hi there! i've been a partner (at my original, home store the entire time) for over four years now. this is going to be a long read because i have a lot to say, so please be patient with me. i posted this on the official starbucks subreddit, but it was late at night here (didn't think that one through) so it got buried quickly and i only got a few responses. i'm going to post it here, and add more detail as more things have happened since i made that original post.

we've gone through a lot of SMs in the last couple of years, but the newest one we were assigned has been altogether pretty hostile and incorrigible right off the bat. i gave him a chance, as i always assume best intentions and try to set up a good relationship with any new partner, barista or higher; but the type of attitude he brings to our store has been making us all quite upset.

first of all, it's very difficult to ask any clarifying questions in order to try and understand the changes he wants us to make. if you ask him a question, he always takes it as an attack and just repeats what he just said, completely ignoring the question altogether. like...if i just wanted you to repeat what you just said, i would've asked you to repeat instead of asking a specific question. it's really irritating because you just can't ask him anything, so if you're confused, you just have to figure it out on your own. he's not performing as a very good leader at this moment, based on this fact (and other facts that i'll be getting into).

another thing is the way he talks to us. his tone comes across as arrogant and disrespectful towards us, and i frequently find myself meeting eyes with my coworkers after he walks away like "wtf." a couple of weeks ago, he stepped onto the floor and began changing the play without consulting the play caller. i had just come back from my ten so i returned to ovens to help while waiting for my shift to instruct me where to go, but he was there and he asked me to instead take over for another barista for their break.

i said, "oh, okay..." and walked away, then stopped and turned back to face him and said, "but i thought \[shift\] was the play caller?"

and he just replied with, "i'm the store manager so i can do whatever i want." that's not an exact quote, but he definitely told me he can do whatever he wants because he's the store manager. wtf??

he also will interrupt someone while they're talking and reply in a very sassy tone, basically talking over them and not lending an ear for whatever they have to say at all. if you can't communicate or ask questions to your leader without them becoming angry and defensive, how are you supposed to be on the same page and work together?

he's also really obsessed with certain things being "standard," but then turns around and breaks standard in really bizarre ways. he tried to throw away the books shifts use, the ones that have the places where you can write in your clock in/out times if need be and mileage and general shift stuff, because he doesn't want us to use the book to write down our punches anymore. he's super obsessed with our punches, and i have punch edits every day from him, including him changing punches from when i clock in early to when my actual shift start is. which is, yknow, time theft. (i've begun asking people clocking in early to start taking a picture.)

another concern of mine is my most recent promotion. he just promoted me to shift supervisor and like, yeah that's awesome and exciting, but i don't think he followed the standard procedure to promote me. for one, he interviewed me all alone with no other SM present. then a week or so later, he sits down with me to work out my new schedule and tells me i'm going to be set up to interview with another SM (as a "formality," he said), but then the next day he texts me and asks me to call him when i can. so i did, and he promoted me over the phone? without an unbiased interview from another SM? that cannot be standard.

and then yesterday, my coworker messaged the groupme we're all in asking a couple of clarifying questions. all he did was reply with his number and ask her to call him. part of the message contained information that was shared with me and another shift during a meeting between only the three of us, so it was obvious to him that either i or the other shift shared that information, but he also never said we couldn't say anything. so he sends this long message of garbled nonsense as usual, then calls me while i was in the middle of reading it. i don't pick up, because frankly i did not want to talk to him, and luckily he didn't leave a message asking me to call him back.

the coworker who posted the questions originally DID end up calling him, and they talked, then she called the aforementioned shift and talked to her. then the two of them called me one after the other, and i learned that the SM denied ever sharing that information that me and the other shift agreed we DEFINITELY HEARD HIM SAY, which is really frustrating. he made my coworker feel like she can't ask simple questions, which is just ridiculous feeling for a starbucks store manager to intentionally invoke in a member of their team.

and the icing on top of the cake? he sent another long message, of more garbled nonsense i could barely process, and ended it with "this will be my final post on this platform."

THEN *LEFT THE GROUPME*

LIKE AN ANGRY TEENAGER LEAVING A GROUPCHAT

like are you kidding me. his behavior is extremely juvenile, he takes any questions as a personal attack, and he comes in on his days off to get a drink and just stare at us for a while because his control issues are that bad. me and my entire store are at our wit's end with this man, and that aforementioned shift wants to go to HR, but honestly we're not exactly sure how.

does anyone have any advice? does anyone know how to approach HR about this? should we build a big case and present it as one, or should we just contact them now and present them with our own respective pieces of evidence? one of my shifts has a recorded conversation (we are a one party state), and a lot of us have our own accounts of events along with screenshots of various things.

i'm just really frustrated and angry at this man, and i don't even care about the promotion anymore at this point because i just want him out of our store.

if you read this, thank you. please help us and provide some insight and information if you can.