Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
↑
7
↓
How to Write a Policy (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by philosopher_cat_lady
Note the ambiguity in this section of our mask policy:
"Customers will not be required to wear a facial covering if they express they have a medical condition or are under 2 years of age (local mandates may vary in the age requirement they indicate for children, **yet we will never ask a customer their child's age and must assume positive intent).**"
My former shift supervisor and I interpreted it to mean that two-year-olds are required to wear masks. After all, we don't allow customers with medical conditions to be inside the store. My store manager and district manager interpreted it to mean that each store should follow its local mandate (if it has one) regarding age.
This caused a whole lot of confusion and frustration at our store. Please, Starbucks, write your policies specifically where there is no room for interpretation.
"Customers will not be required to wear a facial covering if they express they have a medical condition or are under 2 years of age (local mandates may vary in the age requirement they indicate for children, **yet we will never ask a customer their child's age and must assume positive intent).**"
My former shift supervisor and I interpreted it to mean that two-year-olds are required to wear masks. After all, we don't allow customers with medical conditions to be inside the store. My store manager and district manager interpreted it to mean that each store should follow its local mandate (if it has one) regarding age.
This caused a whole lot of confusion and frustration at our store. Please, Starbucks, write your policies specifically where there is no room for interpretation.
mayor-em 2 points 2y ago
I see where your going with this but it’s just like the hat requirement. Starbucks doesn’t require baristas to wear hats unless their local mandate does. Anyone can wear a hat, but in my region we must wear a hat. 2 year olds and under can come to Starbucks mask less, unless under the local mandate says they can not.
[deleted] 3 points 2y ago
I think the issue is that there are states that don’t require children to wear masks until they’re 5 or 6, so it’s not that maskless children under 2 can’t come in, but more what’s the rule when it comes to children over 2 when your local mask mandate doesn’t require masks on children until they’re older.
philosopher_cat_lady [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Yes, that's my issue. My state requires children eight years old and older to wear them.
[deleted] 1 points 2y ago
Which is where I think it’s that your state mandate might be 8 years old, but Starbucks policy is 2 years old. So you’re allowed to remind customers that inside Starbucks, children over the age of 2 are required to wear face masks.
philosopher_cat_lady [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Well, like I said in my original post, I talked to my store manager and district manager about it and they said we should follow our state mandate. I don't agree, but they've got authority over me.
philosopher_cat_lady [OP] 1 points 2y ago
There's definitely room for interpretation. It's not like we're talking about the law where there isn't any. For example, if a person has entered into a contract and the contract is ambiguous regarding a certain term, the ambiguity favors the party who did not draft the contract.
Yeah, I'm aware of the hat rule. I live in a state that requires them. As for the two-year-old cut-off point for masks, this isn't really relevant to the point you were making, but I think the cut-off point is there as a safety issue. My store manager said that there's a risk of suffocation for children under two to wear them. So I'd be surprised if any jurisdiction required them for children under two.
But going back to the how-do-we-interpret-this issue, it's kind of my inclination to think that the stricter rule is the one that should apply, whether it belongs to Starbucks or to local government. I have an example that applies: in my state if you have a medical condition that prevents you from being able to wear a mask you are allowed to enter public buildings without a mask. Starbucks says you're not. And we've been enforcing that rule at the Starbucks's in my area pretty well. It doesn't come up too often, thank goodness.
Yeah, I'm aware of the hat rule. I live in a state that requires them. As for the two-year-old cut-off point for masks, this isn't really relevant to the point you were making, but I think the cut-off point is there as a safety issue. My store manager said that there's a risk of suffocation for children under two to wear them. So I'd be surprised if any jurisdiction required them for children under two.
But going back to the how-do-we-interpret-this issue, it's kind of my inclination to think that the stricter rule is the one that should apply, whether it belongs to Starbucks or to local government. I have an example that applies: in my state if you have a medical condition that prevents you from being able to wear a mask you are allowed to enter public buildings without a mask. Starbucks says you're not. And we've been enforcing that rule at the Starbucks's in my area pretty well. It doesn't come up too often, thank goodness.
mayor-em 1 points 2y ago
I agree! My state is in the northeast and straight about mask wearing. So it’s like hat, mask, headset and I don’t wear even bother with glasses because it’s too much on my head. I hope people are good to you and your team. It’s been a year.
philosopher_cat_lady [OP] 1 points 2y ago
I wear glasses! They fog up all the time due to wearing a mask. I dislike when customers don't show empathy for how hard our job is! Working in a mask is really hard and makes me shorter on breath and more tired than I used to get before COVID. There's no time to take breathers like our store manager mentioned we could at the beginning of the mask policy. During a ten I spend a lot of my break just using the bathroom and lord knows I'm not taking off my mask in there. Luckily, most customers are kind though!
Yeah, when I clock on, I know there are four things I'm supposed to be wearing so I count them: apron, hat, headset, mask. I've also got to put my hair up but I usually remember to do that. :-)
Yeah, when I clock on, I know there are four things I'm supposed to be wearing so I count them: apron, hat, headset, mask. I've also got to put my hair up but I usually remember to do that. :-)
[deleted] 1 points 2y ago
My understanding is that Starbucks has set its own requirements for being in the store.
From the July 9th update:
> In its continued effort in prioritizing the health and well-being of partners (employees) and customers, Starbucks today announced that beginning on July 15, it will be requiring customers to wear facial coverings while visiting all company-owned café locations in the US.
> At select locations where a local government mandate is not in place, customers that may not be wearing a facial covering will have various options to order their Starbucks, including ordering at the drive-thru, curbside pickup through the Starbucks app or placing an order for delivery through Starbucks Delivers.
They way they specifically mention “locations where a local government mandate is **not** in place” makes me assume that the mask standards are for inside a Starbucks location.
So I would read the Starbucks rule as anyone over the age of 2 is required to wear a mask regardless of the local mandates, be it no mask or a higher age (for example, when I went to Arizona in October, they were only requiring masks for children older than 6), but were also not going to ask children to verify their age.
Just like even if your local government doesn’t have a mask mandate in place, you still need to wear one while in our stores.
From the July 9th update:
> In its continued effort in prioritizing the health and well-being of partners (employees) and customers, Starbucks today announced that beginning on July 15, it will be requiring customers to wear facial coverings while visiting all company-owned café locations in the US.
> At select locations where a local government mandate is not in place, customers that may not be wearing a facial covering will have various options to order their Starbucks, including ordering at the drive-thru, curbside pickup through the Starbucks app or placing an order for delivery through Starbucks Delivers.
They way they specifically mention “locations where a local government mandate is **not** in place” makes me assume that the mask standards are for inside a Starbucks location.
So I would read the Starbucks rule as anyone over the age of 2 is required to wear a mask regardless of the local mandates, be it no mask or a higher age (for example, when I went to Arizona in October, they were only requiring masks for children older than 6), but were also not going to ask children to verify their age.
Just like even if your local government doesn’t have a mask mandate in place, you still need to wear one while in our stores.
This nonprofit website is run by volunteers.
Please contribute if you can. Thank you!
Our mission is to provide everyone with access to large-
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
©2023 HumbleCat Inc • HumbleCat is a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Michigan, USA.