Hey all.


If you've seen my long-ass post about how fed up we all are, I thought I'd give you an update.


I just had an hour long conversation with my RD about my post, about the nature of our concerns, and about possible solutions which could ease our collective burdens.


Without getting too far into the nitty-gritty, I was able to candidly discuss my feelings and share what I felt were the sentiments being felt by many of you (from what I could glean from the comments sympathizing with my post).


What it boiled down to was two things: That employees at the store level felt like we weren't being valued enough, and that there was a severe disconnect between the store level and upper management.


I also raised the concern that, sometimes, it felt like we as employees were being exploited for our work ethic in order to squeeze out the maximum amount of work possible at the lowest cost. This was not an accusatory statement. This was an expression of raw, emotional perception.


At the end of the conversation, she asked me what solutions I would suggest, what courses of action they could take to make things better.


I offered three.


1) The most obvious solution is the best solution. Pay people what they're worth. Knowing that this is the least likely solution,


2) Give stores more labor resources to better tackle the business needs. I reiterated the fact that the numbers on paper do not accurately reflect how the business feels on a day-to-day basis.


3) Finally, and what I feel is the most realistic solution, would be to have DMs and RDs visit stores more often in person, not to figure out a way to maximize profit but to figure out a way to maximize partner satisfaction. The second part of this would be for DMs and RDs to have more candid conversations with baristas and shifts across the country like the one she had with me, so upper management can better understand the struggles being felt at the store level. I expressed that the feeling of actually being heard by someone in her position cannot be understated.


There isn't a material outcome yet. This doesn't end with a, "we're all being paid more starting today!" I have no idea if the conversation I've had with my RD will be shared with other RDs or anyone at a higher level, I don't know if she intends to actively make things better for anyone besides me and my store even though I repeatedly emphasized that the issues of my post extended beyond my own needs.


Bottom line, the conversation went about as well as I would expect given the circumstances. Hopefully it's a start.


Also I wasn't fired.


Anyway, I wanted to share with y'all.