Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
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What is the biggest mess you or someone in your store has made? (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by princess-di-dv
I’m curious what everyone has had to go through. I’ve only been a partner for about 6 months but I’ll start.
This was around the time that they had started weaning me off my barista trainer during closing so it’s just me and a shift at close. I had just put the last load of dishes in the sanitizer so I go back out the floor to double check I didn’t miss anything. I go back to check on the dishes and the sanitizer looked like it was vomiting bubbles. It had looked like someone tried to take a bubble bath on our floors.
Looking back, i did notice more bubbles in the drain than usual, but I was still new and just shrugged it off.
I just looked at my shift and kind of just went “uhh is it supposed to do that” I was pretty hard on myself when i was new (still am but irrelevant) and I took full blame thought I had done something wrong. But in her inspection, someone had connected the sanitizer to a bottle of floor cleaner rather than the usual soap used for the sanitizer.
One panic call later to another shift (that has been with the company for about 17 years), we switched out to the proper bottle and then spent the next half hour, (after we were meant to have clocked out already,) cycling through what was left in the line of floor cleaner, vacuuming bubbles, went through loads of towels, using the mop to guide our mountains of bubbles to the drain, repeat.
Once it seemed like the sanitizer had detoxed all its bubble bombs out of its system we mopped everything down and left without telling a soul about what just happened.
i don’t think my storytelling gives it any justice but this was probably the most anxiety i have felt working at starbucks so far.
I came in to work early the next day looked around and everything was clean and nobody said anything. That same shift came in later that day and we looked at each other like we had a secret. That incident has made us closer but also remains nobody else in our store knows only three of us.
tl;dr: someone connected wrong cleaner to sanitizer, it vomited bubbles for almost an hour.
This was around the time that they had started weaning me off my barista trainer during closing so it’s just me and a shift at close. I had just put the last load of dishes in the sanitizer so I go back out the floor to double check I didn’t miss anything. I go back to check on the dishes and the sanitizer looked like it was vomiting bubbles. It had looked like someone tried to take a bubble bath on our floors.
Looking back, i did notice more bubbles in the drain than usual, but I was still new and just shrugged it off.
I just looked at my shift and kind of just went “uhh is it supposed to do that” I was pretty hard on myself when i was new (still am but irrelevant) and I took full blame thought I had done something wrong. But in her inspection, someone had connected the sanitizer to a bottle of floor cleaner rather than the usual soap used for the sanitizer.
One panic call later to another shift (that has been with the company for about 17 years), we switched out to the proper bottle and then spent the next half hour, (after we were meant to have clocked out already,) cycling through what was left in the line of floor cleaner, vacuuming bubbles, went through loads of towels, using the mop to guide our mountains of bubbles to the drain, repeat.
Once it seemed like the sanitizer had detoxed all its bubble bombs out of its system we mopped everything down and left without telling a soul about what just happened.
i don’t think my storytelling gives it any justice but this was probably the most anxiety i have felt working at starbucks so far.
I came in to work early the next day looked around and everything was clean and nobody said anything. That same shift came in later that day and we looked at each other like we had a secret. That incident has made us closer but also remains nobody else in our store knows only three of us.
tl;dr: someone connected wrong cleaner to sanitizer, it vomited bubbles for almost an hour.
MrRum8 12 points 4y ago
My first night closing I dropped a trenta green iced tea and half of a trenta white iced tea onto the floor as we were walking out. We had already set the alarm and so my shift looked at me, looked at the mess, and just said "leave it." The openers left a note that just said "green tea?" With about eight question marks. That was a year ago and my sm just found out a month ago.
jendestiny114 1 points 4y ago
Holy shit. This is a big mood.
goldenlemongirl 8 points 4y ago
We have a chalkboard sign that hangs over our tea pitchers that we draw monthly drinks on. One night, they hung it back on wrong and it fell off, knocking the teas everywhere and shattering a pitcher. All this happened while a shift was under it, passion tango ruined her shirt and will to live.
I’ve also tried charging whips without a rubber ring three times and had them explode all over bar and the ceilings lol
I’ve also tried charging whips without a rubber ring three times and had them explode all over bar and the ceilings lol
Graceooos 5 points 4y ago
When I was a fresh green bean, I managed to go to the ER my second shift alone (I wasn’t finished training at the time)
I was in the back doing dishes. Since we’re a busy, BUSY store, we were packed with dirty dishes. At one point I turned around and tripped on something. I managed to impale myself with something from cold bar that needed to get clean. As I walked to the back, blood dripped on the floor. My mom had to pick me up and I had to get 10 stitches TT TT
I was in the back doing dishes. Since we’re a busy, BUSY store, we were packed with dirty dishes. At one point I turned around and tripped on something. I managed to impale myself with something from cold bar that needed to get clean. As I walked to the back, blood dripped on the floor. My mom had to pick me up and I had to get 10 stitches TT TT
mathdaddy69 4 points 4y ago
When I was training, a partner dropped an entire thing of pumpkin spice sauce. Once she cleaned it up and dumped another jug of the sauce into the container, she knocked it off the counter and had to clean it up again lol
darkroastreeves 3 points 4y ago
Oven fire. That’s it, that’s the reply.
princess-di-dv [OP] 1 points 4y ago
omggg we had one of those too. i totally forgot
[deleted] 2 points 4y ago
[deleted]
Caitlinxz 2 points 4y ago
When I first started working I could make every drink with no problem except a Frappuccino - and I don’t mean making it ingredient wise, just for some reason I would never put the lid on. Thankfully it happened while I was being trained so my trainer would stop me before it started blending.
But alas my first day on bar mid rush with my trainer nowhere in sight my coworker handed me two grande frappes in the blender and guess who put it in a blender with no lid? ... with the protective layer of our blender in the sanitizer. My bar partner stopped mid drink and just looked it and I wanted to die LOL
But alas my first day on bar mid rush with my trainer nowhere in sight my coworker handed me two grande frappes in the blender and guess who put it in a blender with no lid? ... with the protective layer of our blender in the sanitizer. My bar partner stopped mid drink and just looked it and I wanted to die LOL
classicalyouth 2 points 4y ago
It wasn't even my store, I was covering a shift at a store a few blocks away, and it was a slight rush and was told to mop the lobby beforehand and tried to push the bucket over a Matt and it spilled under POS, and the walk isle. It was soooooo bad
canigetaventiuh 2 points 4y ago
Our mop hose leaks so you have to keep it in the sink or it'll leak on the floor.
One night the closers left it hanging out of the sink and flooded the back room. On the night we got our big weekly order. The bottom boxes got all soggy and some of them collapsed. So I came in the next morning to boxes every where, smashed open refresher containers leaking all over the floor, and the flood that caused it all. Also, some of the boxes hit the desk and knocked the laptop off and it smashed.
One night the closers left it hanging out of the sink and flooded the back room. On the night we got our big weekly order. The bottom boxes got all soggy and some of them collapsed. So I came in the next morning to boxes every where, smashed open refresher containers leaking all over the floor, and the flood that caused it all. Also, some of the boxes hit the desk and knocked the laptop off and it smashed.
kittykatfatrat 1 points 4y ago
All in the same shift but I dropped an entire gallon of milk on the floor a whole entire bottle of syrup on the floor and a whole litter of VSC on the floor all at different times of the day
lizardl4dy 1 points 4y ago
Someone shit in our trashcan and put the trash back on top of it in the bathroom. Week later a car drove through our store into the wall... all on my shifts. Manager thought I was joking when I called her and was hysterical.
We got a new bathroom trashcan and the wall and windows all got replaced.
We got a new bathroom trashcan and the wall and windows all got replaced.
androgyne_e 1 points 4y ago
Yesterday someone spilled an entire lemonade on the floor, I spill shit all the time. I got skinny mocha on the ceiling one day, it’s still there
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