Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
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So my new store manager is an external hire and has completely torn apart our team. (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by modernwolfskin
I’m having issues with my current store manager. She’s an external hire and has only been with the company for about six months. Since she’s come to our store, she has physically worked the floor for a grand total of maaaaaybe two hours, and she’s been here a month now. She has placed her own checkboxes and sign off forms in the daily records book and if shifts don’t sign it, they get written up. She’s made up a ton of weird rules like that.
She has also told us that regardless of whether or not we find coverage for our shifts, if we don’t call her or the store directly to confirm it, we get written up. She’s to the point where she’s rejecting barista availability because she needs them working certain hours. She’s also enforcing dress code rules that don’t follow our official barista dress code. She’s written up one girl for wearing leggings but then turned around and said another girl’s leggings were fine because they had pockets. She’s insisting all pants must have belt loops and a button in order to be considered work appropriate.
I’ve been with the company for over five years. I’m currently a shift supervisor who has always had the intention of moving up in the company. With minimum wage being $12 an hour in my state, I’m obviously making a couple dollars more per hour because of the shift supervisor pay difference as well as accounting for raises I’ve gotten in the past. I have a baby and I’m working on getting a house, so I need as many hours as possible.
Yesterday I started working at a second part time job that I hop over to as soon as I’m off at Starbucks. I told my manager about it and I’ve also had circumstances coming up where I can only work at Starbucks a few days a week because my babysitting situation is currently a little fucked. She told me flat out that she’s demoting me in August and bringing another shift in, and that my pay would drop down to starting pay for a barista.
I would be able to understand that she has to demote me because of limited availability, but all the other shifts have been working three or maybe four days a week on a good day and she’s keeping them on as shifts. I’m livid. I only got a second job because she started cutting my hours. I’ve gone from working eight hour days to five hour days.
Is this all something she’s allowed to do or is it something I should report to HR? She’s succeeded in making half the staff we had disappear and the rest of us are on our way out. I have fellow shifts who were the happiest partners before that are now constantly stressed to the point of tears. The work environment has become completely hostile and I don’t know what to do for my team.
She has also told us that regardless of whether or not we find coverage for our shifts, if we don’t call her or the store directly to confirm it, we get written up. She’s to the point where she’s rejecting barista availability because she needs them working certain hours. She’s also enforcing dress code rules that don’t follow our official barista dress code. She’s written up one girl for wearing leggings but then turned around and said another girl’s leggings were fine because they had pockets. She’s insisting all pants must have belt loops and a button in order to be considered work appropriate.
I’ve been with the company for over five years. I’m currently a shift supervisor who has always had the intention of moving up in the company. With minimum wage being $12 an hour in my state, I’m obviously making a couple dollars more per hour because of the shift supervisor pay difference as well as accounting for raises I’ve gotten in the past. I have a baby and I’m working on getting a house, so I need as many hours as possible.
Yesterday I started working at a second part time job that I hop over to as soon as I’m off at Starbucks. I told my manager about it and I’ve also had circumstances coming up where I can only work at Starbucks a few days a week because my babysitting situation is currently a little fucked. She told me flat out that she’s demoting me in August and bringing another shift in, and that my pay would drop down to starting pay for a barista.
I would be able to understand that she has to demote me because of limited availability, but all the other shifts have been working three or maybe four days a week on a good day and she’s keeping them on as shifts. I’m livid. I only got a second job because she started cutting my hours. I’ve gone from working eight hour days to five hour days.
Is this all something she’s allowed to do or is it something I should report to HR? She’s succeeded in making half the staff we had disappear and the rest of us are on our way out. I have fellow shifts who were the happiest partners before that are now constantly stressed to the point of tears. The work environment has become completely hostile and I don’t know what to do for my team.
thatsmysharpie 9 points 3y ago
So outside hires, while not understanding the culture of Starbucks, are sometimes very well versed on the rules. I’ve also had an outside hire ASM and I felt the same way about her messing with the culture in my store. But it was all actually within reason.
Using your examples, I know that managers and shifts are supposed to be utilizing the daily records book and I’ve seen my manager get in trouble with our DM because the book wasn’t being filled in every day by every shift. So if your store doesn’t use the book at all, it’s not unreasonable that your manager wants you to understand how crucial using the book is to the way Starbucks wants their stores to be ran.
Some of the things she’s enforcing and threatening to write up are also Starbucks standards. Policy says that you have to call your manager if you’re not showing up for your shift, even if you get it covered. Leggings on their own are against the dress code. And managers have to find a way to distinguish what is and isn’t appropriate. My manager has said as long as they have back pockets, they’re okay. And not being in dress code is something you can be written up for.
And from what you wrote, it sounds like you’re trying to go from a closer to full time position to a few days a week, whereas your other shift coworkers have been doing a few days a week since they were hired as shifts. Managers have limits on the numbers of shifts that they can have in a store, so if you need to cut your availability and your manager needs to bring in another shift, they may not have a choice but to demote you. Or it may be easier to find someone who’s willing to take your 5 hour shifts than someone who wants to work just a few days.
From what you’ve written, I can’t say with any certainty that you have a case to take before HR. It sounds like she’s enforcing rules that your store hasn’t been enforcing, and she’s not wrong to want to change that. Maybe she’s running people from the store, but maybe she’s decided those aren’t the kind of people she wants at her store going forward.
Using your examples, I know that managers and shifts are supposed to be utilizing the daily records book and I’ve seen my manager get in trouble with our DM because the book wasn’t being filled in every day by every shift. So if your store doesn’t use the book at all, it’s not unreasonable that your manager wants you to understand how crucial using the book is to the way Starbucks wants their stores to be ran.
Some of the things she’s enforcing and threatening to write up are also Starbucks standards. Policy says that you have to call your manager if you’re not showing up for your shift, even if you get it covered. Leggings on their own are against the dress code. And managers have to find a way to distinguish what is and isn’t appropriate. My manager has said as long as they have back pockets, they’re okay. And not being in dress code is something you can be written up for.
And from what you wrote, it sounds like you’re trying to go from a closer to full time position to a few days a week, whereas your other shift coworkers have been doing a few days a week since they were hired as shifts. Managers have limits on the numbers of shifts that they can have in a store, so if you need to cut your availability and your manager needs to bring in another shift, they may not have a choice but to demote you. Or it may be easier to find someone who’s willing to take your 5 hour shifts than someone who wants to work just a few days.
From what you’ve written, I can’t say with any certainty that you have a case to take before HR. It sounds like she’s enforcing rules that your store hasn’t been enforcing, and she’s not wrong to want to change that. Maybe she’s running people from the store, but maybe she’s decided those aren’t the kind of people she wants at her store going forward.
mykotman12 2 points 3y ago
Great comment! I was gonna say the same :)
AndrewtheRey 0 points 3y ago
Call HR.
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