TL;DR the licensed sbux I work at has sucked ass and I’ve worked extra hours and days and it’s been exhausting, but today was actually good largely bc of our new assistant manager so I actually have hope for the future

Hey y’all, just thought I’d encourage everyone here with a bit of positivity. I work at a licensed sbux during summer/winter break from school and to make a long story short, it’s been hell on earth ever since I got back. We’re incredibly short staffed with mostly new hires, with myself being one of maybe two baristas with minimal experience that haven’t already quit. I’ve spent long weeks with no off days, extra hours, and sometimes skipping breaks to keep this ship afloat. I’ve even had to run the kiosk by myself for upwards of an hour on weekends. We didn’t even have any leadership after both the manager and the assistant manager walked out on us.

Well today I met our new assistant manager and I am floored. The kiosk was probably the cleanest, most organized, and most well run that I’ve ever seen it. At this point I don’t even know what I don’t know, so I learned so much today from him and the barista from another store who came in to help us today. I even learned that baristas get cute enamel pins for their hats when they finished training (and they gave me some! I know that might seem small but it’s probably the first little piece of appreciation I’ve gotten as a barista and I needed that boost of positivity, and I finished my training ages ago)

Ever since I got back for the summer working here has been hell on earth, and every day I contemplate quitting. But today was probably the first day that I actually enjoyed working here. I’ve had trouble sleeping because of the stress of coming in to work every day so I didn’t see myself staying for the rest of the summer, but now I think I’ll be more than happy to stay. Especially after we finish training all of our new hires, it’ll be like a fresh start. I guess it just goes to show how important good leadership is, as corny as that sounds lol.

Anyway I now feel inspired to step up my game. I thought I was doing pretty great before considering the circumstances, but now I’m excited to do better. Which is crazy bc I’ve never been excited to go to work before. I needed a good day and even though customers can still be assholes and we’re still short on staff and supplies, I think things can actually get better so I’ll try to stick it out. But I wanted to share this little story in case anyone needed to see a bit of positivity today. I love the rants posted here as much as the next underpaid barista, but I like a good bit of optimism too