Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
↑
18
↓
please tell me i’m not the only one.. (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by madsthegamer13
i should probably start this off by saying i have raging ADHD and am also very easy to get really anxious.. just put me on DTO and talk into my ear while i’m also trying to take this customers order which i’m already struggling to do enough without 3 other people telling me more things to ask / say in my ear WHILE the customer is literally still talking and i’m visibly struggling to punch in everything as fast as they are listing it .. DTO makes me drop everything and run to the bathroom to hide myself into a ball in the corner.. this has probably happened 3-4 times now and i’ve only been working there for about 2 weeks.. yesterday, i’m talking to a customer.. she orders something special, not a named drink just her own creation, i’m sitting here trying to listen to her and also punch everything in.. i think to myself to ask what size she wants in my head and in the middle of her speaking, i go to interrupt to ask what size she wants, and at the same time, a different partner on the headset says, “ask if she wants it hot or cold”. then i turned around real quick as to signal to my coworker that i was just about to do that.. the customer is then talking about a whole different drink and i go back and basically said “d-did you want that- sorry, what si- i can’t”.. ripped my headset off, ripped my apron off while walking away, ran to the bathroom and put myself in a ball in the corner and just hugged myself and cried lol.. like god. i already love this job so much but no situation has ever made me like this especially on repeat like that. why is it just so stressful?
lindsay-afton 13 points 1y ago
i know. forcing neurodivergent partners to do drive and window at the same time is so unfair. it’s lead to so many meltdowns and burnouts for me. i’m so sorry
clumsycalico 6 points 1y ago
Hey, I have crippling ADHD and I thought DTO would be the reason I would have to quit this job. Now it’s my favorite :) not saying that will happen just that it’s possible! I hope it works out for you and I’m sorry you’re going through that.
madsthegamer13 [OP] 1 points 1y ago
it definitely does get easier day by day.. but it’s the fact that i’m new and people want to help me that cripples me, i know what i’m doing / about to do and then someone whispers something in my ear or presses a button for me or cuts in and speaks for me and it throws my whole script off guard and THAT’S what makes me start to panic.. i’ve tried telling them too and my shift keeps saying i “don’t got it yet” because of me freaking out everytime, but i have the system down .. they don’t get it and they tell me they understand and it’s so frustrating
getlostgetfound 2 points 1y ago
I can empathize with this so much that it feels like I wrote this. I’ve started ignoring people lmao
madsthegamer13 [OP] 0 points 1y ago
if it doesn’t somehow throw me off, i now purposely make sure to ignore it, ask every other question first and THEN that one just to show them the process i go through. the most annoying thing when i was training was when i was trying to take orders and the person in window would try to help me by pushing buttons for me or trying to guide me to them, i know they were just trying to be helpful but at the same time it just made me feel so useless / dumb to where when it would happen i started literally just dropping my arms, turning off my mic and saying “take over then”
getlostgetfound 2 points 1y ago
This part
It drove me crazy when I was trying to take an order and another partner would talk over the headset and tell me what to do while I’m already trying to ask another damn question
They don’t seem to realize how frazzled that can make someone, and also completely throw them off. And then when your brain shuts down because of the overstimulation, they think you’re dumb but it’s really because they FUCKED YOU UP
Too many voices in the head at once
It drove me crazy when I was trying to take an order and another partner would talk over the headset and tell me what to do while I’m already trying to ask another damn question
They don’t seem to realize how frazzled that can make someone, and also completely throw them off. And then when your brain shuts down because of the overstimulation, they think you’re dumb but it’s really because they FUCKED YOU UP
Too many voices in the head at once
madsthegamer13 [OP] 1 points 1y ago
exactly. they think they’re helping but they seriously aren’t i try to hold in that inner panic but sometimes i literally cant and i have to walk away mid sentence, it’s so painful and i wish i cpuld just suck it in a little longer to finish talking to the customer and now stress everyone else out. but i seriously can’t
thefoolwitch 2 points 1y ago
As another adhd partner, YES. I also get a lot of partners talking about nonsense and chitchatting in the headset. I know it increases morale and makes the workplace more fun, which is important, but *I cannot understand what the customer is sayiiiing*—
possiblydefinitelyme 1 points 1y ago
Can you just refuse to work drive thru? I did that at a fast food restaurant when I was a kid. No registers, I can't deal with customers. Worked out great because everyone else wanted to work registers because they thought it was easy. To me, physical labor was preferable to the stress of putting up with people's personal problems.
BradleyFreakin 1 points 1y ago
This like breaks my heart. You’re just getting overwhelmed in every imagine direction. And with ADHD, that’s just asking for anxiety.
Have you ever considered medication for it? Adderall has legit changed my life. Feel free to PM since that’s kinda personal
Have you ever considered medication for it? Adderall has legit changed my life. Feel free to PM since that’s kinda personal
madsthegamer13 [OP] 1 points 1y ago
i’m going a bit off the starbucks route here.. but i took meds for my adhd (from concerta to ritalin to just about anything except adderall) from first grade all the way up to about 8th grade when i started to flush them bc they made me not be able to eat at school and turned me into a homework zombie.. i would come home from school and be so bored that i felt like i was going insane inside, all the gears were just going and going but i had nothing to do, sometimes i would print out math equations to do at home so i wouldnt get bored.. long story short, i hated my adhd meds, but sometimes i wish i still had them
BradleyFreakin 1 points 1y ago
Yeah I’ve heard similar stories from my friends. I feel like Adderall raises my “anxiety threshold” by like 10x. Without it, my brain can only take so much input.
LanternLight4 1 points 1y ago
Ugh same here. This is my third day and they put me on the DTO for the first time after giving me a run though on the buttons. It was very stressful, I almost cried right there. I’m so sorry this is happening to you too :(
madsthegamer13 [OP] 2 points 1y ago
it was so stressful my first time and it was during my training and i just felt so bad for my trainee cause i can’t help the tears and panicking anytime even something small happens :/it was the first time i did the talking while also pushing buttons and i could not for the life of me find a certain one, i literally stopped speaking mid sentence and the customer heard my voice break as i said “i’m sorry i’m so sorry” and then the guy training me cut in on the speaker, hands down most embarrassing moment ever as my breakdown was literally on the mic for all the drive thru customers to hear.. i feel for you having to go through this as well it’s not fun. if you ever need to rant or talk i’m here
greenbeanfridge 1 points 1y ago
hello, fellow ADHD partner here! it’s very over stimulating & i also hate it! that being said, it does get better/ more natural the more you do it. it just takes practice! or you could talk to your SM or SSVs about being placed somewhere else. usually when they ask where i wanna go i’m like “anywhere but window” and it works pretty well most of the time
madsthegamer13 [OP] 0 points 1y ago
both of my ssv know that i am most comfortable at warming, one of them has let me own and dominate it, everytime i ask where she wants me to go , she says warming, and i happily agree.. a different ssv that’s there on the other mornings, knows i hate window / DTO and she puts me there on purpose. everytime she tells me to go to DTO i kinda just nod my head and go along, she asks what’s wrong, i tell her, then she tells me i needa get used it.. when in reality what i need to get used to is bar. i’m a mf barista who cant make drinks
greenbeanfridge 1 points 1y ago
i totally get how that’s frustrating, i’d feel small if an SSV was trying to hurt me on purpose. but on DTO on the right side of the screen as you ring in the drinks it shows you the recipes so your SSV likely just wants you there before bar so you can get a sneak peek!! it’s likely not malicious, but i totally understand where you’re coming from!
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.