Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
↑
154
↓
DTO solo…I can’t anymore (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by Cultural_Spinach_175
I have been soloing for 4 hours now and it genuinely makes me want to quit Starbucks. It’s awful people are so mean for no reason and it’s draining me. Anyone else feel like this?
Yannieegee 126 points 1y ago
DTO soloing should be banned…
cringeqween13 25 points 1y ago
If it was banned I might not have quit.
Yannieegee 13 points 1y ago
That sucks. That’s really stressful for one person especially if you have nonstop customers at the drive through ☹️
dazedandconfusedhere 73 points 1y ago
I can’t solo drive for more than 2hrs at a time, I NEED to be switched by then
xtracheddargoldfishh 42 points 1y ago
2hrs is my max too. Unfortunately pretty damn good at soloing at this point.
willywankaz432 3 points 1y ago
Same
Initial_Ad6741 57 points 1y ago
I'm the lucky gal at my store that gets to solo drive through and ovens all day long for 5 days a week 🙃
Cultural_Spinach_175 [OP] 26 points 1y ago
Oh HELL no..
CalDoesMaths 19 points 1y ago
I’d scream. If I’ve been on DT for 2+ hours and come back from a break and am asked to do anything besides CS or maybe bar I get so stressed. Like I need a break from customers. I get sometimes it isn’t always possible but pleaseeeee
cringeqween13 11 points 1y ago
This. I was really good at soloing DT. Guessing my squirrel brain was good for something, but just because you're good at something doesn't make it fun.
-reddit_user99 7 points 1y ago
wait are we the same person? because the same thing happens to me
ShannyES 4 points 1y ago
Same. Although I work evenings. So it’s different - I guess.
cookiemonstah87 23 points 1y ago
4 hours???
My ADHD won't even let me do DTO at all. The echo of my own voice piping back into my own brain makes it impossible for me to focus and I can't understand a word anyone is saying. I can't even handle talking to people on Google meets or whatever if I can hear an echo because I start getting irritable and panicky. I think I process the words about 10 seconds too late, but by that time the customer has already gotten angry about repeating their order for the third time. It's bad enough that I've never been there for more than 15 minutes, and at this point they don't even try to put me there.
I think if I was ever there for 4 HOURS we would have had an angry mob come into the cafe to yell about how long the drive-thru line is taking and how dumb the person taking orders must be. And that's just me on DTO at all, not soloing over there!!!
My ADHD won't even let me do DTO at all. The echo of my own voice piping back into my own brain makes it impossible for me to focus and I can't understand a word anyone is saying. I can't even handle talking to people on Google meets or whatever if I can hear an echo because I start getting irritable and panicky. I think I process the words about 10 seconds too late, but by that time the customer has already gotten angry about repeating their order for the third time. It's bad enough that I've never been there for more than 15 minutes, and at this point they don't even try to put me there.
I think if I was ever there for 4 HOURS we would have had an angry mob come into the cafe to yell about how long the drive-thru line is taking and how dumb the person taking orders must be. And that's just me on DTO at all, not soloing over there!!!
cookiemonstah87 9 points 1y ago
Wanted to add I can and will happily do any other position in our store, I just can't do DTO. I can even understand orders just fine if I'm not hearing my own voice as part of the conversation! I don't know how to explain the issue to my shift in a way she understands, but at least everyone has agreed I just don't work there.
ilovelimes333 2 points 1y ago
ME FREAKING TOO!!! bro i get so anxious for no reason when i get put on drive. so before we got a new shift i wasnt put on there at all cuz pretty much everyone in the store knew how much i hated it and how anxious i got. like no one benifited out of me going on drive. i feel like the person on drive and the person on front register are the 2 ppl that make the store run. & i cant hold the pressure of being on drive..asking if we have food items. like doing everything at once. i am not diagnosed with anything bc its just not possible for me to get tested for anything due to personal issues, but what i can say is that i have social anxiety. i can talk to ppl on front register or when im on cafe bar, but i start to trip over my words so bad & i sound like im mumbling all the time ;(. so speaking on the headset is even worse bc im just thinking that im annoying everyone with a headset on..listening to my voice for hours. and stuff like that goes thru my head when im on drive. so then i start to get nervous and i b like "thank you fo- thank you for choosing our starbucks wha- what can i get for you?" and especially having to sound friendly & not incredibly depressed🚹 i do get put on there like a couple times a month though because we got a new supervisor. sorry for the rant! & btw just show ur ssv or sm what you wrote because you explained everything so perfectly :)
Killakayla5455 20 points 1y ago
I 100% understand this... I did like 2 Shifts DTO by myself the whole shift! it's too much! especially when your store us literally out of stock with pretty Much every popular item because then we're the ones who have to tell them, "I'm sorry unfortunately we're out ofthat?right now...
Cultural_Spinach_175 [OP] 8 points 1y ago
Yeah DTO def gets the short end of the stick😩
Spiritual-Pen1768 6 points 1y ago
Literally same we’re almost always out of like oat milk and caramel drizzle and it is hell
FfierceLaw 15 points 1y ago
I would rather solo than DTR with the DTO I was with today. I have been working 14 months, she maybe 2 and she kept trying to micromanage me. DTO is not the boss of DTR, I had to make that clear
uwumoment 11 points 1y ago
when i first started i LOVED dt because i got to do it with a friend and it was fun, kind of easy and i loved talking to people. i didn’t realize that would be my last time working with someone on dt because then i started soloing and im very bad at multitasking on dt so they threw me on bar for the rest of the time i was a morning partner. i switched to night shifts, now it’s much more relaxing and i can talk to people and be with my friends in dt. even if im soloing, im not trying to beat some imaginary number corporate pulls out of their ass and shoved down the morning ssv’s throats.
BatWeary 7 points 1y ago
same! my shifts eventually stopped telling me to get times down because i told them “idc about times and if that’s an issue then you can move me or ✨ send me home ✨” safe to say times weren’t an issue after the 5th time
uwumoment 4 points 1y ago
whenever you’re sweating during peak and the shift goes on the headset and says “alright guys we are at 40 second drive times let’s get it down to 30🥰”
Starbucks_IVF_MAMA 2 points 1y ago
ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU SOLO.
ESPECIALLY love it when a car keeps changing their order 😬
ESPECIALLY love it when a car keeps changing their order 😬
uwumoment 3 points 1y ago
there was this one person who transferred thank god but they would always be sent outside on the ipad to take orders, then they’d always be asking in the middle of peak what drive times are like and when it’s anywhere past 30 seconds they say it’s awful it was so ANNOYING and they WERENT JOKING it made me so mad
pinkflowergirl4 11 points 1y ago
Yes I agree I can't do more than a few hours. I don't think anyone should do that longer than 2 hours alone
Capricious-Coco 7 points 1y ago
My Starbucks has a policy that you have to respond to drive thru within 3 seconds to take their order but you also have to greet each customer the instant they pull up to the window to pay even if you’re solo…
Extreme_Musician_741 7 points 1y ago
I love DTO solo. ..I actually prefer it. When they give me help, the other person always hands out the wrong item, dosnt communicate added orders at the window, or has no clue how to handle problems. Just let me do it all! And 9 hrs is about my max...by the end of that, I am ready to kill someone ...lol.
fruitlysoft 6 points 1y ago
I once did Drive thru solo for my whole 8hr shift on a Sunday my only breaks being my 30 and 10s. I sobbed nonstop on my way home
swoopysnoopy 6 points 1y ago
I'm unfortunately very good soloing. And I love it, don't get me wrong. But doing it once a shift for anywhere from 2-4 hours per shift gets depressing
molwalk 5 points 1y ago
There's usually only 2 people on my unit at a time. In a busy train station. When a coworker goes on their break I damn near get a panic attack by how much the queue builds up. I don't get paid enough for that shit
Zealousideal-Star448 4 points 1y ago
When I first started I didn’t know there was any other way to do drive other than solo, that included getting drive food most of the time. Now that I’m a rehire and at a new store I don’t think I can ever go back to that hell
TheTwerkingRobot 3 points 1y ago
That was part of what drove me to quit after almost 1.5 years, soloing drive 6 days a week
krty98 3 points 1y ago
I get stuck on DTR for my entire shift most times. Yesterday I was on it the entire 4.75 hours. I HATE that so much. I have social anxiety and by the end of it I’m completely drained.
Dustwitch93 3 points 1y ago
I keep begging not to be on dto because dealing with so many customers so rapidly is easily the most stressful position for me in the whole store. :/ Everyone is impatient and treats us like shit.
thedevvylee 2 points 1y ago
Gotta love solo bar 🤦🏽♀️ they see we struggling but still want their 8 different frappachino right this second. But yes I agree I don’t like solo drive thru. People get so impatient. Gotta love when they pull up to the box and instantly go HELLLLoOoOo
Cultural_Spinach_175 [OP] 2 points 1y ago
Solo bar kills me omg the way no one helps😻😻
ElectricalScience8 2 points 1y ago
i feel like this is what lead me to quit. i was ALWAYS soloing DT and it literally made me lose my mind and i quit lol
vaeluxe 2 points 1y ago
I must have balls of steel from my store. We DTO solo for our entire shift with lines coming from the freeway. Thank god I’m not there anymore
Keithxmizu 2 points 1y ago
I started a couple of weeks ago maybe 4 and this is all they have me do. I don’t remember the last time i touched bar :/
Erbearlee 2 points 1y ago
If I’m window, then I want to be soloing honestly. I hate having to make fake connections and it’s loads easier when I’m waiting to be taking an order than trying to find a 3rd or 4th topic for the customer to shoot down.
jamosarous 2 points 1y ago
Absolutely agree trying to get food place rider and hand stuff out is so overwhelming
Garrickrelentless 2 points 1y ago
I prefer solo drive to bar, I'd do it all shift. But then again, I worked at McD's for an embarrassing number of years so it's just muscle memory for me.
cleanthes_is_a_twink 1 points 1y ago
Okay. When I worked at Starbucks, I could solo my whole shift. I fucking LOVE DTO solo. I felt like an ATC lmfao
[deleted] 1 points 1y ago
[removed]
LavalampClock 1 points 1y ago
funnily enough, solo drive is one of my favorite positions lol. i get hating it tho
jangleschan 1 points 1y ago
Given most of my shifts the past couple months, I'm on DTO soloing, I'm at my limit 💀
[deleted] 1 points 1y ago
[deleted]
NoRoutine1624 1 points 1y ago
i have been working at starbucks for 4 months now, haven’t been trained on bar, and have only been trained on DTO/DTR. every single shift i have a spend the entirety of it on DTO/DTR solo. it makes me so sad, literally ruined my perception of people and drains me. also, they cut my hours down and i have worked only 9 hours in the past 1.5 months. i’m absolutely broke.
lecisssss 1 points 1y ago
I had to solo for 4 hours on like my third shift off training, it was absolutely horrible
tilzy456 1 points 1y ago
Before I quit I was a closer and I used to do solo drive and warming for my entire 6 - 8 hour shift, and towards the end of the night it wasn’t as bad, but we’d have four people working with 20+ cars in the drive through wrapped around the building and then I’d get reprimanded for having high drive times and low customer connection scores because they somehow expected me to have an hour long conversation with a customer in 45 seconds while also simultaneously taking orders and making food, and all my coworkers would scoff at me and tell me to get over it if I complained or asked for help, and on top of that I’m physically disabled with ADHD and autism so often I’d just explode and cry in the back on my break, I’m sorry you have to deal with that
rennitz 1 points 1y ago
I prefer to solo dto honestly but that's because I'm like.... really good at it.
Feeling-Pear-759 1 points 1y ago
Honestly I kinda enjoy DTO solo because that’s what I started on. Our store was also short staffed so during rush I would be bouncing around helping others as well. But then they only placed me everywhere but doing bar and get mad when I say I haven’t done bar or I’m not comfortable doing it without a supervisor on the floor
Spiritual-Pen1768 1 points 1y ago
I was on DTO solo for like 3 hours during peak and literally lost my voice 🥴🙄
Angryman182 1 points 1y ago
I was working a side job at Starbucks, and this was the straw that caused me to leave
[deleted] 1 points 1y ago
[deleted]
[deleted] 1 points 1y ago
[deleted]
raycamaro -1 points 1y ago
Hang in there. Builds character. At least you’re not fleeing the country for your life. You can shake it off later. Seriously. It’s hard but you can do it. I’m pulling for you. Kill them with kindness. You can’t be broken.
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.