Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
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Starbucks doesn’t care about your mental health. (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by Melatte1331
I’m hoping by now partners realize that Starbucks doesn’t actually give a shit about mental health, just like they don’t actually give a shit about Black Lives Matter, even though they should.
But what made me realize it was spending two months trying to go on a medical leave for mental health after a slew of traumatic experiences. Death of family, leaving an abusive relationship, moving as a result, just to name a few.
Led me to experience weekly panic attacks, heightened anxiety and depression, depersonalization, and now I barely leave the house on my own without experiencing panic or high anxiety. Not to mention trauma randomly stirring up memories and feelings I don’t ever want to experience again.
So anyways, the documents Starbucks provides says medical leaves for mental health are possible if you’re seeking help regularly to fix your problems.
So I’ve been seeing a therapist with plans to escalate to a psychiatrist if our sessions aren’t improving my mental health, which is what my therapist suggested.
I had both a doctor and my therapist fill out the physician forms that Starbucks by way of Sedgwick provides.
Two months of back and forth and dealing with this on top of everything else in my life has been dreadful and I’m not really surprised at this point, but I was rejected.
The reason why? Well, “as there is no plan of escalation, such as in-patient hospitalization or partial in-patient and outpatient hospitalization, your paid leave has been denied,” according to my denial paper.
So I mean, whatever it’s cool. But just thought I’d tell everyone that Starbucks only cares about mental health when it’s too late, and you need to be incapacitated on an extreme level. I guess when you physically can’t actually work because you’re locked up for mental health decline?
But ya know, we support you by providing Lyra and Headspace. We care about our partners. 🙄
EDIT: Oh, I should also mention, that while store partners are being treated like shit, when we were all forced to go back to work wearing masks while our customers didn’t have to wear them for OUR safety, corporate partners were given $500 each to spend on making their work-at-home life more comfortable.
EDIT 2: And when I talked to partner resources about finding a store when I moved to another state after leaving my toxic relationship, they first assured me that I could find a store and then when I couldn’t, told me that if I didn’t like the circumstance, I could quit.
But what made me realize it was spending two months trying to go on a medical leave for mental health after a slew of traumatic experiences. Death of family, leaving an abusive relationship, moving as a result, just to name a few.
Led me to experience weekly panic attacks, heightened anxiety and depression, depersonalization, and now I barely leave the house on my own without experiencing panic or high anxiety. Not to mention trauma randomly stirring up memories and feelings I don’t ever want to experience again.
So anyways, the documents Starbucks provides says medical leaves for mental health are possible if you’re seeking help regularly to fix your problems.
So I’ve been seeing a therapist with plans to escalate to a psychiatrist if our sessions aren’t improving my mental health, which is what my therapist suggested.
I had both a doctor and my therapist fill out the physician forms that Starbucks by way of Sedgwick provides.
Two months of back and forth and dealing with this on top of everything else in my life has been dreadful and I’m not really surprised at this point, but I was rejected.
The reason why? Well, “as there is no plan of escalation, such as in-patient hospitalization or partial in-patient and outpatient hospitalization, your paid leave has been denied,” according to my denial paper.
So I mean, whatever it’s cool. But just thought I’d tell everyone that Starbucks only cares about mental health when it’s too late, and you need to be incapacitated on an extreme level. I guess when you physically can’t actually work because you’re locked up for mental health decline?
But ya know, we support you by providing Lyra and Headspace. We care about our partners. 🙄
EDIT: Oh, I should also mention, that while store partners are being treated like shit, when we were all forced to go back to work wearing masks while our customers didn’t have to wear them for OUR safety, corporate partners were given $500 each to spend on making their work-at-home life more comfortable.
EDIT 2: And when I talked to partner resources about finding a store when I moved to another state after leaving my toxic relationship, they first assured me that I could find a store and then when I couldn’t, told me that if I didn’t like the circumstance, I could quit.
Jewicer 10 points 2y ago
or your physical health for that matter. I came into contact with a partner confirmed positive and was told that I’m not isolating because I didn’t work a full shift with him, and that I’m still scheduled to work my expected shifts. I called Partner Resources (to my GM’s dismay) because that responsibility is not going to be on me if I’m positive and spread to someone else. They’ve done nothing; no cafe closures, no adjusted open/close times. This was probably the final straw for me. I do feel off, so if I’m positive, I’m going to make a big production out of it.
Melatte1331 [OP] 5 points 2y ago
Yeah that is total bullshit. And a total lack of regard for partner safety and care during a freaking pandemic. I’m so sorry you have to go through that. You deserve better treatment from Starbucks.
Jewicer 6 points 2y ago
My GM literally told me that it was “based on the science” that I don’t isolate. Even though we were DTO/DTR together and I put the headset on that he used. I wonder what they would say if that was their kid. Just say you need me for Happy Hour and go 🙄 They don’t care about us.
philosopher_cat_lady 1 points 2y ago
Always sanitize your headset before and after use
Jewicer 1 points 2y ago
I do and did.
philosopher_cat_lady 4 points 2y ago
How about having Happy Hours during the pandemic? A full menu with seasonal menu launches? Letting customers come inside the stores? (The number of people who do so without a mask on is ludicrous.) It's all insanity.
Twentysixounces 2 points 2y ago
Call. Your. Cities. Health. Department. ASAP.
Erisedkey135 6 points 2y ago
Thank you for sharing your story. You deserve better from a company that claims to care so much. Depression and anxiety are on the rise at my store. It's honestly scary to see how fast we're all falling and when we need help, we're told "drive-thru times matter."
Melatte1331 [OP] 4 points 2y ago
Thanks for the comment and support! That’s so infuriating! It’s insane to me that during these times, the company thinks it’s okay to behave like everything is normal, and push drive times and customer connections. Like hey, let’s get those times down and connection scores up. The pandemic? COVID?! Your safety and mental health?! What’s that? Sorry we couldn’t hear you over the hours we’re cutting and the misery of our store partners. 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️ For a company that claims it cares about its partners, it’s been doing nothing but prove otherwise lately. Good luck, you guys deserve better. ☹️💕
philosopher_cat_lady 4 points 2y ago
Get this shit, my new district manager wants us to ask each drive-thru customer for their name. He also said I can't wear sunglasses in drive-thru when the sun started blinding me at sunrise (if he thought a little harder, he'd realize the not-being-able-to-see is going to make my precious drive-thru times longer). And he can't wait for us to go from grab-and-go to normal operation. I noticed he's an outside hire and he seems to have no idea how our job actually works.
Melatte1331 [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Ugh awful. He sounds awful and doesn’t seem to care about anything but making money. Somebody sipped the kool-aid too hard. Outside hires for upper management is pretty annoying sometimes. 8/10 times they pretty shitty people. The current SM at my old store is an outside hire who use to be DM for a different company and is equally awful. Good luck 😭 that’s a real drag.
philosopher_cat_lady 2 points 2y ago
He seems to be a corporate shill, unfortunately. He cares a lot about customer connections and satisfaction, but the thing about customer connections is that you have to do them in a way that makes sense. Nobody in drive-thru wants to tell you what their name is. Nobody wants to catch COVID from having a normally operating cafe. Anyone coming through our drive-thru at sunrise will understand and accept that I'm wearing sunglasses. Anyway, the next day I didn't take one customer's name in drive-thru and my store manager either didn't notice or more likely didn't care. Starbucks is a truly odd company in a lot of ways and I'm not gullible enough to fall for their weird platitudes and unreasonable asks. "We're not a coffee company that serves people, we're a people company that serves coffee." Stop it. You're a company, and therefore your bottom line is profit.
philosopher_cat_lady 1 points 2y ago
Drive-thru times do not matter. I'm getting real "buildings matter too" vibes here.
[deleted] 1 points 2y ago
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[deleted] 4 points 2y ago
That $500 per corporate partner should have been used to continue our hazard pay
Big-Marsupiall 2 points 2y ago
This makes me so mad. You're so right that Starbucks gives zero fcks about their baristas. My mom got laid off because of government cuts to her job sector, then got breast cancer and is still highly vulnerable and immunocompromised because of it. Throughout everything, I was never allowed or given any time off, at one point my boss made comments insinuating my mom actually didn't have cancer (because I asked to be moved off of drive after 3 continuous hours of us only accepting cash once at the start of the pandemic) and basically told me to quit if I wasn't happy or felt safe with our working conditions while she knew I was the only one in my family working because my mom literally had cancer. Starbucks couldn't care less about any of us.
Melatte1331 [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Yeah that’s total bullshit. I’m sorry you’ve been shown such disregard and disrespect while trying to stay safe so you don’t put your mom at risk. You deserve better from a company that claims to care about its partners. Fuck Starbucks and the way they treat store level partners. Good luck and stay safe.
Kitten_Monger127 2 points 2y ago
Wait you can get paid leave for mental health? I've actively self harmed three times AT work. And I have no therapist, (too poor, owe the last place money.). I could really really use a break but I can't if it's not paid.
Melatte1331 [OP] 2 points 2y ago
Well Starbucks offers free therapy sessions through Lyra as a benefit now. And I recommend using it if you can’t get therapy any other way. And with Starbucks, you can allegedly get a paid medical leave for mental health but my experience has indicated that it may be difficult. You can also use Sedgwick to apply for a workers comp case if the def harm and mental health decline is in part due to Starbucks and the way they treat you. Whatever you decide to do, I understand the struggle of being short on money, it’s what has stopped me from seeking therapy until recently and I wish you the best. You deserve time off to take care of your mental health and it’s a shame that it’s such a difficult thing to do in America, where we value people working to themselves dead before caring about how they’re doing both physically and mentally.
Kitten_Monger127 2 points 2y ago
Thank you very much.
philosopher_cat_lady 2 points 2y ago
My former store manager went on a mental health leave of absence very soon after transferring to our store. I figured he was in rehab. Some time after he got back, he was fired.
It really sucks how corporate America thinks mental health isn't worth caring about. I once lost a good job because I was mentally unwell and missed my meeting to discuss my job because I was hospitalized at the time and got informed of it via mail which I couldn't check. I've tried several times to get that job back and have been unsuccessful so far. I'd be dead surprised if they ever rehired me.
It really sucks how corporate America thinks mental health isn't worth caring about. I once lost a good job because I was mentally unwell and missed my meeting to discuss my job because I was hospitalized at the time and got informed of it via mail which I couldn't check. I've tried several times to get that job back and have been unsuccessful so far. I'd be dead surprised if they ever rehired me.
Melatte1331 [OP] 0 points 2y ago
Yeah that is absolutely awful. I’m sorry to hear about your SM and you as well. I hope it works out for you someday. ☹️💕
But yeah I’ve heard some awful stories similar to the one of your SM. There was an SM in our district who has been with the siren for 13 years and took a mental health leave and when they got back, they’ve been moved from store to store and asked to go on a leave again because they didn’t have a place for him, even though we had several stores without an SM or ASM.
Corporate America really does treat mental health like crap. Good luck in your troubles fam. We all deserve better than this.
But yeah I’ve heard some awful stories similar to the one of your SM. There was an SM in our district who has been with the siren for 13 years and took a mental health leave and when they got back, they’ve been moved from store to store and asked to go on a leave again because they didn’t have a place for him, even though we had several stores without an SM or ASM.
Corporate America really does treat mental health like crap. Good luck in your troubles fam. We all deserve better than this.
beanieboi254 1 points 2y ago
Thank you so much for sharing. I’m in a very similar position in terms of my mental health and current situation in my life. I’ve been wanting to take time off work to try and help myself, as per my therapist’s recommendation, but I wasn’t sure if I’d qualify/if it would be allowed. I guess I know the answer now, unfortunately. What can we even do at this point? I’m sorry that you’ve been denied and that you went through so much trouble to try to get a very reasonable thing. It’s insanely frustrating and disheartening. All I can do is wish you the best of luck, offer my absolute empathy and understanding, and hope that things get better for you.
Melatte1331 [OP] 2 points 2y ago
Hello!
I’m sorry to hear you’re in a similar place with your mental health. ☹️ I am also sorry that the insight I have is disheartening. Every situation is different and you might luck out, but it will be a very challenging process. You can apply for an unpaid personal leave if you really need time off. I’ll walk you through the process of a paid leave (or at least how it went for me). You have to call Sedgwick and tell them you want to apply for a leave because of your mental health, they’ll send you a packet of paperwork, and a physician statement. One thing they hadn’t made clear to me is that this physician statement doesn’t have to be filled out by a doctor. I made two copies and made my doctor fill out one and my therapist and sent them both to Sedgwick for review. Also, Sedgwick won’t ever explicitly ask why you are requesting time off. They will strictly look at the paperwork provided by doctors or therapists unless you take a moment to tell them why yourself. And once that paperwork is submitted, you’ll have nurses from their medical team analyzing your paperwork and calling you to see if you sound as miserable and broken over the phone as you do in the paperwork. It can be very invalidating. And after that it’ll be in limbo for an indeterminate amount of time before they make a decision. I think if you’re really feeling like you need time off and you trust your therapist to advocate for you, that you try Anyways. Sedgwick purposely makes the process painstaking and provides minimum information so that they can find ways to say no to you. My advice, get as much documentation and possible. Like having your therapist write a letter and provide more detail than just the physician statement. Whatever you decide to do, you deserve time off to cope and go through whatever you’re feeling or struggling with. You deserve better treatment than Starbucks might give you when you try to advocate for yourself. Worse comes to worse, I would tell your SM you need time off and that they need to give it to you.
I’m sorry to hear you’re in a similar place with your mental health. ☹️ I am also sorry that the insight I have is disheartening. Every situation is different and you might luck out, but it will be a very challenging process. You can apply for an unpaid personal leave if you really need time off. I’ll walk you through the process of a paid leave (or at least how it went for me). You have to call Sedgwick and tell them you want to apply for a leave because of your mental health, they’ll send you a packet of paperwork, and a physician statement. One thing they hadn’t made clear to me is that this physician statement doesn’t have to be filled out by a doctor. I made two copies and made my doctor fill out one and my therapist and sent them both to Sedgwick for review. Also, Sedgwick won’t ever explicitly ask why you are requesting time off. They will strictly look at the paperwork provided by doctors or therapists unless you take a moment to tell them why yourself. And once that paperwork is submitted, you’ll have nurses from their medical team analyzing your paperwork and calling you to see if you sound as miserable and broken over the phone as you do in the paperwork. It can be very invalidating. And after that it’ll be in limbo for an indeterminate amount of time before they make a decision. I think if you’re really feeling like you need time off and you trust your therapist to advocate for you, that you try Anyways. Sedgwick purposely makes the process painstaking and provides minimum information so that they can find ways to say no to you. My advice, get as much documentation and possible. Like having your therapist write a letter and provide more detail than just the physician statement. Whatever you decide to do, you deserve time off to cope and go through whatever you’re feeling or struggling with. You deserve better treatment than Starbucks might give you when you try to advocate for yourself. Worse comes to worse, I would tell your SM you need time off and that they need to give it to you.
beanieboi254 2 points 2y ago
Thank you so much for all this information! I appreciate it so much. Good luck to you again and if you ever need a random barista to talk to, feel free to message me <3
Melatte1331 [OP] 1 points 2y ago
And also, thank you for your kind words and support. I really appreciate it. 💕
[deleted] 1 points 2y ago
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