Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
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Green bean tall rant (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by kennytano
I’m newer hire fresh off my training. I have experience in a coffee shop but not at a Starbucks.
I haven’t been put on bar yet, only the things I don’t have experience like DTO & Customer Support. I genuinely have no idea how you guys take orders, get coffees, and stage thing so well. I know I’m knew to this and I’ll figure out how eventually, but my partners were getting coffees for me since it’s too hard for me to do it all right now. I feel like I’m letting them down since I can usually multitask well, but even just hearing people clearly has been so hard for me. I can multitask making 4 drinks at once since that what I’ve done before but the taking orders, organizing, getting coffees with the correct #of sugars and everything is apparently impossible for me! I am just feeling discouraged. I’m also worried I’m going to forget the rules for making drinks if they don’t put on bar soon. At my old cafe we would just wing that amount of pumps to what we felt was good and the rules are so strict here. I’m afraid I’m going to forget all the ins and outs of drinks if I don’t get some practice.
TLDR: DTO workers you are my HEROES and I hope to be able to do that position well, stop letting down my coworkers, and get some time making drinks again.
I haven’t been put on bar yet, only the things I don’t have experience like DTO & Customer Support. I genuinely have no idea how you guys take orders, get coffees, and stage thing so well. I know I’m knew to this and I’ll figure out how eventually, but my partners were getting coffees for me since it’s too hard for me to do it all right now. I feel like I’m letting them down since I can usually multitask well, but even just hearing people clearly has been so hard for me. I can multitask making 4 drinks at once since that what I’ve done before but the taking orders, organizing, getting coffees with the correct #of sugars and everything is apparently impossible for me! I am just feeling discouraged. I’m also worried I’m going to forget the rules for making drinks if they don’t put on bar soon. At my old cafe we would just wing that amount of pumps to what we felt was good and the rules are so strict here. I’m afraid I’m going to forget all the ins and outs of drinks if I don’t get some practice.
TLDR: DTO workers you are my HEROES and I hope to be able to do that position well, stop letting down my coworkers, and get some time making drinks again.
Lucky_Ant_2410 11 points 2y ago
I’ve been with Starbucks for three months and I felt practically the same I felt I asked too many question and needed too much help all the time but I promise it’s gets better the first two and a half months are tough but once u get a groove of everything it’s Easy try a quizlet for the drinks that what I did too help memorize it all
kennytano [OP] 5 points 2y ago
Yes quizlet is the best! It makes me feel better knowing someone else has been through it and can see progress. Thank you so much, it is giving me some hope 😄
smoolbeean 3 points 2y ago
we have a position called legendary in the morning where you are on dto and window and drive bar AND IT IS NOT EASY after awhile things become almost like muscle memory and repetitive. Ive learn to focus on being an active listener so I could start a drink and then punch it in even after a customer has ordered. ALSO dont be afraid to ask the customers for a moment if you need to finish something up
kennytano [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Geez that sounds insane! And you got this! That’s something I need to do more of. I hate asking them to wait and only do it when I’m reealllyyy in a bind because nobody else asks them to wait. But they’ve all been here for years and I’m new... here’s to learning and growing together!
greenlykethecolor 3 points 2y ago
I feel this! I was hired as a shift 6 months ago and in the past have run large food and beverage operations but taking orders and putting them in the register (or god forbid having to remember😱) is so hard! This may be one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever done and I don’t think my brain is built for it. I blame it a bit on ADD. It’s helpful with a bunch of baristas on headset and they are chirping in the background “whip on that?” “What size” and I try being friendly and customer service focused and helps the bumps. I’d say I VERY frequently mess up my greetings or stupid things like forgetting the rest of my sentence. It has gotten better, especially when I develop a flow. It took me till last month to help ready the order for the window. Laugh at yourself, joke with the customers and get through the day. Every one has strengths and weaknesses, we aren’t robots.
kennytano [OP] 2 points 2y ago
You got this!! All of you have been genuinely so nice and supportive. The other baristas have been so helpful when I ask someone to repeat 4 times and they somehow miraculously heard the person clearly and translate for me. I moved to the area and many people here are immigrants with thicker accents and I always feel like a POS for not understanding them. But I’m excited to be able to get better and finally learn how to multitask. Service jobs are so GD hard, much harder than the 9-5 desk job I left when I moved.
[deleted] 3 points 2y ago
im pretty new too! the hardest part is figuring out how everything meshes together/finding a flow. multitasking on bar is WAY different than multitasking in other positions (for example, so far i hate having to do register and oven at the same time lmao), you'll get the hang of things as long as you communicate w your play partners. the rest comes w time. as for bar stuff, don't worry, the recipes are all in the register and in my experience no one frowns upon asking questions. if you've had prior coffee experience, i wouldn't worry about bar at all! good luck :)
kennytano [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Thank you!! I don’t mind register/food at all which is so strange. DTO just kills me. Thank you so much for your encouragement, it genuinely means a lot!
roem529 2 points 2y ago
You will get there!! I thought I just really sucked at the job at first, because I had so much trouble multitasking while on DTO or CS. I had the mindset of those being the “easiest” positions, so I felt really bummed when I couldn’t keep up. But I’ve learned that every position is equally as demanding, and practice makes perfect! Eventually it will all become engraved into your muscle memory. As for the drink recipes, I found it helpful to kind of “study” the register whenever I was on DTO or POS. If someone orders a drink that you wouldn’t know how to make if you were on bar, take a second to look at the number of shots/pumps/etc. And if the customer sounded a bit unsure of what they were ordering, I’d sometimes say “that normally comes with x number of pumps, is that alright?” Saying it out loud helped me remember it easier, while also making sure the customer was getting what they wanted!
kennytano [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Yes! Register has definitely helped, also to tangent a little I’m surprised how many people have asked my suggestions on their order when I’m at the register. I do get nervous because I am the least picky person and hope I recommend something they enjoy.
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