Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
↑
27
↓
Tips Rant (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by lumivois
So i'm a rehire at the store i worked at from nov 2019 to march 2020 (had to quit bc of pandemic), i started working again at this store in early september. Some background: my manager was an external hire (used to manage a Payless, RIP) and was hired at the same time i was. My tips would be about 8 to 12 dollars, less than another store i worked at this summer in a surburban area). The thing is, this store is in a busy area of Manhattan, so I'm expecting it to be a bit higher.
Flash forward to this month, not only are my tips three weeks late because all the people that knew how to do tips either 1. quit 2. leave of absence or 3. transferred. My manager didnt know how to do it, and neither did the THREE SHIFTS at my store (if its not obvious, my store is extremely understaffed atm). I got my tips finally, and was expecting a fat envelope , but it was a whole THREE DOLLARS. i was in actual shock. I ask my manager and I looked at the tip book, people tipped just 87 dollars that week??? And i was working the same amount of hours as before, in a less staffed store. We did have to close ridiculously early a couple of times because my manager is an idiot, but damn.
What really gets me about this is the clientele we get. It is mostly middle aged rich people who live and work around my store. They pay 7 dollars or more everyday for their lattes or whatever with their golden AMEX cards....but cannot even spare a few dollars for the tip jar. I NEVER see the tip jar with anything but a couple dollars and coins (and to top it off, sometimes houseless people will come in and steal tips). The other day, a construction worker tipped ten dollars. The fact that he, a laborer, felt more generosity for the baristas than the rich ppl who come by everyday for their caffeine fix actually apalls me. I have no explanation for as to why these people have been tipping less during/post pandemic, bc these people definitely have the money too. it's so enfuriating.
I also wish the fancy card machines we have would let people tip with card, because Ive been asked a couple times if they could tip with card since they didnt have cash, and it broke my heart to tell them they couldn't -___-
Flash forward to this month, not only are my tips three weeks late because all the people that knew how to do tips either 1. quit 2. leave of absence or 3. transferred. My manager didnt know how to do it, and neither did the THREE SHIFTS at my store (if its not obvious, my store is extremely understaffed atm). I got my tips finally, and was expecting a fat envelope , but it was a whole THREE DOLLARS. i was in actual shock. I ask my manager and I looked at the tip book, people tipped just 87 dollars that week??? And i was working the same amount of hours as before, in a less staffed store. We did have to close ridiculously early a couple of times because my manager is an idiot, but damn.
What really gets me about this is the clientele we get. It is mostly middle aged rich people who live and work around my store. They pay 7 dollars or more everyday for their lattes or whatever with their golden AMEX cards....but cannot even spare a few dollars for the tip jar. I NEVER see the tip jar with anything but a couple dollars and coins (and to top it off, sometimes houseless people will come in and steal tips). The other day, a construction worker tipped ten dollars. The fact that he, a laborer, felt more generosity for the baristas than the rich ppl who come by everyday for their caffeine fix actually apalls me. I have no explanation for as to why these people have been tipping less during/post pandemic, bc these people definitely have the money too. it's so enfuriating.
I also wish the fancy card machines we have would let people tip with card, because Ive been asked a couple times if they could tip with card since they didnt have cash, and it broke my heart to tell them they couldn't -___-
echowolf9 23 points 1y ago
I don’t know, 87 dollars sounds REALLY low to me. Something could be happening to the money. Even at my slowest and worst tipped stores (literally no one ever tipped) I got at least $ .50 for every hour I worked. You saw a man tip 10 dollars, how likely is it that only 77 customers tipped one dollar, considering the fact that most stores get at least 500 per day. This would mean only 3% tipped out of the entire week. You said that no one knew how to do tips, maybe they didn’t do the money correctly because I just have a hard time believing an entire store only got 87 dollars for the whole week.
Edit: I missed the part where store is in Manhattan? There’s no way.
Edit: I missed the part where store is in Manhattan? There’s no way.
rudebii 8 points 1y ago
I made more than 87 a week in tips, 2 decades ago. Something doesn’t sound right.
lumivois [OP] 4 points 1y ago
god this hurts to hear :( i dont really understand how the tips work since ive never been taught to do them (im just a barista), this is just what i saw in the tip book. 500 a day...
DannyMae 8 points 1y ago
First your manager should NEVER be touching the tips, it’s against company policy for asm and above to even touch them. Here’s a quick overview:
1: on Tuesday pull all tip bags from last Monday-Sunday(7 bags)
2:generate tip report on Partnerhours(under my reports tab)
3:count all money & divide amount of tip$$ by amount of hours for entire store($$$/hrs ex. $450/500hr=$0.90/per hrs worked)
4:multiply each baristas worked hrs by the $$/per hours worked(ex. Ava worked 26.50 hrs-> 26.50*0.90=23.85(roundup @.5)-> Ava’S tips are $24) do the whole list before distributing $$ so you can 2x check your math
5:date and fill envelopes, add the date& amount of tip $to the front for their verification signature
Not the most detailed but hopefully it can help
1: on Tuesday pull all tip bags from last Monday-Sunday(7 bags)
2:generate tip report on Partnerhours(under my reports tab)
3:count all money & divide amount of tip$$ by amount of hours for entire store($$$/hrs ex. $450/500hr=$0.90/per hrs worked)
4:multiply each baristas worked hrs by the $$/per hours worked(ex. Ava worked 26.50 hrs-> 26.50*0.90=23.85(roundup @.5)-> Ava’S tips are $24) do the whole list before distributing $$ so you can 2x check your math
5:date and fill envelopes, add the date& amount of tip $to the front for their verification signature
Not the most detailed but hopefully it can help
lumivois [OP] 2 points 1y ago
thank you!!
DannyMae 2 points 1y ago
🤠👍🏻
GarbageValuable1888 11 points 1y ago
While customers are cheap, this doesn’t seem like a customer issue. I think someone dropped the ball on counting/bagging tips.
victorious_gem 4 points 1y ago
that doesn't sound right. someone probably isn't counting the bags correctly (or I hate to say it but stealing). I'm so sorry, that really sucks. but also, is your manager the one doing the tips (bc aren't managers not supposed to do that bc they get paid salary..??)
lumivois [OP] 4 points 1y ago
no i dont think it was him that did the tips, i have no idea who does tbh). ugh i hate to think that this could be bc of someone stealing. i hope someone is just messing up the bags and what not.
victorious_gem 2 points 1y ago
yeah I hope so too. maybe they just aren't doing them right too, that's a possibility
the1noir -5 points 1y ago
Please don’t forget that people aren’t obligated to tip..
This nonprofit website is run by volunteers.
Please contribute if you can. Thank you!
Our mission is to provide everyone with access to large-
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
©2023 HumbleCat Inc • HumbleCat is a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Michigan, USA.