IMHO, this really sucks. You're a green bean in an apparently busy store and so you're trying your best just to stay afloat and make sure you get all of the drink orders correct. I think it's unrealistic to expect EVERY SINGLE EMPLOYEE to do customer connections. If your crew/SM keep pressuring you about it, you could always stick to the basics like "have a wonderful day, *name*" when you pass off the drink and "hello, welcome" when someone comes into the store, and at slow periods maybe strike up a conversation if it's organic and the customer seems open to it, but IMO when you're on bar that's the extent of your responsibility to customer, especially during rush times. Also, FWIW, I feel like many customers are in such a rush that they really don't care about customer connections, sometimes they even get irritated when you try to strike up a conversation because it feels very inorganic and customer service-y, so Starbucks' delusional focus on this is kind of an impediment to the business running faster. You can't have super speedy drive-thru times and connect with every single customer, Starbucks corporate needs to decide which is more important if they're going to continue to let stores function at the bare minimum of support

That person who said that to you was out of her lane, out of her role at that moment, she was not empathizing with neither was she helping you. Pretty darn toxic. She had a role at that moment, was she DTO or DTR or was she Bar 2 (what we call cafe/mobile) was she CS? Whatever it was, she needed to be doing that and since she's such a hot shot she should be calling out to and conversing with customers, showing you how it's done, instead of throwing a grenade your way. I'm sorry that happened.

1) If you ever feel overwhelmed, ask to move or for some help. Yes, you will only get better by struggling at times but it should never make you cry.

2) Admittedly, I find it very easy to connect with customers. But, when I'm on drive-bar a simple "hi welcome in"/ "have a good day" whenever you notice someone walk-in/leave works. At my store at least, bar 2/cold bev has more of the convos. Again, it comes naturally to me to welcome in people so idk how helpful this is.

I hated hearing this early on too. It's a good stretch goal once you are somewhat comfortable on bar but it doesnt make sense to be trying to connect when you're first learning.

Fwiw, I don’t want conversations. I just want my drink and to be on my way.

Not gonna lie dude, whenever SSV or SM tell me I need to be making customer connections more, I just say “ok thanks I will try harder” smile and nod, then go about my business. As far as I see it, saying hello and being polite if customers ask a question is pretty much all we can be expected to do. Customers usually don’t want to have in depth conversations with you and Sbux is kinda wack to think they all do. Customer connections scores don’t actually matter to anyone but the SM who gets a bonus or whatever for it. Just pretend like you care when they tell you about it and then forget about it…

I'm also at a cafe and today I was solo bar and we had a designated handoff person during a rush. Safe to say I made pretty much no interactions with customers aside from the occasional, "hi, good morning." SM, DM, and DM's boss were all at the store during this time and not a single one told me I needed to focus on customer connections. If that barista had enough time to stand around and talk to customers while you were drowning in orders, they should have helped you so that your be able to make connections.
I've never been great at customer connections and I've been here about 8 months. Honestly, it's not a big deal as long as you're being friendly and welcoming. Like someone else said, some customers don't even want you to talk to them, so just do what feels right.

Fuck that barista. I'm not skilled on bar either and I refuse to even wear my headset. Making drinks should be the only thing the bar barista is responsible for. And I personally can't stand when shift supervisors (or other baristas or managers, whatever) treat green beans like they have the ability to do everything perfectly. No. They're getting used to how damn hard this job is and are likely shocked at the number of customers we get, how fast we're supposed to serve them, the amount of multitasking we're expected to do, etc., etc. When I was a green bean, my shift supervisor fussed at me harshly for taking my headset off while I was working DTR AT PEAK. I cried during my entire lunch in the bathroom because I felt like I was being asked to do something I couldn't do and that I might not be able to do my job. THEN an interim manager we had told us the DTR barista should not wear a headset at peak! Of course, that shift supervisor never apologized to me for that and she no longer works for Starbucks. I'm not stupid. I took my headset off because I couldn't listen to orders and cash out at the same time because I was a GREEN BEAN. It's not rocket science.

But to give you practical advice, ignore that barista's stupid advice. If you get fussed at again about it, tell your manager you literally CAN'T do all that at once. I've told my manager that multiple times now. I've told her I feel defeated if I'm being told to do things I can't. Like, the thing about Starbucks is that this is going to keep coming up because the company just wants to stretch us SO THIN. I've been fussed at multiple times for taking my headset off. I take it off because I have to in order to be able to think! And some of my shift supervisors who are too stupid to understand that just continue to fuss. (One time I said to myself, "I can't do all this," and my shift supervisor overheard me and said, "Everyone else does," and boy, did that piss me off.) But you can only do what you can do, and the way to mitigate these conflicts is to clearly communicate that you're being asked to do too much. Don't feel like you're doing a bad job to say that you can't do it all. Honestly say that it's too much for you. Luckily, you are going to get better at multitasking the longer you work the job. When I was a green bean, my brain got overwhelmed. I was assigned to work drive-thru a million times, so I got really good at it. I now notice that I'm able to mitigate the overwhelmed feeling--I'm able to not let it happen. You get familiar with the job and expect the busyness. (I'm a lot better at not getting overwhelmed than one of my shift supervisors is.) Another piece of advice: ask for help when you need it!

[deleted]