That’s so irritating, I’m very sorry. I’m was in a similar boat in that my cs training involved my trainer (btw I had 2 different ones so that was confusing) handing me off to one of the shift and she ran through it in 30 minutes with me. I’ve been working at sbux for over 4 months and I still am catching up on CS knowledge. Just remember that the real training happens when you are on the floor, not during your one week of training. It’s too much information to learn in one week; you’re bound to forget most of it.

As far as recipes and dating backups go, most of them are very simple. Mocha is 2L of hot water and one pack of mocha whisked together. Dark caramel, chai, and White Mocha come premixed and you pour them into the bar containers. Lemonade is 0.75 L of lemonade mix (one box makes 2 pitchers) and 1.25 L of cold water. Frap roast is one packet of coffee to 1 L of cold water (my store makes 5 L cubes, but some do it differently) Any of the fruit inclusions are dated for 5 days, and all powders and chips are dated for a week. Mocha, frap roast, and chai are good for 24 hrs. Lemonade and sweet cream (not going to tell you the recipe because every store makes different amounts at once) are good for 48 hrs. White mocha and Dark Caramel are good for 2 weeks.

Hope this helps somewhat!!!

Unfortunately this style of “training” has become the norm in many districts in the last 2-3 years. They assign a trainer, who is supposed to spend their entire shift not helping customers and only training you.

But many districts have their stores operating on such little staff, so if there is an unexpected rush or one barista calls out... the Trainer becomes a worker, and the new barista is left wondering what to do or being thrown into the flames. Then after 4 days of this, their training period ends, and they have learned next to nothing.

As a trainer, it was part of the reason I eventually left the company. There was a lot of turnover, we weren’t able to train anyone properly, so quality was plummeting. Tons of rightfully unhappy customers, serious health code violations, and the job became miserable.

But the partners in every store I worked were always super encouraging to new people and always willing to help! NEVER be afraid to ask questions, there is no question too dumb!! Everyone was a newbie at some point and they all remember how hard it is. Keep your head up, take pride in your work, and the job can be so so fun

Edit: the mobile app can be super helpful for new people!! I recommend looking at it while you’re at home to get familiar with the menu and drink components! It basically shows the standard recipe for each drink

This is unfortunately the norm now. 7 years ago you would be assigned one person and you would both be scheduled as "shadow" shifts so you were essentially extras. There was enough people to run the floor normally and to give you time to train for the basics.
Now, you'll get 2 or 3 different trainers, if that at all. There are some stores that're so busy you end up in 3 different positions your first day just so they can keep you busy.

I'd recommend getting yourself a small notebook and writing EVERYTHING down. The recipe cards are good but having a small notebook in your apron, writing it down - I feel like this helps the most. Easy to pull it out when you need it and put it away.

Hi love!
If you wanna shoot me an email I can send you some photos of training material that you can study:) they’re beyond helpful honestly. Sorry to hear your situation! I remember when I was trained feeling lost and I would make shitty notes to stick in my apron. Don’t fret though:) with practice everything will start making more sense.

Most backups have the recipe on the bag/carton and the lemonade has the date length thing on the carton!

I have a barista cheat sheet I made awhile back for the baristas I was training!! Dm me if you want & I can totally email you. It breaks down the drinks & everything

When I first started I printed & laminated a little cheat sheet for expiration dates/drink pump rations/prep guidance. It was a tiny little front & back square that fit right in my apron pocket. Definitely helped a lot. Currently a SSV and I’ve been here for almost 2 years now, and my best advice as far as the training concern is to ask questions!! Tell your SSV/ASM/SM that you feel like you need more training or more undivided attention to be able to grasp everything. I’m sure they can see you’re trying and most would rather you be honest and ask questions over staying quiet and not knowing the stuff later on.

If you have any questions AT ALL before/during/after your shifts and you don’t feel comfortable going to your higher-ups, my inbox will always be open! No question is a stupid question. I’m here to answer them all!

Also, I learned that you gain a lot of your training while you’re working/as time goes by. The trainings can be a little information-heavy, and can definitely overwhelming to learn in a short period of time. Don’t you worry though, everything will fall into place and you’ll be a great barista soon! :)

I had a similar training problem for myself but if you ever feel lost or stuck even after your training the best thing to do is ask questions! I can assure you it’s not expected to know everything after your first week.

You can access all the recipes/training from your computer at home by going to the partner hub. Just go to partner.starbucks.com, log in with username (your partner number ex. US1234567 and password). There is a search bar, though the hub is tricky to navigate-you have to search main categories rather than specific beverage components/recipes (for instance, if you search beverage resource manual you can find how every component is prepped, like mocha, but if you search "how to make mocha" you be be on a wild goose chase. Drink guides are under Beverage Recipes, expiration date are under Shelf life standards).

Even though the resource is there, I would suggest not bringing work home like this. Every barista in this company has left their dedicated training time feeling overwhelmed with all the info. No one remembers it all, and no one expects you to be perfect after two weeks. Take it day-by-day. Some roles are easy, some are hard. You will learn way more once the training stops. The training is made to give you very basic foundational knowledge that you can build you barista skills on top of. It can be stressful when you are struggling with a new concept, but overthinking it, taking it home, etc will burn you out.

We all used to be green beans just like you, only after several customer roasts do we become the seasoned, darker beans. That's why coffee masters wear black aprons ;)

I wrote the cheat sheet stuff on my arm for about a month.

I have training cards with all that information that I used when I first got started!
Let me know if you would like copies of them