Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
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Working bar solo + DT, how common is it? (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by AIchemiIIa
This has been seriously bringing down my mood the past few days so I wanted to get others' opinions.
I'm an opener usually, or I come in an hour after open. Generally once I come in I will get told to assign myself in drive through and also solo both bars for at least an hour. I love being on bar, but I seriously struggle keeping up with mobiles and cafe as well as doing the DT drinks while taking orders over the headset AND taking payment then handing drinks off. I don't complain and I only ask for help when I'm rlly drowning bc I know there's stuff that needs to be done before peak.
The real issue is that every day after more ppl come in and are planted in DT or on the other bar, my SSVs and manager complain about the DT times from when I was BY MYSELF working what are normally 4 planted positions. It irritates me and makes me feel terrible. How do they expect me to keep the times under 2 minutes...anyways, how commonly do you guys get stuck with this? Do you have any tips?
I'm an opener usually, or I come in an hour after open. Generally once I come in I will get told to assign myself in drive through and also solo both bars for at least an hour. I love being on bar, but I seriously struggle keeping up with mobiles and cafe as well as doing the DT drinks while taking orders over the headset AND taking payment then handing drinks off. I don't complain and I only ask for help when I'm rlly drowning bc I know there's stuff that needs to be done before peak.
The real issue is that every day after more ppl come in and are planted in DT or on the other bar, my SSVs and manager complain about the DT times from when I was BY MYSELF working what are normally 4 planted positions. It irritates me and makes me feel terrible. How do they expect me to keep the times under 2 minutes...anyways, how commonly do you guys get stuck with this? Do you have any tips?
RhubarbPerfect8330 14 points 1y ago
How many people are there in the mornings? I open at my store and depending on call outs, we have 2 openers who get planted on DT and bar, a person who gets in around 5/5:15 who goes to warming, and the SSV who puts away the shipment and puts in the order. Maybe it’s different for us wince we’re DT only, but doing all the bar work and DT seems excessive if there’s more than one person on
AIchemiIIa [OP] 7 points 1y ago
There are usually 3 of us who open, I get put on DT/solo bar, the other barista usually gets put on front/warming, and our SSV does stuff like milk count I think? I'm not sure but our SSV is not usually on the floor, they're in and out of the back for a while. The next person to come in is usually there at 5:30 and they're my support "if I need it" but they are the ones who put away our shipment, and like I said I usually only call them over if I'm seriously drowning or sometimes they come over if they notice it's really bad
RhubarbPerfect8330 9 points 1y ago
Yikes dude. Idk if I’m just used to how my store does things but that seems like a disaster waiting to happen. It feels like your register person could at least help you out on drinks but I’m just a barista
AIchemiIIa [OP] 5 points 1y ago
We have a lot of new ppl :/ I've been opening with a lot of them lately and they aren't very experienced. Sometimes when more experienced ppl are put on front/warming they'll help out a little with DT but they haven't been there lately. Honestly I wish my SSV helped me out a little more considering how upset she gets at the high times but I try to be understanding that she's doing stuff when it's early
jakeythecommie 1 points 1y ago
Look at it this way: you don’t get paid to worry about drive times, nor are they your responsibility; rather, your SSV is paid to worry about drive tomes (among other things) and is trained to flex the play if it isn’t working (i.e. you have bad drive times).
If you have bad drive times and your SSV is in the back, those times reflect poorly on them, not on you.
If you have bad drive times and your SSV is in the back, those times reflect poorly on them, not on you.
darthtinmay 1 points 1y ago
Smh. I’m really sorry you have to go through that. My store is very similar to yours but a couple of differences. We have the same amount of openers. Our first relief comes anytime between 6-6:30am and they immediately relieve the person who opened bar. Around that time either our SSVs will help on bar or wherever there’s a hole while the openers go on their break. Our normal SSV that opens is fast like lighting. So he’s able to do all his shift duties, place the order, AND unpack the shipments either by 5:45 or 6am. I’m really sorry you have to go through that. It must be difficult and frustrating at times. Hopefully the green beans will learn quickly and help you out.
FfierceLaw 8 points 1y ago
That’s insane, no way you’re getting paid enough to juggle all that, and if SM/DM/SSVs haven’t yet figured out that being understaffed by 2 or 3 on open is causing high drive times there’s no hope for them
kingcorg 4 points 1y ago
Usually the way my store would handle this is one opener doing DT + warming, the other opener doing all bar + helping with warming when they can, and SSV doing SSV stuff. Cafe register is sort of a toss up between the two, usually we’ll just cash them out on the DT register until the next barista arrives to be planted on front and take over warming.
It’s not unheard of for our DT opener to help out on bar if a bigger order comes through, but being expected to solo basically the whole store is unreasonable. Especially if you’re then being judged on your OTW times for that
It’s not unheard of for our DT opener to help out on bar if a bigger order comes through, but being expected to solo basically the whole store is unreasonable. Especially if you’re then being judged on your OTW times for that
Kayp22296 3 points 1y ago
My store does this, but only for for about 30-40 minutes right after we open until our 3rd person that comes in at 5:15 is done with the back room floors. However, the ssv always helps if needed, and usually only pretty experience solo bar/DT people are scheduled for that role.
kIose 3 points 1y ago
Pull up the playbook on the iPad for that many partners. DT and bar doesn't sound like a good play or one that Starbucks suggests.
blue-puddle 1 points 1y ago
We open with three people - SSV doing their own thing mostly/supporting if needed, one person doing warming set up and some cafe/mobile bar, and the other doing dto/dtr, drive bar, and prep
medusas-garden 1 points 1y ago
At my store the openers all kinda share the responsibility. The shift will be doing opening tasks and the two baristas will be making drinks, DTO/DTR, and making backups between the two of them. A lot of times we have someone come in at open helping out too. For one, you shouldn’t be doing that all on your own. Two, I don’t know why they give a shit about drive times when it’s not peak. Like I only worry when we get past 10 minutes and I try to see what the issue is but the only time I’m aiming for speed is during peak when that’s actually important.
Brgnbo 1 points 1y ago
I usually open and I would do DT/solo bar until around 5:30 but usually the warming/front partner would finish their opening and help out with drinks when needed. We kinda float in the mornings until everyone gets there
Theotar 1 points 1y ago
In the mornings and nights it very common. 2 people floor is a thing!
metrokid_98 1 points 1y ago
This is typical at my store. We have a few strong baristas who have worked at the siren for 5-10 years, and they typically do this. Occasionally in my first couple months I would be assigned to do this and I could almost never keep up, and I would constantly ask for help. Recently though we’ve lost some of those long-time baristas and I’ve sorted stepped into this “experienced” role. And idk when it happened but I feel good doing it. Maybe after the months of watching other partners solo bar and DT I just sorta subconsciously picked up some tricks. Yeah my times aren’t great, but managers and SSVs don’t ever complain about it. We usually make up for it during peak. I’m sorry your manager and shifts lead talk like that around you. They should talk with you and brainstorm ways to support you.
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