Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
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A rant about how the workplace feels like to me recently (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by talkingpanda77
Hey guys! I'm a 2 month old green bean so I guess not really a green bean anymore but I just kind of wanted to rant here since I feel like I'm being treated pretty unfairly by a specific shift manager that judges me based on my appearance. For the sake of this post, let's call that person **Becky**.
Just to provide some context: When I first started working two months ago, I was an absolute and horrendous clutz. I really did try my best though, I studied the recipes at home and I always always tried to learn from any mistakes I made, and whenever I did mess up I always kept up the "bubbly" attitude I have in order to not be a debbie downer just because I sucked. Like I remember this one time I had finally mastered the steps and remembered how to make Frappuccinos in my second week of work but then I made the silly mistake of not putting the lid on the blender which caused a HUGE mess. BUT I have NEVER done that mistake again since I learn from that stuff.
​
Anyways, I have **2 distinct shifts that I remember clearly that makes me believe that I'm being treated unfairly:**
1. ​
Recently, I went to work and got put on till for the whole shift and it went well. I made no mistakes at all and then two hours in -- I made the mistake of forgetting to grab one of the coffees of someone's order since he had been waiting for five minutes. In my head, I thought this was a small mistake so I immediately fixed it. It sure as hell was better than in the past when the mistakes I made involved the actual order where I would have to call a manager to refund them and stuff. I didn't think it was a big deal but then Becky just got SO angry with me, and then she looked at me like I couldn't do anything and was completely incompetent. It made me feel like shit because I tried so hard to not make a mistake and I was even proud of myself for only making one small mistake during the shift instead of multiple big ones. Later on during that same day, I got yelled at by Becky because I grabbed the wrong thing from the RTD&E when no one had ever told me what the item even looked like... She grabbed it herself in and got it in like 10 seconds after that.
2)
During this other shift, this other shift manager was deciding who to assign to take out the trash. It was between me and this other girl. I was fine with being picked, I didn't mind either way but the shift manager ended up choosing the other girl to take out the trash. This pissed Becky off and she said "You can't just let her NOT take out the trash every time just because she's small? How is that fair?"
*Let me get this straight*, I am the new worker, and therefore I am always the pre-closer and always assigned to do the garbage runs. I do the garbage runs like twice or more each shift, she just doesn't see it or some shit. I told her she was wrong and all she said was "Oh." I felt that this was so unfair. She basically just ASSUMED I was lazy by just judging based on my appearance that I would be some spoilt brat that used my size as an excuse to not do actual work. I am a short and small girl. Maybe she sees me as spoiled or something just because of the way I dress as well... But I'm a broke college student getting a job so that I can move out of my dysfunctional family home??? The fact that she had the guts to say her judgements out loud in front of everybody else in the workplace was so ridiculous.
​
I feel so frustrated... I haven't wanted to go into work ever since the yelling incident since I felt like crying the whole shift that day. I haven't wanted to face anybody and now I get way more stressed if I'm put on bar now because it feels like if I'm not perfect, then the few toxic people that I do work with will just treat me like I can't do jackshit even though I try my best and make waaaaaaay less mistakes than I did before, probably only once or twice a shift instead of like literally every 10 minutes.
Thanks for listening to my rant. I just felt like I had to get this out somewhere. I'm thinking of transferring once I am not such a green bean and I have the freedom to do so. Maybe in a year or so I'll transfer to another branch. Also with the way things are going in America with COVID I'm just scared of transferring to other branches that are busier during this time of year.
Just to provide some context: When I first started working two months ago, I was an absolute and horrendous clutz. I really did try my best though, I studied the recipes at home and I always always tried to learn from any mistakes I made, and whenever I did mess up I always kept up the "bubbly" attitude I have in order to not be a debbie downer just because I sucked. Like I remember this one time I had finally mastered the steps and remembered how to make Frappuccinos in my second week of work but then I made the silly mistake of not putting the lid on the blender which caused a HUGE mess. BUT I have NEVER done that mistake again since I learn from that stuff.
​
Anyways, I have **2 distinct shifts that I remember clearly that makes me believe that I'm being treated unfairly:**
1. ​
Recently, I went to work and got put on till for the whole shift and it went well. I made no mistakes at all and then two hours in -- I made the mistake of forgetting to grab one of the coffees of someone's order since he had been waiting for five minutes. In my head, I thought this was a small mistake so I immediately fixed it. It sure as hell was better than in the past when the mistakes I made involved the actual order where I would have to call a manager to refund them and stuff. I didn't think it was a big deal but then Becky just got SO angry with me, and then she looked at me like I couldn't do anything and was completely incompetent. It made me feel like shit because I tried so hard to not make a mistake and I was even proud of myself for only making one small mistake during the shift instead of multiple big ones. Later on during that same day, I got yelled at by Becky because I grabbed the wrong thing from the RTD&E when no one had ever told me what the item even looked like... She grabbed it herself in and got it in like 10 seconds after that.
2)
During this other shift, this other shift manager was deciding who to assign to take out the trash. It was between me and this other girl. I was fine with being picked, I didn't mind either way but the shift manager ended up choosing the other girl to take out the trash. This pissed Becky off and she said "You can't just let her NOT take out the trash every time just because she's small? How is that fair?"
*Let me get this straight*, I am the new worker, and therefore I am always the pre-closer and always assigned to do the garbage runs. I do the garbage runs like twice or more each shift, she just doesn't see it or some shit. I told her she was wrong and all she said was "Oh." I felt that this was so unfair. She basically just ASSUMED I was lazy by just judging based on my appearance that I would be some spoilt brat that used my size as an excuse to not do actual work. I am a short and small girl. Maybe she sees me as spoiled or something just because of the way I dress as well... But I'm a broke college student getting a job so that I can move out of my dysfunctional family home??? The fact that she had the guts to say her judgements out loud in front of everybody else in the workplace was so ridiculous.
​
I feel so frustrated... I haven't wanted to go into work ever since the yelling incident since I felt like crying the whole shift that day. I haven't wanted to face anybody and now I get way more stressed if I'm put on bar now because it feels like if I'm not perfect, then the few toxic people that I do work with will just treat me like I can't do jackshit even though I try my best and make waaaaaaay less mistakes than I did before, probably only once or twice a shift instead of like literally every 10 minutes.
Thanks for listening to my rant. I just felt like I had to get this out somewhere. I'm thinking of transferring once I am not such a green bean and I have the freedom to do so. Maybe in a year or so I'll transfer to another branch. Also with the way things are going in America with COVID I'm just scared of transferring to other branches that are busier during this time of year.
FoxyOnTheRun_ 2 points 2y ago
It sounds like you are trying really hard and that is important. You WANT to do well and that is SO important and it irritates me to no end when folk can’t recognize that.
the first thing you could try to do is talk to Becky. Which I know does not sound like fun but sometimes people just aren’t aware of how they come across. So you could try giving her the benefit of the doubt and ask to talk her and be like, “hey when you spoke to me like you did during (incident) it really hurt my feelings. I am trying really hard but I am still learning.”
OR if you’re comfortable with your sm, you could try to talking to them. Same gist, “hey I’m trying really hard over here and when Becky talks down to me it really hurts my feelings.“
Also, most importantly, I’d urge you to document EVERYTHING. Make a special note in your phone and when she does something that makes you feel targeted, write it down. Write down what was said to the very best of your memory. The time, the date, and the names of anyone else was on the floor during the incident. Hopefully you never ever need it. But if push comes to shove it’s good to have specific examples. Document everything.
​
(also re:blender - I’ve been here over a year and I just recently hit 1 while blending cold foam. So like. That was fun to clean up. Stuff happens. Everyone makes mistakes.)
the first thing you could try to do is talk to Becky. Which I know does not sound like fun but sometimes people just aren’t aware of how they come across. So you could try giving her the benefit of the doubt and ask to talk her and be like, “hey when you spoke to me like you did during (incident) it really hurt my feelings. I am trying really hard but I am still learning.”
OR if you’re comfortable with your sm, you could try to talking to them. Same gist, “hey I’m trying really hard over here and when Becky talks down to me it really hurts my feelings.“
Also, most importantly, I’d urge you to document EVERYTHING. Make a special note in your phone and when she does something that makes you feel targeted, write it down. Write down what was said to the very best of your memory. The time, the date, and the names of anyone else was on the floor during the incident. Hopefully you never ever need it. But if push comes to shove it’s good to have specific examples. Document everything.
​
(also re:blender - I’ve been here over a year and I just recently hit 1 while blending cold foam. So like. That was fun to clean up. Stuff happens. Everyone makes mistakes.)
talkingpanda77 [OP] 1 points 2y ago
hey! know im late but i really REALLY appreciate this. I haven't been on reddit for a while and have been busy but this rant really helped me and I'm really glad someone like you took the time to read this post and acknowledge that I'm working really hard :) unfortunately, at this point I'm still not comfortable with anyone at my workplace even though nothing really bad has happened in a while, but I will defs start documenting everything !!
​
Thanks again for your time and making me feel better about this. I'm thinking in the future if I get the opportunity, I will transfer to a different branch !!
​
Thanks again for your time and making me feel better about this. I'm thinking in the future if I get the opportunity, I will transfer to a different branch !!
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