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Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind

Full History - 2018 - 09 - 16 - ID#9g8kom
3
How do you deal with the stress? (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by [deleted]
[deleted]
GhostRecon1845 4 points 4y ago
You have to realize that it’s just coffee. Do what you can and don’t overwork yourself on your shifts.

There is also lots of knowledge and skills you have to build to become proficient. I’ve been working for Starbucks for 5 years and I am still learning new things almost every day and I can’t remember all the standards always. So don’t feel bad if you don’t get it all right away and just ask questions and be honest with customers.

Honestly it’s just trying to maintain a positive work vibe and don’t let the little things get to you

monkeyeighty8 3 points 4y ago
I work with a really great team right now.

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Whenever things get to be 'too much', we ask each other for support.

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Whether it be a monster line of customers that grew out of nowhere, "Hey, Partner! Can you slide over & heat up 60 bacon sandwiches for me?" or a "Geez! The garbage can at the brewer weighs a ton! Will you help me out?" or a "Why is the no-foam latte lady screaming at me?! Please can I step off the floor for a minute?", it's all about communication!
Constable-Arwen 2 points 4y ago
See this as an opportunity to learn to socialize with random people and break out of your shell... You get to be awkward and fun at this job.

One of the most important things I had to learn working here was to not be petty. Just fix a customers drink and assume they messed up when you get a, “oops i meant to order the big one” or anything of the like. At the end of the day it’s not a big loss to starbucks and everyone will be happy. I tend to try not to charge for extra requests.

Even when a customer is upset, continue being happy, stay busy, and don’t ever let others bring you down to their level in a negative way. Enjoy listening to gossip, but never participate in it if you wanna get ahead. Your GM watches/hears how you talk to/about each other.

Any job you get is going to be stressful in someway or another. At least you got an air conditioned place where you can drink coffee and talk. Most people would love to do that and get paid for it. Yea you gotta clean stuff too, but that’s not the stressful part i hope. I find peace in cleaning things, and tons of eustress when I get to see my finished product. Good luck to you.
Liquid_Joules 1 points 4y ago
Update: I’ve pretty much identified the sole cause of my extreme distress. One coworker who I will call J. He has been working here considerably longer than me, going on two years. This is about my fourth or fifth day here. Today one of the other partners who was in charge of training me couldn’t come in today for understandable reasons, no big deal I figured. The manager will probably find another person to help cover. I was wrong. It was pretty much just us two for most of the day.
Being the relatively new trainee that I am, I only know a small handful of drinks and still struggle to find a few things on the register properly. J and I came up with an arrangement where I wrote up the drinks and handled the basic stuff. This worked pretty smoothly until things started to pick up. I was writing up the drinks and ringing people up like I was supposed to, getting the simple orders and drinks already knew out of the way until I notice something terribly wrong.
There were a group of people at the end of the bar waiting for their drinks. They had been waiting for I would guess a solid fifteen to twenty minutes now. I saw unfinished pumpkin spice lattes, chai lattes, frappuccinos, etc. Some of the customers had ordered more than one drink, others ordered only one, and if I had to guess there were about 7 of them waiting for their drinks in addition to more people coming and lining up.
A couple of them started complaining and berating me. Others were understanding as they noticed I was literally the only one there. Me, a scared and clueless trainee, staring at the customers, then staring back at the unfinished drinks, my mind processing the scene in front of me as fast as an extremely stressed out socially anxious twenty one year old could. J. had went to the back and left me all alone. When I went and found him and demanded to know what the hell he thought he was doing, he told me “I don’t know how to make this drink. I’m texting someone to find it out.” Needless to say I was speechless. I told him to go finish all the other drinks somehow without venting all the built up frustration so generously gifted to me by the customers who had waited way too long for their drinks. I really don’t know if I want to work here anymore.
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