Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
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alone with supervisor (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by starsfade
okay so i have been working at my store for about two months now. i usually close, so i’m used to the routine. today we were supposed to get out at 10:30 but at 10:45 we were still finishing stuff up. my two coworkers clocked out, so i did too. my supervisor asked if we had clocked out (apparently we weren’t supposed to, he’s not very clear sometimes lmao), so we said yes. but then he says “you two can go, but OP has to stay.” the three of us all looked at each other bc we’re afab so we have the whole “girl code” thing down, but i told them it was okay and to head home. so for the next 15 minutes it’s just me (19nb) and my supervisor (27m). i didn’t necessarily feel unsafe, but i was very uncomfortable being completely alone with him in the store. at 11pm we finally leave. i see my coworker is still parked in the parking lot, and she calls me over. we talked about how the 3 of us all got super weird vibes from it and how she had stayed to make sure i was okay. my question is: should i tell my manager? i felt very uncomfortable, but technically nothing was wrong. he didn’t do anything to me, but i was very aware that it was just him and i and that it could easily be unsafe for me. i’m not sure if i’m overthinking this, but it just felt really uncomfortable and i don’t know if it’s against policy to send everyone but one person home.
lunarlandscapes 28 points 1y ago
I'm a shift. I suspect he was concerned because it's a big no no to be the only one working/ in the store. I'd be really worried if my closer told me they clocked out while I was still finishing stuff. From a shift perspective I can see why he told one person to stay, as for why you it could be a million reasons.
Now that's all assuming you want to give him the benefit of the doubt. I don't know you, him, or the dynamic of your store. If you were uncomfortable you absolutely should talk to your manager about it
Now that's all assuming you want to give him the benefit of the doubt. I don't know you, him, or the dynamic of your store. If you were uncomfortable you absolutely should talk to your manager about it
FfierceLaw 11 points 1y ago
“Give him the benefit of the doubt”? SSV did nothing wrong. OP made an error by clocking out without hearing permission from SSV. OP obviously didn’t know that it would have been a fireable offense for SSV to stay by themselves.
starsfade [OP] 1 points 1y ago
Now that people have explained the policies (which I really appreciate!! I am still super new), I agree that he did nothing wrong. It’s just weird to me that the three of us all got bad vibes from the whole situation.
maemac 3 points 1y ago
I don’t blame you for being weary these days but there definitely always has to be at least 2 people in the store. Hopefully your store has cameras everywhere and your supervisor wouldn’t do something like that anyway. But stay safe!!! Also as a supervisor, when closing I always tell my baristas to stay on the clock til I’m ready to clock out. If they have to stay in the store waiting for me, they need to be being paid. I’m not about to hold anyone hostage lol
starsfade [OP] 2 points 1y ago
he has told us to clock out before we were done working and that was so annoying tbh. i didn’t listen though bc i know i have the right to get paid for my work
starsfade [OP] 2 points 1y ago
i want to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume it was genuinely just a miscommunication issue! one of the partners asked if she was done and our supervisor told her yes, so it made sense that she ended up clocking out. i clocked out when i asked the other partners and they said they had already clocked out. i just thought it was odd that he would send two of us home and only have one stay, instead of just asking us to correct it in the punch communication log.
RyusuiJL 15 points 1y ago
So just to be clear - SSV specifically told the other 2 to clock out, but did not tell you to do so? If that's the case, then it just sounds like he was having you stay because he had not yet given you the go ahead to clock out, and as has been pointed out, there needs to be a minimum of 2 people in the store at any given time. No one person is allowed to be in the store by themselves.
You also said he didn't do or say anything to you, so if you do say something to your SM, please be sure to mention this fact. Because he does not deserve to be called wolf upon if nothing happened. I'm not saying you don't have a right to feel uncomfortable given the situation, but he also doesn't deserve to potentially get heat if he didn't do anything unprofessional. The only thing I would strike him on is not instructing you to log the extra time you stayed after clocking out.
You also said he didn't do or say anything to you, so if you do say something to your SM, please be sure to mention this fact. Because he does not deserve to be called wolf upon if nothing happened. I'm not saying you don't have a right to feel uncomfortable given the situation, but he also doesn't deserve to potentially get heat if he didn't do anything unprofessional. The only thing I would strike him on is not instructing you to log the extra time you stayed after clocking out.
esaeklsg 3 points 1y ago
I agree with this comment, but I think I have more concerns about this SS, simply because both the coworkers were concerned as well. It's one thing for one person to be overthinking it, but if all three baristas get sketchy vibes from this SS in general, it might be worth following up with the SM. I'm not sure what the SM can do simply off "This SS is creepy" but if the SS says/does something inappropriate down the line, SM will know it's not a one-off.
starsfade [OP] 2 points 1y ago
These comments have helped a lot! I agree it was our fault for clocking out before we were told to, but the reason we did that was due to him getting really snappy at us. He said “we need to be leaving now” before we had even done kegs, and he gets weirdly aggressive during closes. Usually he leaves stuff that hasn’t been done for the morning crew (which sucks), so we all expected him to do what he normally does. But yeah, we do all get weird vibes from him which is why we were concerned about it.
starsfade [OP] 2 points 1y ago
I’m not sure if I’ll mention anything to my SM now that I know what the policy is regarding how many people have to be in store! We are the busiest store in our district, so I have never heard of only two people being at the store at one time (which is why I was so confused).
RyusuiJL 2 points 1y ago
That makes sense. And again, if minor things pop up in the future that make you feel uncertain or uncomfortable about your SSV, by all means, bring it up tactfully.
sheenhowell 6 points 1y ago
Staying in the store alone was against policy when I was ssv and asm in 2018-2020 but I left about a year ago so things could have changed. If you finished your work but needed to stay so you two leave at the same time for safety precautions then you should adjust your time card accordingly so you get paid for having to stay. Doesn't matter if you were chilling waiting, you were following policy and were needed to stay and should be paid for it at least.
[deleted] 3 points 1y ago
Nope they’re still the same. Can’t be in the store alone
DaddyGray69 13 points 1y ago
Your supervisor can be fired for being the only one in the store working. I've done the same thing before because I've had people who were pretty close to hitting their six hours for a required lunch who I needed to head out so nobody got in trouble that way either. I'm sure it was probably a similar situation, especially if nothing bad happened.
sheenhowell 7 points 1y ago
Afab? First impression was "all females are bad" but context suggest otherwise
rexincognitoMP3 7 points 1y ago
afab means assigned female at birth
esaeklsg 5 points 1y ago
Most of the other comments covered the at least 2 people working in the store by policy side. Is there a reason you don't feel comfortable with this coworker? To me feeling uncomfortable working with another coworker sounds concerning. It's not the most uncommon thing at Starbucks - most stores I worked at had 3 people on, but if one person calls out or is late, it ends up just the 2 of you. I'm worried this is a position you're going to be in again going forward. I'm not in a position to tell if you're overthinking things or if it's spidey-sense going on. The fact that both your coworkers had concerns is also concerning to me and puts value into spidey-sense.
starsfade [OP] 1 points 1y ago
We’ve all had problems with him, but he’s leaving soon. He gets really snappy at us after close and it makes us all uncomfortable tbh. He’s not a great closer, so sometimes we end up being told to leave certain things unfinished (which makes morning crew’s job unnecessarily hard). Literally every single one of us who has worked with him has a problem with him, but not the kind that makes me feel unsafe per se.
FfierceLaw 4 points 1y ago
I don’t think there’s a policy against the last two partners in the store being amab and afab. Unless he’s been inappropriate in the past nothing wrong happened except the 3 of you took his instruction for one of you to clock out as instruction for all of you to clock out, which you shouldn’t have done. And if you knew there is an absolute prohibition against one partner remaining in the store alone, you would have known he needed at least one of you to stay. Now you know
starsfade [OP] 1 points 1y ago
Thank you for explaining! A lot of us have had problems with this supervisor, so I think that’s why we were all kind of concerned that it was just me staying with him.
FfierceLaw 1 points 1y ago
“Problems with” as in unwanted advances? If that’s the case you 100% buried the lede! If “problem’s with” means coaching, supervising, not all are super gifted at that. Just don’t ruin another human’s livelihood and reputation if they don’t deserve it. The way you started, he did nothing wrong except remind you to fill out the punch communication log, which you could do later anyway
rio8envy7 1 points 1y ago
It’s a policy. It doesn’t matter if it’s an open or a close there has to be a key holder and barista in the store during times outside of operation. An opener or closer cannot be there by themselves even if they’re a shift so there has to be 2 people which is probably why your shift sent your other 2 partners home. Technically you shouldn’t have clocked out until your shift was done their count and other closing tasks. Once everything’s done and you’re ready to go for the night you’re good but before that is a no no. I’m not trying to be harsh so I apologize if it’s coming across that way.
adventurelyfe 1 points 1y ago
It’s my understanding that two people have to be in the building together…
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