Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
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seeking advice on dealing w a partner w substance abuse issues (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by broski1243927
hey y’all! let’s call my partner Jake. Jake is about 35 and is an alchoholic and smokes cigarettes. I know this because he talks about it and it’s one of his struggles, that of which we all understand and try to support him with. i love jake, and this is in no way shape or form meant to bash him, it’s just where we’re at.
Jake comes into work hungover about 3/5 days in the week, and he’ll be wearing sunglasses inside, barely talking, and all in all in a bad mood. he’s also a big guy.
the problem that all of us are having is that since we are closers, the time that we get out is dependent on how the day goes and whether or not we get an order. sometimes jake is in a good mood and is productive, but other times he will be very, very mean and will literally yell at us. he also makes passive aggressive comments. jake has been working at sbucks for awhile but he’s just a barista. his yelling gets so bad that he’s formally apologized to each of us at least once.
i understand that having two substance abuse problems is bad and incredibly hard to deal with, but one of the main reasons he gets so angry when it’s a bit later is because he wants to smoke.
idfk what to do. atp i hate working with him. he’s a mean grouchy old guy who needs to get his shit together, and my partners and i shouldn’t feel worse when we see him come in. i’ve talked to numerous other people about this and we’re all on the same page. he’s great when he’s nice, but it’s very rare that he is.
i would talk to my store manager but he has leverage and it wouldn’t really do anything as he’s had that conversation before. i don’t want him fired. what can i personally (and my partners) do to make this a bit more tolerable? it’s getting really uncomfortable
thanks for the advice in advance!
Jake comes into work hungover about 3/5 days in the week, and he’ll be wearing sunglasses inside, barely talking, and all in all in a bad mood. he’s also a big guy.
the problem that all of us are having is that since we are closers, the time that we get out is dependent on how the day goes and whether or not we get an order. sometimes jake is in a good mood and is productive, but other times he will be very, very mean and will literally yell at us. he also makes passive aggressive comments. jake has been working at sbucks for awhile but he’s just a barista. his yelling gets so bad that he’s formally apologized to each of us at least once.
i understand that having two substance abuse problems is bad and incredibly hard to deal with, but one of the main reasons he gets so angry when it’s a bit later is because he wants to smoke.
idfk what to do. atp i hate working with him. he’s a mean grouchy old guy who needs to get his shit together, and my partners and i shouldn’t feel worse when we see him come in. i’ve talked to numerous other people about this and we’re all on the same page. he’s great when he’s nice, but it’s very rare that he is.
i would talk to my store manager but he has leverage and it wouldn’t really do anything as he’s had that conversation before. i don’t want him fired. what can i personally (and my partners) do to make this a bit more tolerable? it’s getting really uncomfortable
thanks for the advice in advance!
pranasoup 5 points 1y ago
i’ve worked with two partners in similar situations. almost identical, tbh. one partner was adored by everyone, customers and partners. the other was not anyone’s cup of tea, but worked hard within the team nonetheless. they each struggled with different and multiple substances, all of which really really impacted the team. in part because we never knew which version of them we’d get that day which left everyone on edge in the hours leading up to their scheduled shifts. on both occasions we had lowkey and loving interventions. it’s not exactly professional and i can’t say that as a partner i can even legally recommend this. at the times, both of those stores and the partners were pretty close and would socialize outside of work so that worked to our benefit. a couple of us from the more favored partner’s store were working together at the time with the less favored partner at a new store a year later so we had our bearings mostly but were concerned because we weren’t as close and this particular substance was worrisome. it honestly went incredibly well, he went to rehab on a medical LOA and came back a new and more understanding person. the first partner also received what we had to say and offer well. i know that interventions don’t always work that way and we really were so fortunate to have things turn out well. i’m so glad that these partners got help.
broski1243927 [OP] 2 points 1y ago
okay i’ll definitely try the intervention route as we are pretty close and hang out outside of work. it’s honestly really scary seeing this happen and how it affects him. thanks so much for the help!
pranasoup 1 points 1y ago
i wonder if there’s a intervention-type subreddit for tips, etc. that could help steer the convo. best of luck, friend! i hope it works out and he sees how supported and cared for he is.
Electrical_Metal_106 1 points 1y ago
I know it seems to put more work into your hands, but maybe look into Al-Anon. It is really nice that you are caring enough to want to help your coworker. It is hard to stop an addiction. Al-Anon can give you some coping skills.
broski1243927 [OP] 1 points 1y ago
thank you sm for the tip!!
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