For me it is the headset. Having to listen to the customer at the drive up, partners talking and all the other nonsense it wears me out.

Having to constantly project a persona without fail for maybe eight hours a day no matter what’s happening while simultaneously maintaining a rigorous pace that’s more akin to a machine.

Being STARED at on bar doesn’t help for sure

It’s the fact that most people have no clue what they are ordering/ don’t listen at drive thru when you ask if they want it iced or hot, sweetened? Hey welcome to Starbucks I’ll be with ya in a second, -hi ya I’ll have 18 hundred drinks that I don’t even know and they are complicated af!!!

it’s the high volume repetitiveness and 30 second windows to make drinks without customers bugging

I think a big thing for me the is the constant need to apologize to people on behalf of a company that seems to be gaslighting me. I was hired with the understanding of a certain amount of hours and to be told that we don't make enough money at my store to support my hours makes it feel like its my fault I have no hours. Then this company can't deliver on many of the things that keeps their customers and the person who has to apologize is always me never the company or any corporate people.

I am a nurse. A few months ago I took a mental health break, put nursing on pause and worked at Starbucks to have some sort of income. I lasted just over a month. I couldn’t do it. And as a nurse I handle a lot of shìt. I have no idea how anyone lasts there long term. It was definitely not a mental health break!

It’s constantly busy which means we constantly have something to do. Most other jobs I’ve worked have a lunch/dinner peak and then slow down for the rest of the time.

For me it's the fact we have to be so bubbly and happy. I'm very introverted and have pretty bad depression so I always go home feeling like shit bc I have to use every last drop of my energy at work

I feel like, for me, being on bar is draining because you have to go very quickly, non stop making lots of similar drinks and then random drinks of a different type pop in. You have to switch zones mentally from cold bar to hot bar and that's hard on it's own. But there's hardly any time to think about what you're doing. It's a lot of repetitive work, but also not? Idk if that makes sense

Then add in the extra stress brought on by the customers. They said they wanted a small but they really meant medium, "this is supposed to be iced," they wanted a frappuccino but said cappuccino, they can't taste the extra scoop of matcha, blah blah blah.

I can't do register, can't really explain why, but it's too much stress 😂 I just can't hang with customers

as hard as i try and as much as i ask for advice/critique i still keep fucking up. that’s what kills me. every day is another day that proves that i am incompetent. but i can’t quit bc i need the money. but i literally don’t know how much longer i can take this. i hate this company so much and i hate my inability to keep up.

Personally speaking, Chick-fil-A was much more mentally draining than Starbucks… but maybe it’s cuz I wasn’t on Prozac then

It's the entitled, annoying customers to me. Especially the ones who are obsessed with the cups that come out every other month. There are actually some out there that pay up to $90 dollars from resellers online. Get a life.😒

Genuinely curious. I’ve worked a lot more high volume jobs than this, and a lot more physically threatening jobs and it just does not compare. Even talked to my therapist because I was curious if I had just gotten tired of people and she said that it wasn’t me it was the people. The need I supply now is not worth their attitudes should it not be perfect, or should I not read their mind instead of their actual order. The people are why this jobs drains you so much more than the others. And the blind omission of your value doesn’t help.

the job is so mentally draining that if i get this job at Tillys i’m DIPPING. I’m so tired of being gaslit by adult babies everyday.

The best way to explain it would just be to type out this weeks schedule out for everyone. We’re a licensed store in a hospital, btw. Hours are 5:30AM - 10PM
Manager: Mon 8-4 | Tues 2-10:30(at least) | Wed 2-10:30 | Thur Off | Fri Off | Sat 7-7 | Sun 2-10:30

Assistant Manager: Mon 2-10:30 | Tues Off | Wed 7-3 | Thur 2-10:30 | Fri 2-10:30 | Sat 2-1:30

Shift Lead #1: Mon Off | Tues Off | Wed off (he was moving) Thurs 5-1 | Fri 5-1 | Sat 5-2 | Sun 5-2

SL #2: Mon 5-1 | Tues 6-1 | Wed 5-1 | Thur 6-2 | Fri
6-2 | Sat and Sunday Off

SL #3: Mon 6-2 | Tues 6-2 | Wed 6-2 | Thurs 7-3 | Fri 7-3 | Sat and Sun off

SL #4, aka Me: Mon 2-10:30 | Tues 9-5 | Wed 2-10:30 | Thurs 2-10:30 | Fri and Sat Off | Sun 2-10:30

High schooler #1: Only works Sun 6-2

High schooler #2: Only works Mon 12-5

Trainee: Mon-Fri training 9-2, off Sat and Sun.

We’re literally running a fully functional location (everyone is convinced we’re a corporate store until told otherwise) with 9 people, 2 of those can only work ONE day a week. Trainee started THIS WEEK. So in all reality, 6 of us have been holding this store down for MONTHS that is open 16.5 hours a goddamn day. Hospital staff and visitors alike are jackasses and we’ve had to ban a few for not only verbally abusing and berating us, but literally throwing their drinks and food at us for whatever reason they concocted in their minds. We have to walk our regulars and new people through orders for pretty much every single transaction like they still don’t know how to order drinks at a Starbucks after this many years of them being in operation internationally. We do have some incredibly nice people, but there’s not many of them. And because hospital employees (majority of our customers) pay using their badges, there’s no way at all for them to tip us unless they carry cash and almost none of them do. And the people that do pay with cash or card (visitors and staff) rarely ever tip, especially on large orders. Just last night at around 9:40pm, 2 people came down to order drinks for them and their coworkers. $50 total, paid with debit card, no tip. But they told us “how much they appreciate us and they’d just die without us there” while my assistant manager and I scrambled to get all their drinks out to them before the next wave of people came in right before close. I’m in pain all the time and I dread going in almost every day now, but I know how much more my coworkers would suffer if I quit, and I love those people, so I don’t feel like I can leave or even look for a new job until we have more staff hired on. If people were nicer and more respectful towards us and recognized how hard we’re all working to keep that store afloat, maybe I wouldn’t hate it so much. But every day we’re treated less and less like human beings, while we’re still expected to build customer connections and be cheery and kind no matter what, and it’s so incredibly draining. All that said, I’ll be hitting my one year anniversary with my store in 2 weeks.

It's the mandatory connections. If you are an empath of sorts then it can be hard to hear a bunch of different stories, good or bad. Too much energy for one dude.

It’s the culture starbucks promotes and makes possible. That we aren’t people we’re just machines that bend to the will of every customer.

I was a preschool teacher before this and I can attest anything with kids is far more mentally draining. This job I can at least leave at work when I’m off.

It’s the expectation that customers have

Emotional labor

For me it’s the entitled customers and my coworkers who consistently do things wrong (it stresses me out).

The details

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