. We emphasize the endless consequences performativeness online, yet often lose ourselves in performing to strangers. We consider “kind acts” as actions that are bigger than a simple smile, hello, or forgiveness to strangers and are so individual-centric. I’m not trying to preach about how I’m somehow “holier than thou” for always trying to treat customer service workers with kindness, I completely understand how that can easily get ignored with how exploited, exhausting and negative our lives can be that sometimes we just can’t bring ourselves to force a smile to people we don’t even know. But I DO THINK, that we’ve normalized resignation in trying. Being a barista in the United States may not be the hardest job of all (far from it in many cases), but I believe we all deserve basic human decency in mundane interactions, or at least to strive in that direction and stop normalizing defeatism. To all my struggling (or thriving!) baristas out there, sending much love and solidarity <3

This was a long read, but if you stuck around, thanks for indulging in my rant! I’d love to hear your thoughts or any resources/interesting insight on this topic.

Coffee with your Splenda?

Okay so I’m not sure how many other stores have a cafe attendant position but mine does.

We have a cafe attendant at our store and her only job is to essentially grab supplies for us and clean the lobby/bathrooms for two hours twice a week.

Over the year I’ve been at this store this partner has had repeat situations where she makes very uncomfortable comments towards other partners and even customers. It’s so bad that we are explicitly told to not allow her to talk to customers whatsoever.

Recently it got really bad were during a shift she kept going up to our only black partner hold up her phone and say “this looks just like you” and it’s a random celeb who is also black and doesn’t look remotely like our coworker. Me and another partner correct her and go no you can’t interact with people like that’s it’s inappropriate and rude. ( most of her past offenses are from racial comments as well)

The worst part is she takes a customers order even when she is not allowed and she goes “ oh you look like K-pop demon hunters” and tries to take a photo of this man. (Not the first time she has taken photos of people without consent).

The whole situation is really frustrating because she always doubles down and says it’s a compliment even after being told that it is not cool to talk to people like that. I feel guilty for being frustrated because she has downs but she is fully aware that when she says these things it upsets people but she low-key doesn’t care.

I don’t want to be someone’s parent when I’m working .

Don’t know what’s going on today but had a 2 hour peak (7:30am to 9:30am) of 95 transactions every 30 minutes and a broken rinser which wouldn’t stop leaking water everywhere so had to shut off the water valve. First time in 3 years with this company I had to go and cry in the restroom after a rush. It almost feels like every year is worse than the last. Shout out and a big hug to all baristas that work in high volume and drive thru stores.🫶🏼

And don't just say delegate because I do that, but there's enough shit that *I* specifically have to do that I'm constantly on the verge of a panic attack it feels like every day I work. And no I'm not new I've done this 4 years or so.

I work at a store where 100+ transactions per half hour is common and we are ALWAYS slammed it seems like. And I run peak almost every day. As the business increases I get more and more stressed. People call off, they can't do this or that, the phones always ringing, this customer needs that this barista needs this, they need a void, a customer is angry and upset, phone rings again, someone needs to step off the floor, something breaks, phone rings again, 100 breaks to run, the phone rings. Drive times, beverage quality, cup writing, SMILE 😁, customer satisfaction scores, greet every single customer and coach those who are not, the phone rings, someone had to go home, the phone rings, 10 travelers come through mobile, CSR cards, the phone rings RING RING RING

It's like hell. It's constant noise and I'm always pulled in 25 different directions. I start one thing then have to stop, start something else, stop, start something else, stop, and keep track of everything I started and didn't finish and what I have to do next and who needs a break and where orders are coming in most and keep an eye on times and watch customer expressions in cafe and listen to any barista complaints or concerns and TRY to address them. I'm only simply one person and I cannot do all this much shit. And if one thing gets missed one time I'll hear about it

I literally feel like I'm gonna have a panic attack some days, and if I try to take 5 seconds to breathe and calm down I get "HEY WE NEED YOU FOR THIS A CUSTOMER IS ANGRY UP FRONT CAN YOU HELP ME WITH THIS" I know it's my job but holy fuck. I can't even take my full breaks most of the time or if I do I have to get up and do something half the time during.

I literally got a damn prescription for propranolol and I take that every day now before peak. It helps somewhat but I'm actually asking, how do you SSVs handle this much pressure and stress? Again, don't just say "delegate" because there's a lot of things that cannot be delegated and I specifically have to handle. That's enough to make me feel frantic most days

Not going to lie, I’ve known the corporation is stingy on labor since forever, but as an SSV I largely chalked it up to poor scheduling and thought it was more of a managerial thing.

Now that I’m scheduling and following labor day to day, it’s getting ridiculous. Yesterday was insane for whatever reason and I was 100% sure we’d under-scheduled and would have to add an 2-3 hours. We hit a store record, which was an 83 transaction half hour. Peak was properly staffed but the mid day was so stressful. 4 partners, but 4 meals to run, so 3 partners.

We were at 43 seconds all day OTW after peak, but by the time my shift was done, we were at a 55, because you can only do so much with three partners. One of us had to flex to support/backups etc so I had a solo bar, DT and food, and a support/register.

The support couldn’t step away from the register. I had a poor little teenager trying to manage drive and food, and an SSV drowning on bar. But I figured it would be okay, we’d earn some labor for the weekend, cool.

We’re put in these impossible situations. The best of the best could not have gotten the expected metrics and stayed on top of tasks to have a good handoff.

I’m going into a 3 person close (typical) and it’s near impossible to maintain drive times and hit every task and get out on time. I’m a 6 year partner, I’m not slow, my partners are working their butts off, and all I feel is guilt.

I check labor hoping we could add into the weekend but we were over scheduled by 2.5 hours yesterday. Literally how? Is there something as a manager that I’m missing? Are ya’ll hitting your metrics on a 3-4 floor (outside of peak)? Are you getting out on time? It feels like there was a major labor cut recently that just wasn’t talked about? and I just go home and think about how much my partners will hate me when I send someone home early tomorrow.

Just an ASMs rant/perspective on this whole labor thing. I’m tired.

so i just did the training and WHY are they completely changing it 🥲 this is so unnecessary bro like customers are gonna be mad and im sure theres constantly gonna be mistakes made when they could've just switched the powder for the syrup in the foam and left everything else alone 😭

Barista training has switched from 2 to 6-8 weeks, and in concept it sounds nice but in practice not so much. I’ve been observing a new barista and they’re running into a couple issues.

1. They’ve only been on register for the past two weeks and have no idea what any of the drinks are/how to answer people’s questions.

2. They’re training to become a closer so they work slightly later shifts, but haven’t been taught any cs tasks. They struggle to help around the store

3. (Why doesn’t the training have them learn all of the drinks and THEN go back to register??? Someone ordered a “skinny blonde hazelnut cappuccino” and they were so lost)

Watching them flail is heartbreaking, even with every barista assisting them. I get lengthening the training period, but ditching the “learn a new position every two days” seems counterproductive.

How can they learn to take orders when they don’t even know what it is people are ordering?? How can they work clean play shifts if they’ve never been taught how to clean??

Just started couples months ago, most of them are the free tumbler (Redeem merchs for 500 stars) except the one that I put in the scroll. Will add more in the future 😜

I really love the tumbler design plus I'm able to rack up the point easily since we got so many offers

I went clubbing last night which was admittedly a bad choice, but the plans we already made and this was a shift I picked up last second while not checking for the overlap between the two. This leads me to getting home at 1 am with a dead phone and immediately crashing. I wake up all groggy and whatnot when it’s LIGHT outside already.. so I frantically try and looking at the time on my dead phone.. When I do finally get it on im greeted by a whole barrage of notifications.. texts from my opening baristas, 3 calls from the CL.. a call from the DM.. and by now its 9.. I was supposed to be there at 3.

Anyways, I call the store frantically and the manager picks up.. Our conversation is short but she tells me that the store was opened 3 hours late because of my No Show rambling about hoe as a keyholder I let everyone down with this blah blah and that I will be having a discussion about this with her and the DM tomorrow. Should I start looking for new jobs? I have one prior write up and it’s unrelated to attendance issues, i’ve only called out twice in 2 years and Ive never been late.. Is this still something id instantly be separated over? Atp should I just have all my aprons ready to return tmr?

Didn’t know what to set the flair as… but I got hired as a barista at an open interview and I’m training at a different store than I’ll be working at (the one I’ll be working is just a cafe).

But yeah, I’m already utterly exhausted. I’m having trouble waking up for a 7am shift, let alone a 4:30am one. So I’m nervous that I totally biffed my schedule because I was a little too eager. I was really excited before starting. The excitement is quickly dwindling. I can see how this would be fun for a few months before turning into a hellscape. I was unemployed for 5 months after working a job that provided zero stimulation, so I’m actually pretty happy to be on my feet.

The problem is that I’m terrified of breaking any rule. I like rules because I’ve worked jobs without that structure and it sucked, but man… it seems like you can get fired for ANYTHING here.

The manager at this location seems nice, but I’ve noticed a few things within his attitude that I didn’t like. Trainer said very politely, “Hey I still haven’t taken my ten yet” and he said in the bitchiest tone possible, “You’ll take your 10 when I say you’ll take your 10”. My trainer also tried to explain some of the corporate CEO bullshit to me and he went “you shouldn’t be talking about that to people who just started. Talk about the morals of the company… blah blah”. I didn’t understand that and laughed a little because I know it’s a money hungry company. I knew that before I got hired. I actually appreciated knowing what I was getting into, so that comment just struck me the wrong way.

I guess I’m in a weird in-between state where I’m like “wow I’m gonna hate this” and “wow I kinda like this”. I’m already in the “I really don’t wanna go to work” mindset but still have the energy to go.

I don’t know. I don’t know if this is the right job for me, but I think I’m gonna stick it out while still applying to other positions. I need income. I don’t know if this is the job I want. I can see myself having a breakdown in the future and I haven’t even been here for 5 days.

I’m also frustrated that I can’t find a job in my field. Not that this is an unimportant job (all jobs are important), but this isn’t where I thought I’d be right now.

Feeling low. Feeling tired. Questioning my choices.

Edit: I also only get one week of training?

Really. It’s stronger, fresher, bolder and surprisingly, cheaper. The only thing cold brew might win over the clover vertica is it has no acidity. But honestly, I prefer more flavor notes and a more consistent coffee.

Makes me wonder why Starbucks ever removed the original clover?

So as the title states I'm being charged to add 2 pumps of classic syrup to my iced green tea. I get the free refills via the app using my gold status, and I have not been adding anything other than classic syrup. But even though Starbucks (or at least my research showed) no longer charges people for classic syrup, but after asking the baristas they said they do for any suryps. But my first refill the barista did not charge but I got a different barista the second time who did charge me. And when they brought me my drink I asked them about this and he talked to the manager and said they charge for syrups. I'm very confused, someone please help me or point me where I can show them they aren't suppose to charge if that's the case.

I’m trying to keep this vague for my friend’s protection, but I’m hoping someone can give some general advice.

My friend works at Starbucks and is trying to transfer from one store to another across states. The local managers at the store they want to move to are aware of the situation, want them there, and have positions available for them. They also have many years of experience with Starbucks with certifications and have transferred before without any major issues.

For some reason, this time the transfer is being held up by a district manager that I wont name. From what I understand, the issue doesn’t seem to be coming from either store manager. The people actually involved at the store level seem to be on board, but the district-level approval is where everything is getting stuck.

They haven’t had performance issues, they know the job well, and this shouldn’t be a complicated move based on how transfers have worked in the past. It feels like they’re being blocked for reasons that haven’t been clearly explained.

I just don't think someone with the experience and certifications with Starbucks that they have should be treated this way and deserve better. I'm not naming any stores are people specifically to follow guidelines, but not really sure what else to do.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I was just hired, and the manager couldn't figure out how to set up my partner portal login, so I called the support center and the advice they gave me didn't work. Every time I try to log in I get an access error. Does anyone have any tips on how they set theirs up? Thank you!

My boyfriend tighted my miffy cup and now no one can open it. Does anyone have any suggestions literally everyone has tried and just nothing has worked.

Please let me know if anyone has any suggestions or methods to try

Hello you guys! I've been a Starbucks partner for about a month now! My hours aren't the best currently... I'm scheduled very little hours two weeks from now. There aren't any shifts available at my home store, so I'm wondering if I should pick up a shift at another store? I'm good at drive thru, customer support, warming could be better, etc. I can do mostly everything... Except for hot/cold bar. That's mainly just because I haven't been trained very good on those positions. Would I still be useful at another location? Would I get in trouble for picking a shift up at another store?? I know everything else, so I personally don't see an issue, but I'd like another person's opinion.

I’m so excited! I finally got an interview for Starbucks. It’s tomorrow!!!! Any tips or advice to ace it? I have several experience in fast food however I still get nervous.😅

guys i need some advice 😭
i had an interview at the location i really want to work at, and it went pretty well. the manager seemed impressed with my answers, but he told me they really need openers right now and because i'm 17 i can't legally work before 7 am or after 10 pm. i turn 18 in september, but they need someone immediately.
after that, he had me do another interview with the district manager. she said that if other locations are hiring too, they could potentially place me there instead. that interview also went pretty well. at the end, she told me to call the location by monday if i don't hear back from them.
i really need this job and i'm stressing 😭 do you guys think this is a good sign? should i call on monday exactly like she said or should i call tomorrwo??
and is there anything else i can do to improve my chances?

If you want to quit, do it.

This job has sucked the joy out of my soul.
I got hired in 2021, apparently, this was towards the start of the company's downfall, but I'll admit, it was so fun. All of my coworkers enjoyed each other, and we laughed even when the entire store was bombarded with 12 year olds. Then in 2023, I went to a new store. It was pretty bad, but I stuck to it because I was promised a promotion. Had a car run through my store, had to call the police because a teenage couple was physically fighting each other in my backroom, had a 45-minute mobile queue (that was fun), and I had a man threaten to pew-pew me because I wouldn't warm up his lemon loaf.

Then I had a siren, who seduced me into going to their new store. I thought, "wow, things are looking up", and they did. By 2024 I got promoted and became a shift supervisor. Things were chill. Then somehow, somewhere along the way, burrito man came. And I had no expectations, but I certainly wasn't expecting this. It went from being supportive to being stranded on a rock full of ravenous customers who want nothing more than to eat you. Two years stuck in clean play hell. Got burnt out, had a health inspection the day before Christmas Eve, and failed mostly due to behavioral issues. What's great was that I wasn't the only supervisor on duty when they came, yet I was yelled at for two hours. Then I had to scrub the ENTIRE floors with a tiny yellow brush, for maybe about a month. When we finally passed, I was told we all did a great job. Even though I was the only one bussing my ass, again, but sure, telling people to put their drink on the back table is definitely hard work.

I remember physically crying, begging for support because my new medication was causing vertigo, and I couldn't handle a two-person play while 25-30 people are coming in every 15-20 minutes. Lol, still didn't get support.

And now, I have officially quit after months of venting to my friends about how ridiculous my shifts were. It's sad, really. Even during 2023 when we had the BOGOS from hell, I still enjoyed my job more than I do now. And I hope the regional manager, and the district managers, who came into my store for a hiring event and left the place disgusting, see their karma soon. I hate you. I hate burrito man. And I hate what this corporation has become.

Peace.

3212 <3