I was a 3-year café only Partner (and a SSV) when I transferred to a DT/café Starbucks. No big deal, right?

It took me a *full year* to be proficient with the headset, and to be able to multi-task.

You're a 3-week Partner, and you're doing DT by yourself? Good for you! I don't doubt that you'll master it, but in the meantime, don't be afraid to ask for support from your fellow Partners.

In the meantime, don't be afraid to ask customers to wait. "Good afternoon-welcome to Starbucks! Could you give me just a second, Please?" Most customers will agree to wait.

I wish you the best!

Sometimes if I’m taking an order and a customer starts talking to me at the window, I’ll go on the headset and ask someone else to listen to the order for me. That way you can take care of the person at window, don’t have to cut off the person ordering at the box, and can input the order as soon as you are able to break away from the window. Don’t always rely on someone else to listen at DTO for you, but it helps you get a few seconds when you’re still learning. Also, breathe. It just takes time and practice. If your coworkers are getting frustrated with you, think about what would help you most and try to see who you can ask to get that help. For example, are you getting stuck with warming because you can’t remember an order while you walk back from the oven? Ask your order support or front reg person for help getting your warming in. Everyone has secondary tasks designed to make things flow smoothly, and if you’re getting stuck you can ask your SSV who would be the person to relieve the bottleneck.

PS Try to memorize where the buttons for things are, especially common things like syrups. It’ll make inputting orders WAY faster, kind of like learning to type on a keyboard.

I'm in my 3rd month working at Starbucks and although I love it, drive thru is still pretty hard for Me! One thing I suggest is grabbing food AFTER the order is done and then kindly asking the next costumer to hold on. I say "I'm sorry ma'am/sir/darling just give me one moment please" and they never mind. Also I was encouraged to let them know I am new and they were always so patient and sweet. Take it slow, talk slow and they will too. Now, for handling the massive amounts of orders. When bar hands u a drink check where it is in line and place the drinks in order by car. Always remember to bump the order off the screen right as they pull away (Also helps ur time ;;)). If there is more than 3 drinks use a carrier. Stoppers in pikes,hot Americanos and teas. Also, remember the trade off rule. Hand out coffee as ur taking their card :))

I worked at a pretty busy interstate store where all of the workers were cool AS LONG AS you could pull your weight. Trust me, I too felt that pressure of not wanting to be detrimental to the team, and aside from a couple cool partners, I was mostly on my own for learning.

First of all, keep calm. Though it may seem really serious, at the end of the day you’re serving someone a cup of coffee. The sun’s still gonna rise, birds are still gonna sing, and that Starbucks will continue to get business.

No one ought to be expecting sub 1 minute times outta you at 3 weeks, it was about a month before I could even properly communicate to the customers on a headset. If your crew does, I don’t.

When doing DY don’t be afraid to just say “Hey there, I’ll take your order in justa second” if you’re in the middle of something. Eventually, just through practice and osmosis, you’ll pick up that multitasking skill. I’ve heard from some people that they don’t reach that point until about a year of working there.

You probably don’t even know every drink on the menu, so when someone could drive up and order something you didn’t know even existed, you’re just gonna naturally want to listen to the order. That means doing anything else doesn’t give you enough attention for the order.

Sounds like you’re pretty determined to be a skilled worker, so as long as you keep that mentality and don’t get hung up on every bad day (cause at Starbucks, and anywhere else really, everybody has them) then you will indeed prosper.

Keep up the awesome work, it sounds like you’re learning fast to me! Also sorry, if you want me to elaborate or ask any questions then please feel free to ask