Closing SSV here: Make it about profit. At all times. Suck that koolaid down and belch it back up.

It's not "too many tasks and not enough people", it's "We're having issues with being able to give a third place experience and get all our tasks done for the night."

Tell your SM exactly how the partner derails shifts and importantly all the ways you've tried coaching it. Stick firm that you've done everything you can.

I had a lot of success chatting with morning partners and sussing out when the slower times were, especially when a few evening partners swapped shifts. Used that information to argue what tasks would be easiest to shift into the morning and had the best chance of success.

In the meantime, don't kill yourselves making it work. Hand over bad closes. Make sure they see "this is the close you get with the staff I have."

I see most partners who want to quit, stay, because of the healthcare. I feel like it's the excuse they use to keep us here. "Well, if you quit, what happens with your healthcare?" Was the first question out of my SM's mouth when I tried awhile back. Thankfully I don't have my healthcare thru Starbucks, but my child qualifies us for state Medicaid. I only stayed because my requirements (that I'd only talked to them about for months, and they were told if I couldn't get them met would result in my leaving) were finally met if I agreed to stay. I consider daily why I stayed...
What I'm saying is I hope that you find a new better job with healthcare just as good or better that will treat you right. We all deserve better.

So a couple of things here.

First things first, leave work at work. Don't take it home with you. Once you lock that door after close, you're done. Go home and go on with your routine.

Next, as SSV's it is our responsibility to develop newer partners. I've been holding keys for nearly five years now and I can't tell you how important this is. The unfortunate reality of our training is that it's woefully incompetent. If you're not investing your resources into developing the new partners, things will never get easier. If you want them to get better, teach them how. Furthermore, be sure to document all the teaching and coaching you do for these people into your DRB, that way if they don't improve or continue to be problematic you've got written evidence of having attempted to help them. Your SM cannot do anything if there's nothing written down.

Lastly, I was struggling with my closes for a while because of the shit that was stacked up from the earlier day parts. Once again, do your store walk and document that shit in the DRB. It might be a bit rough but a couple of nights go out of your way to leave a stellar close, prove to your SM you're capable of performing, but you just need a bit of help to make it less shitty than it currently is. (I understand this *shouldn't* be necessary but it can help drive the point home)

Don't forget, the holidays are the most stressful time of year for us. You're not alone. Once about the second week of January hits its slow season (at least for my store anyway) you got this! Don't give up!

[removed]

I haven’t worked at Starbucks long, and I started under such conditions, typically working end of day and weekends and we were constantly understaffed. As a result, the SL (who already had a work-related injury) had the injury worsen to a crisis level. My training basically came to a halt, as the SL never had the time or opportunity to let me work the bar. The end result is that scheduling like this just shoots the entire team in the foot one way or another.