We shouldn’t swear while we’re on the floor. Our voices carry more than we realize. I do curse on the floor, most of the partners at my store do. But after an experience today, I seriously need to re-evaluate my word choice while I’m at work:

I said “fuck” today in a tone I thought was more reserved and it wasn’t even directed to anyone. I dropped some cups i was stocking. It was dumb, but ah customer heard me and called me out. I’ll make sure I never do it again when a customer can hear. I was honestly mortified that I let my frustration in the moment potentially make this customer’s Starbucks experience less positive.

Booo, I hate that. If you’re a shift you can always coach. The way we’ve been able to fix that at my store is just to remind baristas to be careful and that people have been immediately let go for using bad language on the floor.

As far as the complaining goes, what’s worked for me is just to be almost disgustingly positive. I will literally counter any complaint with something positive. My store was REALLY bad with negativity and complaining for awhile but positivity is pretty infectious, even if it takes a little time.