That was everywhere, not just starbucks. My aunt passed of breast cancer and my manager at Disneyland said sometimes its better to be at work than be at home to dwell.

Yayyyy for major corporations

Unfortunately the SM a lot of the time is forced to just be a mouth piece of the DM. Shift supervisors are more so allowed to have personality and be ourselves but when you get to SM level you’ve like upgraded from a measly rook to a bishop now and you have more scrutiny placed on you

I’ve had a few different SMs and there’s a lot of validity to this. The best managers, in my opinion, are really passionate about their role and the company and care for their partners, and can speak from the heart rather than the manual.

For example my first sbux manager set the bar SO high I felt like I could talk to him about anything, work related or otherwise, and it was genuine. The next few, though, literally sounded like automated chatbots when talking about anything.

I know not everyone is a people-person, but.... that black iced tea in a time of need line? wtf??!

Yup I totally agree with everything you said. I understand as a manager, you’re the face of the company for a store but it doesn’t kill you to be A LITTLE empathetic for the partners who don’t feel safe or comfortable. Even just a “hey, everything will be alright” goes a long fucking way from someone who supposed to be the leader of a store.

Our SM pushes that narrative daily. “We are some customers only social interaction!” K, well I didn’t sign up to risk my life to be someone’s lifeline. I signed up to make coffee drinks.

when COVID-19 first hit, we kept working and my SM would say, “we are a beacon of hope in these dark times that other business and our community look up to. we have to stay open for everyone’s sanity” and i was losing my shit MAD MAD. then we closed the next day for the entire month of April :-)

Our SM is a teddy bear and straight up tells us when he has no idea what corporate is trying to do. He makes things work for our store, kinda the store dad.

My sm told me she never does anything more or less than what corporate tells her bc she got in trouble before.

Imagine doing MORE for your store and getting in trouble.
But yes I agree and it SUCKS. It's why I ended up taking the severance package. Me: can we be safer and require masks, the board of health says we have to. Manager: no corporate says we can't "police" masks. Me: so I'll quit even tho my 4 year anniversary is soon and I do a lot of support work for the store etc. not to toot my own horn.


Just, HEHODKDNHSIAKAKS. I'm very angry at starbucks.

My manager is one of my best friends and we have both grown together since being baby baristas about 8 years ago. She works so hard to try to meet her partners halfway and also being the liaison to corporate. It is so much of a push and pull and I don’t envy her.

I think it’s an active choice they take whether to give more preference to their uppers or lowers. As in, do they work harder to please their partners or their bosses? And some choose one way, some choose the other. It isn’t always so black and white. That’s my take anyway.

I wish you guys could just see workplace. You want to think it's being told to them word for word but they genuinely believe what they are saying in a weird way.

I feel pretty disconnected with my SM. Near impersonal. I see her maaaybe once a week, for an hour or so.

It feels really odd when she tries to make small talk or any conversation with me.

Kinda glad I backed out of being promo'd to SSV because of this.

That's probably why they were chosen as a manager. It's like this at most corporate jobs.

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My SM illegally terminated me while I was involuntarily hospitalized with PTSD from rape, immediately after my family filed a missing persons report, then illegally rehired me and put me on a personal leave of absence rather than a medical leave of absence so I haven’t been paid since May 11.

I just want to share about my manager, who seems to be one of the few genuine managers around. He obviously tells us what the company is making him say, but he's also understanding of each and every partner here. I know that sounds cliché, but he's actually doing his best to look out for us in these times. Recently, I talked to him about the state of closing shifts now that labour has been cut, and how stressful and difficult 2 person closes are. He immediately checked the schedule, and started seeing who he could shift later. It's not a perfect solution, but he's at least making the attempt even with Corporates dumb rhetoric.

I know this probably isn't how a lot of stores are, and I want to make it clear that I am grateful to my manager for being so open, and I wish all of you the best!

The main reason I took the separation package was because of my manager and the complete lack of concern for partners during the pandemic. The way they handled it before was terrible, any time I voiced my concerns all they did was undermine what I was feeling and spout corporate nonsense at me. I actually got COVID (was able to manage it at home but It was awful) and they called me while I was sick and not once do I remember them saying they hoped I get better. They just talked about how blessed they were to be serving our customers. Don’t want to rant for too long but they clearly felt upset that I took the full leave. Sorry I wasn’t in the mood to be serving customers while I was struggling to breathe and constantly exhausted after being sick...

It’s total bullshit. I was an asm and it’s all true. My sm trying to act like we are helping the community. Like bitch no. We aren’t essential and there are 6 other starbucks within 3 miles

Every year, they Become more robotic than the last.

2 year Texas barista here and our SM and DM are literally going to let us and our family die for corporate agenda. We have multiple Covid19 cases at almost all stores in my district. All stores are still open, and we’re advised not to tell the customers risking their health too. Furthermore there is no hazard pay for those risking their lives. I’ll never forget how Starbucks treats their customers and their employees. Not for the rest of my life. I’ll spread this truth until the day I die.

That’s what happens when your pay becomes salary lol

idk…mine seems to be pretty good. None of that corporate talk, she does send some memos to the chat group but other than that we're cool.

This makes me nervous about working for starbucks but I recently had an interview and the manager told me he was picky about who he hired simply because the staff is friends in and outside of work and he wants to makes sure his environment is consistently positive. I get that to the most part but like. It made me feel really really judged. I am a good hard worker but i have anxiety when speaking to higher up people and it's hard to me to really form a proper answer when I first get interviewed. Should I already be worried?

Ouch. I understand not liking hearing these things but as an SM you’re obligated to communicate the rhetoric given to you, whether you like it or not. SM’s are people too, it’s extremely difficult to be the bearer of bad news all the time for a store full of partners you care about.
They’re just trying to do their jobs too,but please try to be mindful of the pressure put on them to uphold company standards while maintain morale as much as possible.