Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
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Why I will probably quit SBUX as an external SM after 4 months: (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by Remarkable_Comment18
For the long and the short of it, I’m most likely leaving after only a few months. I honestly can tell you that there are many things that I think make this job incapable of having a healthy work/life balance for many people. Unfortunately they seem to have attendance of putting SMs (especially external hires) in stores that are fundamentally broken and have a lot of issues (not blaming SSV or baristas necessarily); but literally just got thrown into a store and given very little direction. My DM also has both told me “I’ll be great”, but has said many discouraging things about the SSVs and made it seem that it will require significant rebuilding.
I come from a background where I’m not unfamiliar with fixing broken stores, but damn, at least there’s usually more support.
I come from a background where I’m not unfamiliar with fixing broken stores, but damn, at least there’s usually more support.
FfierceLaw 17 points 2y ago
Too bad everyone is so stretched they couldn't have a mentoring program with experienced and successful SMs to advise you. My SM would be great, everyone in our store likes and respects them so much. But I even worry about my SM's state of mind and work/life balance. I hope things improve for you. I think Sbux needs to bring in some outside consultants to observe life on our floors and tell the stay-at-home brass some things they don't want to hear. I'm just a lowly but older barista so take it with a grain of salt but my advice to you is to spend time on the floors. Let your partners respectfully coach you in the roles. DTO, DTR, bar, front/warming, CS, do it all. Let them count on you to schedule them 3 weeks out and respect their availability. Be patient with them, some are just a couple years out of middle school. Some of them may not have much experience with chores, working with a sense of urgency, but they may have a good heart to serve and be a member of the team, they just need a chance to climb that very steep learning curve. Fix the problems, mollify the customers but tell your partners to remember that it's only coffee.
Remarkable_Comment18 [OP] 11 points 2y ago
I just think for me, it’s not worth sacrificing years of my life to feel more stable and secure. Feedback I’ve gotten from several SMS that either are my peers or trained me have said the first years were very difficult for them, and then I think they stay because they become more comfortable. I also think that a lot of my issues come from the fact that SMs that don’t have a good work/life balance are put up on pedestals as an example and it becomes difficult to achieve a standard. And for context I was hired to take over a new location, and then after completing my SMT, I was told I was going to be put into a store with many issues that would be “fixed” before I got there. The team is extremely exhausted and discouraged. Supportively they’ve had 23 SMs in 13 years since the cafe opened.
FfierceLaw 3 points 2y ago
Oh wow I feel so bad for them and you
okayteenay 8 points 2y ago
This was my experience as an SM as well, but I was an internal promotion. I took over a drive thru where the previous SM was suddenly terminated the day before because she was messing about with partners’ payroll. I stuck it out for a year, demoted myself to SSV then left a few years after that. I’d like to say “it gets easier”… but it rarely seems to.
Good luck, friend!
Good luck, friend!
Radiant_Log_4342 4 points 2y ago
As a former barista, I noticed that too. Most external SMs did not have the proper training or guidance. Most of the time they would get fired in a few months and the stores they overlooked were in absolute chaos. Starbucks needs to promote from within or give better training to SMs instead of expecting them to work as well as a SM who has been managing in Starbucks of years
Remarkable_Comment18 [OP] 3 points 2y ago
I’d definitely say it’s not always a matter of the external piece and I’d say in my present district, many SMs are internal promotions. I feel it’s only been in the past few years I’ve seen a lot of external apps start to go out. I’d say the biggest issues are around the actual structure of the management in the stores and the roles and responsibilities allocated to SSV vs SMs. Unlike many other retail settings where responsibilities are shared better amongst management staffs, there is a lot that is solely put on SMs in this case and it leads to a really unhealthy work/life balance.
Radiant_Log_4342 1 points 2y ago
That’s true. SMs are also given a ridiculous workload. I noticed it in my other SM too that she has to take home a lot of work which is ridiculous. In my district most of the new managers were all outside hires but that was my DMs choice. Unfortunately a lot of them were not the best. Two of them were fired BC they assaulted a barista and one of them was fired BC she forced some partners to come in with Covid. So my perspective on outside hires is definitely biased.
coffeegirrrl 1 points 2y ago
As an outside hire myself, I feel your pain. My first year was hard, but after that hurdle it has become so much better. I feel that us mostly that I developed a peer group that I was comfortable with in that time. Within 2 years I was advising many of my peers. If I can help support you in any way, please let me know. I love this company and am so happy I made it past that first year.
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