It genuinely is bad. I didn't last 2 weeks, customers were terrible and verbally abusive. The mobile orders, drive thrus, and cafe orders all pile up faster than anybody can imagine and peak never seems over. Understaffed workers, underpaid, the mental and physical toll if this continues will cost more than what she is getting paid. Your daughter sounds like a hard worker and she will find better places than Starbucks.

The managers and coworkers may be nice but at the end of the day that's all they will ever be, people at your workplace. Your daughter has to remember to put herself first, always!

If your daughter has your financial support, she’s better off leaving and finding other work she’ll enjoy. There’s no prize, no reward for enduring the siren’s torment, and there are no signs of things improving in the short term that will benefit from.

The company is heading into the toilet. I’ve been here 3 years and this is a completely different company than the one I started at. Everyone is absolutely miserable, overworked and underpaid. My store needs THIRTY more employees to be fully staffed. We have 6. Tell her to get out while she can, it’s only going to get worse.

Get her to call partner contact center. HR will love to learn about lack of 10 min brake along with not following schedule shifts. Having a nice manager does not mean it a good manager. They need to be following the law for safety and health. I would also check your states guidelines for minors working. Here in WA kids can only work within a time frame when they going to school.

Drive thru is absolutely not conducive for mental health. I told my store manager I need a break.*she shows me the resources to contact to initiate my work leave*. I contact them, tell them I need to go on school leave. She sees me a couple days after and tells me she's going to reject my work leave because the busiest times of the year are coming up. I try explaining I cannot handle it and need a break for mental health, she then repeats the same thing "I'm gonna have to say No still."

Pull her now, she doesn't need this trauma so early in life

This is the perfect experience for her to learn to stand up for herself in a work environment. First of all, for a 16 year old, an 8+ hour work day doesn’t seem legal and if that in and of itself isn’t illegal where you live, a 16 year old working a 8+hr shift WITH NO BREAKS is definitely not legal!
Your kid deserves their two 10 minute breaks and a half hour break at 8 hrs of work REGARDLESS of how many people are in the dt line. It’s so ridiculous that that even needs to be said. Who gives a shit about the drinks when the barista behind the counter is about to pass out.
Next, your kid is getting paid $10/hr, they should work like they’re only making $10/hr. Don’t give them $25/hr top quality service when THEY ARENT PAYING FOR THAT. It is so so important to only work according to how much they are paying you, at least here at Starbucks. They will work you to the absolute BONE if they see that you will do it. If they see you will stay late to “help out” you will be taken advantage of and they will expect that from you and you will be reprimanded when you don’t do it every time. If they see you take shifts of people who can’t show up, they will take advantage of you. You won’t get paid more. You won’t get a “good word from the manager” because they do not care and they barely notice.
The best thing to tell them is to show up, DEMAND what you are deserved because they obviously cannot be trusted to just do the right thing, do the job the best you can sometimes people who order at Starbucks are just gonna have to wait 10 minutes for their drink it’s life and as a barista there’s not much you can do… and then go home, and unwind.
Sorry about the long rant. Hearing about this kind of stuff just fires me up

Unfortunately I do not count Starbucks as one of those jobs where I think everyone should work so they understand how customer service works. It's just hell.

Pre-pandemic, things were bearable and they were actually OK. Customers would sometimes show an entitled hand but overall, the good moments outweighed the bad moments significantly.

In the pandemic the people are absolutely horrible. They offered this olive branch of the pay increase in October but they don't seem to be hiring enough people and the people they do hire don't realize how bad it is to work at Starbucks. They think it's a super easy job and they don't need to do much when really it's hard work.

Honestly, I'd tell your daughter to go look at working for Target or Barnes and Noble instead. Tell her to put in her notice and not look back. I wish I had gone to B&N when I went to Starbucks instead. Sure there's an aspect of customer service, but it's also a completely different atmosphere. People aren't always going to rip your face off over a book whereas they absolutely will over a Vanilla Bean Frappuccino.

It’s really bad everywhere, they understaff for rushes then complain about time, it’s absolutely not worth it

Yeah, man. It’s like this everywhere unfortunately. I’d say it’s a good character builder at least but she’s also like 16 years old and I don’t think this kind of stress is good for anyone, let alone a 16 yr old. I’d suggest her finding another job. Because you’re right it’s not worth it. Especially for a teenager who’s life is already stressful as it is without a job.

Have her quit. I was a closer and was always scheduled short staffed to where we had to stay 30-90 minutes after each close. And the verbal abuse from customers isn't worth it. Girls regularly cry in the back while washing dishes INSTEAD of taking their breaks.

Seems about right. Company has went down hill. It used to be an even balance between keeping the partners and customers happy. But now its all about keeping the customers happy with little regards to the partners.

I would check your child labor laws in your state.I know fl every 4 hrs they have to take at least a 15 if not a 30

I’d recommend having your daughter reduce her hours to 16 per week. This would usually mean shorter shifts and less time dealing with these issues.
I do think it’s important to have these kinds of horrible jobs because you appreciate those retail/food service workers when you encounter them in the future.
That being said- Starbucks is BAD, and only getting worse. It’s not going to get better after a “hard week or two”. The holiday season is a particular kind of misery that I would wish on no one.
There are other food service jobs that treat you better and offer you more support in hard times. Has she considered a local coffee shop by mom& pop owners?

Her store is *that* busy with so few people and she’s only making $10.25 an hour? Without any breaks (which, by the way, is illegal)?

My store is far less busy than that with far more people on any given shift and I make $15.50 an hour.

As much as I love my job, she should quit. I would quit if I were in her shoes. It’s really not worth it to continue working there under those conditions with so little pay.

If she wants to be a barista I would recommend a local coffee shop, where she would probably earn a higher wage and work less busy/stressful shifts. In any case though, best of luck to your daughter; she deserves better.

\*banging fists on table\*: UNIONIZE. UNIONIZE. UNIONIZE.

Damn. My store gets hit pretty hard sometimes but we tend to have 6 or so people on the floor. Also, shouldn’t she be at $12 right now after the pay raise?

…it is 💯 not sustainable. I get you are worried about your daughter (& rightfully so). And I’m not justifying this work environment. But what you describe is working at Starbucks to a t, and that’s just the way it is. It’s the worst job I’ve ever had with very few (& significant) bright spots. The negative overshadowed the positive. I have since left, bc I assessed the situation, & like you said, reached the conclusion that it’s not worth it.

Go anywhere else. My heart longs for the upcoming generations to know that abuse from customers should not be acceptable, that abuse from managers should not be tolerated, and that abuse from a corporation is shameful. The world is so much bigger than their shitty cup of coffee, I promise you.

My advice from an ex 278**** (this will mean something to your daughter) IS QUIT NOW!!! FIND SMTH BETTER!!! It’s literally not worth the money the shrinking benefits or the spotify or whatever else you get from them. The managers will abuse you eventually no matter how nice, the money isn’t enough for the work (baristas should min make 13 n hr due to the work they do, shifts should make 18 n hr or more etc etc), and the emotional toll it will take on her and you as a family to see her slowly drain her life and be burnt out by 18, or 19 if she’s lucky. The company doesn’t care about its workers either. Fuck Starbucks


Edit: they’re not a nice manager if they’re refusing you 10’s. They can’t properly staff just to look good/because the store is being ran terribly. It’ll only get worse. Eventually they’re gonna trick her into working even more than she does now and it’s simply not worth it at all

its all starbucks right now tbh. staff and product shortages everywhere and clientelle has become very demanding and rude to many new and old baristas

I had a panic attack on the floor a few times.. Most Saturdays when I opened my shift that I was w was "sick" and left me alone. Noone would answer no help till 11... I couldn't don't it.

Tell her to contact HR and the DM. Missing breaks is illegal and Starbucks wouldn’t like that. A nice manager doesn’t always mean a good one, you know?

Tell her to call Partner Service Center. The number should be posted in the store office (if not the regular customer service line should be able to direct her). Starbucks has strict accommodations for minors. Supervisors get disciplinary action for not giving a minor their required breaks or keeping them past curfew. Someone is not scheduling properly or making other errors if this is happening and she absolutely has recourse.

I would beg my daughter to go another route. I try not to ever tell my 24-year-old what to do, but it would be really hard not to revert to that “mom” instinct, in this case.

Starbucks doesn't want to admit it's just another fast food chain, now.

I've found closing shifts to be significantly less stressful than opening shifts/shifts with rush hours. Generally, the shift is assigned so you're supposed to work after close for half an hour or so (tl;dr the cleaning and tasks that you can't take care of when still making drinks or with customers in the store).

That said, while working past your shifts official/assigned end shouldn't happen, it does; I had to do a lot of unpaid hours. (If you don't clock out on time, you get written up, but if you don't get your work done, you *also* get written up.)

I still found that to be less stressful and the preferable shift to working mornings, but there's also a reason I left after only 10 months or so - and this was five years ago, from everything I've heard working there has only gotten worse since then.

She could transfer to a cafe only store for a less crazy experience. Dt is crazytown always we are all cogs in the machine here only to keep those drive times low. And the understaffing 😞 but all that being said I still like working at Starbucks. I have worked in a cafe before and it was so much chiller. I have heard others say the same.

I work there currently. My 16-year-old asked me to put in a word with my manager and I refused. Told him ain't no way. 3 years ago? Sure. Now? Sorry, kid, only one of us gets abused to pay the lights.

It’s bad, bad. The pay raise kicked up to 12 on the 4th. Honestly, it wouldn’t be so bad if the customers weren’t so bad. Everyone demands their drinks immediately, even with 20 people around them demanding their drinks immediately. They just don’t get it. And honestly, there are days we are past capacity and are pulling tickets for mobile orders from 25/30 minutes ago. They need to figure out some sort of traffic for mobile orders. It really is what has messed everything up, but they don’t care because it’s just money in bank for SB. They don’t care about the angry customers or stressed baristas. Every single day is a struggle and people keep coming back. I have straight up taken orders crying before.

It sounds like her store is severely understaffed and has very limited labor hours. If she’s really set on Starbucks, she could apply to a target or grocery store that has a starbucks in it. She’ll probably get paid more, at least at target. The business volume will still vary based on location. Otherwise she could try a local coffee shop. Probably much calmer with likely better pay, at least with the tips.


All customer service gigs are pretty bad right now, and many Starbucks stores are as bad as hers, if not worse. Finding a small business with management who actually has a say in operations might be a better job for now.


I gotta tell you that it’s not going to get better any time soon, so I really don’t think it’s worth it for a child to try to stick it out if they are not dependent on the paycheck. It can be very draining in all aspects. She can always try again in a few years.

I started close to 5 years ago now. Company has literally gone down the toilet. Get her out while you can. I wish I could afford to leave, I’ve already had to take an LOA because work had destroyed me mentally and physically. The pandemic has especially not been kind to baristas, with countless internal issues company wide and that’s not to mention the fuckery that goes on at my store. Never been so dicked around by a company before.

Edit: I’m in Canada

We just ran a 5 man morning peak from 7-9 and it was a straight up disaster. We’re also the busiest store in our district between mobiles, drive thru and cafe—were also a delivery store. Normally we need a few more people for that. And all of us who got there at 5 or 6am didn’t get our 10s until the last hour of our shift. Our drive times were like 5-7 minutes but mobiles were at least half an hour behind.

I would say it’s not going to get better anytime soon so if she’s not handling it well just quit. It’s not worth anyone’s sanity for so little pay

unfortunately, this is a new normal for baristas. it used to not be this way.

It's 100% this bad everywhere and it's 100% not worth it. As someone who got a job in high school, I regret so much getting caught up in work. I wish my parents would've been there to tell me to stop working so much. As a parent it's important that you show her how to manage work/life balance. If you allow her to continue working at this rate she's going to create bad habits that revolve around being over-productive and she'll most likely push herself too hard in the future and not know how to say "no."

I lasted a month. Ended up getting an infection in my feet from blisters i got working for starbucks. The amount of pain i was in was ridiculous. Also was told Id be making 12 an hour when I got hired and then found out that was a lie. Starbucks seriously needs to start caring about their workers.

I just quit after 2 years in September. I'm so, so much happier without it. It is absolutely not worth the toll it takes on your mental health

Typically there are special rules governing minors. She cannot work that long without a break. Depending on the state, she or yourself need to contact the labor board. In my state that one shift would be a $30,000 fine against the company. $10,000 for every break she was not provided.


Honestly, stories like these need to get out. We should not be abusing our "partners" like this. It's absolutely disgusting, and a symptom of an arrogant DM that refuses to truncate business hours due to staffing levels.


Also, she needs to look for another job, or a transfer to another starbucks with a manager better able to support her.

Find the closest Tarbucks, get hired, then quit the corporate store.

Yes, it is this bad everywhere. No, it's obviously not worth $10.25 an hour to be overworked that much. The first thing she should do is talk to her manager and tell them that the scheduled teams have been too small. If the manager responds with, "I know, I'm working on hiring more people," that's a good sign that the store will improve soon. If the response is, "Well, that's the best I can do right now," then she should leave.

Some managers front load the schedule to give themselves the best coverage saying only morning peak can have x amount of people

If her working isn’t financially essential, I’d say she should quit. There is no reason a child should be having panic attacks at a part time job. If it is financially essential that she works, I’d still suggest finding a different job. Starbucks isn’t worth the stress.

This is what most fast food jobs are like unfortunately lol sbux customers are extra crazy though

Change stores. That’s my best advice. Or leave. If their manager isn’t advocating for their partners then it’s not a good manager- which is also the one making the schedule. I’d transfer to a different store and see if that helps.

Abuse is the name of the game at sbux. Get her out before December i would recommend. This company is gonna crash and burn during Christmas. NONE of the people about to get fired over mandates are going to give sbux the Christmas profit before getting axed.

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This is like my store 😕

I worked pre pandemic in high school up until my second year of college. I worked nights and my store wouldn’t close until 10:30 and when I was in high school I’d sometimes close and wouldn’t get home until midnight and school started at 7:30. We were a high volume store and man I’d be tired and had to do hw in between classes sometimes when I had closing shifts. It isn’t worth it, tell your daughter to look elsewhere if she wants and quit

As a 25 yr old who’s worked a lot of service jobs, sbux was the most demanding and emotionally draining and I had the worst experience with customers. I was making 20.25 in Los Angeles and I lasted about 4 months because i know my worth now that im older. That stress is the norm for Starbucks but not for other places. If possible, I’d reccomend you help your daughter apply to jobs elsewhere. 10.25/he can be matched easily anywhere else. A basically abandoned Carl’s Jr. near me is offering 13.50 in a state where min wage is 7.25

The job will never care about her this much. She’s putting in this extra effort and making herself sick and Starbucks will never compensate or recognize her for that. They will not give her a voucher to get her time back that she gave them. They will take everything she’s willing to give until she burns out and then she’ll be replaced with someone new who doesn’t yet know that everything you put into Starbucks is a sunk cost and you’re never getting it back.

I was okay at Starbucks for a time because I just didn’t care. I showed up for shifts, made my money, and forgot that place existed outside my scheduled hours. Your daughter should find a place to work that will actually appreciate how much she cares and her willingness to be a team player.

Tell her to quit and work as a nanny if she likes kids. Exponentially higher pay and nights/weekends off. Starbucks used to be cool before mobile orders became standard everywhere. Now the mutant Karen population expects the world

It’s not at all this bad at my store. She should look into transferring. Sounds like the store she’s at is under poor leadership

Did pay not go up for y’all? Don’t know what state you live in but for baristas it went up to $12 for us and $15 for shifts. I know that doesn’t make much of a difference because i’ve dealing with the same shit she is everyday. I’m a shift supervisor and we have a lot new people at my store. I have to help out every ten minutes or so due to rushes and these people being new. Starbucks is a mess right now. I don’t know my in the morning at 12 6+ people will be working and at 1 when i come in only 3 others will be working with me on the same rush mid crew was on. It’s exhausting but it will get better. Best of luck to her

This sounds a lot like my store. We would have 3 of us on the floor all day, line out the door, more than an hour behind on mobile orders. We were working as hard and fast as we could but we were still giving out more refunds than drinks to really angry customers. Our manager (who was never there to witness this) just told us to make more customer connections by asking about their day and maybe to work harder.

it is this bad everywhere :(

Just to preface with a little background, I'm a partner going on 3 years now. I also am in my mid thirties. I am working here purely for that ASU money, then I am dipping. Staffing is a recurring issue at the vast majority if not all locations and the forever pandemic has only exacerbated it. 3 person plays are sometimes unavoidable and so they will always be a possibility, however the Store Manager has the disgression to turn off mobile orders, temporarily close the dinning room, etc, which can help. The SM may not want to do that and/or maybe that conversation hasn't happened yet. Weekends are typically harder to staff for a variety of reasons, so that can have direct consequences on how many are scheduled on the weekends. Your daughter can try to scale back her hours or clear her availability on one or both weekend days. The SM can say no to any of this, but she can maybe bargain for a particular day part that's more favorable.

I am a big advocate for teens to get job experience and to develop a good work ethic. Starbucks is more demanding in a lot of ways then any job I held in high school and after accounting for inflation not paid better than I was in High School either. My suggestion, since she isn't old enough to warrant or care about the benefits Starbucks offers, look around and see what other jobs are available in your area. If she has an idea what she wants to do for a career, see if there is something analogous or introductory into that. The situation can change for the better at that store at anytime, but it also may not in the near term and we are about to go into the holiday season, this is our busiest time of year.

This job isn’t worth it trust me

I started working at Starbucks in late 2017 when I was 19. It was a great job and I liked my coworkers and management, and while the customers could be frustrating, it was rewarding and I felt like a valued employee. That said, I can't say the same is true in 2021, which is why I quit a few months ago when it was financially viable. Your daughter can do better.

as a fellow parent of a teen I think she should quit.
yes it is this terrible. everywhere, at All SB and most fast food joints.
And knowing your worth is so so important. Some jobs are NOT worth it. this is one of those times.

she should be sleeping and eating well for her executive function maturation and her general health.
She should be focused on school and volunteering or her friends or. Church. Whatever her passion is.

She should be reinforcing her mental health and learning how to be a functional compassionate human.

none of that is what SB teaches her. If anything it’s the *opposite*

Please tell her you support her leaving. Please tell her she is MORE than that shithole. Let her know how proud you are of her grit but that as her *parent* you know how this ends.

Quit. That’s fucking retarded why would you even consider letter her stay there. It’s obviously stressful and exacerbates her anxiety disorder. 10$ an hour doesn’t sound right…

I worked for Starbucks for three years, last day of my 2 weeks was my three year anniversary. Between the shortages, pissed off customers because of the shortages, terrible mood of the crew because of A&B and being over worked I finally threw in the towel. Here’s a few examples:

1. “Hey I got you some more hours, you’re a closer now” I was a mid shift and my grandma was dying so I’d been with her and family every evening until he moved me without asking, then she died while I was at work

2. Lady who drove 3 stores to see if we had chai. She lost it at us when we said no

3. Working late every single shift, not being allowed to leave unless others come in to replace us. However management wouldn’t punish people for being late.

4. I had a shift who asked me every shift I worked with him if I would skip my 10’s and would be upset when I said no

5. Same person sexually harassed the women and would prey on the younger new girls so they’d do whatever they wanted without the girls telling management because they didn’t want to be on the bad side of management

i dont work drive thru n my shifts r only 4-5 hours long so i can manage but this sounds bad🙁 like i can already tell business is picking up bc of the holidays n im starting ti get more stressed from work than my 5 ap classes. like.. ????. it isnt worth it for ur daughter imo

Tell her to quit.

She can always transfer too.

i am a supervisor at starbucks (licensee) and we were definitely extremely short staffed, but never like this! at our busiest hours we have at least 4-7 baristas and for closes we have 2-3. We close at 9pm and are able to finish the close before it hits 9pm most nights. this is insane and i would suggest a transfer because starbucks is genuinely the best company i’ve ever worked for. so sorry to hear this

i don’t know if anyone else has mentioned this but minors at starbucks get 15 minutes instead of 10, they also take 45 minute lunch breaks instead of 30 minute lunch breaks. minors in my state (louisiana) aren’t allowed to close on weekdays so you should find out if that’s the same in your state. they’re also suppose to get a certain amount of time between the end of their shift and the start of their school day. i don’t remember the number but i remember my shift manager said something about it. it sounds like they could be overworking her a lot. i’d definitely look into your minor labor laws and contact HR

10.25….. is absolutely insane. I just started at Sbux at $16.75 plus tips and I truly feel like even that isn’t enough. It’s insane. I would not work there for $10.25.

quit.

it was really this awful when i was working there. worst work environment and often unhelpful management

Why are you monitoring mobile orders?