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Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind

Full History - 2021 - 06 - 14 - ID#nzi7fr
35
Terminated for calling in sick and being 15 minutes late? (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by jaxeatsglass
At 11:48 I called the store and talked to my shift to tell them that I had been throwing up that morning. The shift told me if i was going to have the day off i needed to find someone to cover my shift otherwise i'd have to go in, completely ignoring the fact that I was throwing up, so i texted a couple of the partners I worked with trying to see if I could get my shift covered but around 2 I realized none were going to respond so I took a nap after taking a handful of advil to get ready for my shift and woke up at 7:16 three hours into my shift panicked with the messaged "did you find someone to cover?" "Or are you coming in?",”You're responsible for the coverage of your shift and will be held accountable”4pm this felt help me out here because I swear when I first started it said that if i am throwing up under no circumstances should i be at work and ive taken my food handlers as well so I know it is against health code to be working with food while ill. So I did some more research on the matter because again i felt like i was being fired by this shift lead who for some reason doesn’t like me. I show up to my shift the next day and the Manager is waiting for me to give me a citation for not calling the store or showing up and I told her I had called and told the shift what had happened and her response to me was “they said it sounded like you had been partying” she told me the shift told her that and continued to hand me the warning papers and I mentioned to her I’ve been having issues with this shift since I first started from discrimination to her treating me like a five year old and she kinda blew it off and went to talk to her outside for a bit. Honestly don’t even know where the shift got the idea I was partying from as I’m an introvert and rarely talk to that many people and I mentioned to my boss I’m trying to break out of that by being here. I’m also a minor so it’s not like I can go out myself or drive myself anywhere. Fast forward about a week later I was running late for one of my shifts and I was about 5 minutes away from the store when the shift(different one from before)at that time called me and I apologized and told them I’d be coming in within the next five minutes and his response was “don’t worry it’s good was just checking to make sure you’re all good” got to this shift 15 minutes late and it went smoothly. The next day when I started my shift the manager calls me to the back and tells me I was 31 minutes late to that shift and unfortunately they’d have to terminate me and then told me to go on cs but I just left cause why work when I’m fired. Honestly I was done with all of it at this point The place I worked just felt toxic and a big part of me is relieved I don’t have to stress about what’s going to happen when I’m there I will miss the company though.
colonade17 53 points 2y ago
This is so wrong. Starbucks company policy stated in the partner guide is that you are not responsible for finding coverage when you are sick, you are only responsible for notifying your store promptly. which you did with your first phone call.

Your SSV was out of line to tell you it was your job to find coverage. When you said you were throwing up that should have been the end of the conversation, we work with food, and vomiting is an automatic food exclusion symptom.

If you wanted to come back to work for a different store you'd have a solid case to appeal your termination to starbucks.

However we work "at will" which means starbucks can fire us at any time for almost any reason or no reason at all. If you wanted to file for unemployment you'd probably get it because based on your story here this sounds like a wrongful termination.
jaxeatsglass [OP] 13 points 2y ago
Yeah I mentioned that to my Manger when I was getting the warning for it and she just ignored that and said that shift said I had been partying the night before and I’m aware im at will, but my main worry was just not being able to work for the company again
colonade17 9 points 2y ago
You may be in that gray area where you're technically right on all the issues, but it's just not worth the effort to stay with a company that tolerates managers who treat you like this.
jaxeatsglass [OP] 4 points 2y ago
Yeah I don’t know if it’s worth it myself either but I have other jobs lined up if I don’t see myself with the company in the future but there honestly aren’t many places in my area that pay well for minors and I love the customer service role of the job creating that “third place” was something I found a passion for. After all that I’ve heard and seen the past year has me torn between wanting to try another location or just giving up on the company.
-beam-me-up- 3 points 2y ago
Tell them you're going to call HR and ask their opinion. It usually scares the heck out of them and then when you actually do call HR to ask what the right actions were and who's in the wrong, they'll answer all your questions. I've called a couple times and every time they've been very helpful.
jaxeatsglass [OP] 3 points 2y ago
I’m about to call HR will update after.
I did tell my Manager about the report and got terminated like a week after
killerwhaletank -8 points 2y ago
“Your SSV was out of line to tell you it was your job to find coverage.” This isn’t common? This is how our store works at all times. If you’re calling out you the barista have to find coverage. It’s apparently not the shift’s, nor the manager’s, job to find coverage. I’ve always found that to be INCREDIBLY audacious, but I always felt it to be normal.
devhelix 10 points 2y ago
Calling out day of due to illness you are not responsible
colonade17 3 points 2y ago
It is clearly stated company policy that you are not responsible for finding coverage in case of illness. If you're just calling out because you don't want to work that day that's different.
Ajskdjurj 15 points 2y ago
I would fight it. If you clocked in and it shows you were 15 mins late they could get in trouble. You shouldn’t be terminated for two issues you usually have to be consistently late. I would call pcc.
jaxeatsglass [OP] 5 points 2y ago
Any chance you know how to get in touch with them because I have a longer report than this that I’ve been planning to send it but no clue where to send it and they deleted my partner info a day before terminating be so no clue how to find it. Appreciate it
Ajskdjurj 6 points 2y ago
It should still be in the system. If your in us I would call this number 800-611-7792
jaxeatsglass [OP] 3 points 2y ago
Thank you sm 🙏
t_dsam_m 8 points 2y ago
That’s messed up sorry that you had to go through that, I’d say look up Sbux ethics and compliance cause that’s not ethical whatsoever.

https://businessconduct.eawebline.com/English-Business-Conduct-Helpline.pdf

There’s a link to the helpline
jaxeatsglass [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Thank you, and yeah I plan to call them today.
Different_News_1027 3 points 2y ago
I get you 100%! I wasn’t terminated but I called in sick before my shift as I was nauseous and throwing up. I got a call from my SM saying “ Do you understand how this looks? “ I try apologizing and he goes “ We’ll talk about this in your next shift. “ He hangs up on me. I work with him today, and I’m so sure im going to receive warning papers. He also told everyone about how mad he is at me for calling out. ( I have never once called out. )
jaxeatsglass [OP] 2 points 2y ago
Yeah this is my second time calling out other than covid so I was like why u ass-u-ming but it’s a coin flip with sms but my store had a high turnover before I started so I should’ve realized something was up hopefully all goes well for you.
august401 1 points 2y ago
this is so wrong for them to be acting like this when you're sick, ESPECIALLY during a pandemic
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