Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
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how to file complaint against customer/ban customer as a barista (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by lizchesley
my store has a regular who is extremely mentally ill and not completely there in the head. he is blatantly hateful towards black people and lgbt partners. he doesn’t allow women or black partners take his order. he then proceeds to sit in our cafe, rocking back and forth, staring at his magazine cut outs of women. is mannerisms are similar to a child’s… the way he speaks, acts, etc. he is most likely in his 40’s.
my manager is very aware of him and what he does. typically, he doesn’t cause much of a problem. just weirds people out by staring at the magazine cut outs. however, two days ago, he came in and caused a scene. one of our black female partners was in front register. he refused to have his order taken by her. i explained to him that either he would let her take his order or he could go elsewhere and that we could not accommodate to his every need. he started yelling, “i don’t want to!” i got our asm and he took the regulars order. this regular began talking to me at the register, saying things like “i don’t want to be your friend” “i don’t like girls” “i don’t want to get married, i want to be single forever” “i want to move to the south side.” i ignored all of it because i mean,, whatever. none of that was that bad. but then he asked me, “am i in trouble?” and i said, “well, kind of. you can sit here as long as you’d like, but none of us appreciate it when you’re rude to us.” and he started shaking, and i mean violently shaking his body, and frantically said, “what do you mean???” and eventually i got him to sit down and entertain himself with the magazine cut outs.
i understand that he is mentally ill. he has his own struggles. but i feel like that kind of behavior shouldn’t be tolerated . my manager refuses to ban him, saying we can’t ban customers unless we feel physically unsafe. i just need to find a way to complain about him , or where to file a complaint, that goes above my manager. i just feel so bad for the women, black, and lgbt partners i work with that have to deal with him.
is there anywhere i can go to complain about him and get this figured out? or am i overreacting?
my manager is very aware of him and what he does. typically, he doesn’t cause much of a problem. just weirds people out by staring at the magazine cut outs. however, two days ago, he came in and caused a scene. one of our black female partners was in front register. he refused to have his order taken by her. i explained to him that either he would let her take his order or he could go elsewhere and that we could not accommodate to his every need. he started yelling, “i don’t want to!” i got our asm and he took the regulars order. this regular began talking to me at the register, saying things like “i don’t want to be your friend” “i don’t like girls” “i don’t want to get married, i want to be single forever” “i want to move to the south side.” i ignored all of it because i mean,, whatever. none of that was that bad. but then he asked me, “am i in trouble?” and i said, “well, kind of. you can sit here as long as you’d like, but none of us appreciate it when you’re rude to us.” and he started shaking, and i mean violently shaking his body, and frantically said, “what do you mean???” and eventually i got him to sit down and entertain himself with the magazine cut outs.
i understand that he is mentally ill. he has his own struggles. but i feel like that kind of behavior shouldn’t be tolerated . my manager refuses to ban him, saying we can’t ban customers unless we feel physically unsafe. i just need to find a way to complain about him , or where to file a complaint, that goes above my manager. i just feel so bad for the women, black, and lgbt partners i work with that have to deal with him.
is there anywhere i can go to complain about him and get this figured out? or am i overreacting?
soundfanatic 20 points 1y ago
you're not overreacting. by your account, he is not upholding the philosophy of the "third place" and his discriminatory behavior is making everyone uncomfortable. your manager is an asshole and needs to do something other than shrug and let their partners be verbally harassed. you don't need to feel physically unsafe in order to ban someone, that's a lie.
**the few dollars this regular contributes to your store's profits are not more important than you, the partners.**
your job is not to be his therapist, you are there to make coffee. mental illness is no excuse for bigotry, and he can find medical help at a doctor's office and not a coffee shop.
if your manager refuses to do their job, file a complaint against them. explain that a customer has become a problem and your job does not extend to babysitting a grown man who is hostile to you.
i'm so sorry you have to deal with this.
$1
**the few dollars this regular contributes to your store's profits are not more important than you, the partners.**
your job is not to be his therapist, you are there to make coffee. mental illness is no excuse for bigotry, and he can find medical help at a doctor's office and not a coffee shop.
if your manager refuses to do their job, file a complaint against them. explain that a customer has become a problem and your job does not extend to babysitting a grown man who is hostile to you.
i'm so sorry you have to deal with this.
$1
lizchesley [OP] 7 points 1y ago
i appreciate this so much, thank you! my manager also refused to fire a partner who was sexually harassing another partner with months until i threatened to call the dm so :,) her priorities are very much skewed. i plan on addressing this customer to her one more time and if nothing happens, i’ll report her. thank you!
soundfanatic 1 points 1y ago
of course 🤍
and definitely keep a record of the incidents where you felt that your manager was putting you in harm's way by not taking action against harassment and assault. this is probably a pattern with her and needs to be addressed before someone seriously gets hurt.
best of luck to you, and stay safe out there
and definitely keep a record of the incidents where you felt that your manager was putting you in harm's way by not taking action against harassment and assault. this is probably a pattern with her and needs to be addressed before someone seriously gets hurt.
best of luck to you, and stay safe out there
b99__throwaway 2 points 1y ago
seconding all of this, and chiming in to add that every time he refuses to have his order taken by a black and/or female partner, file a discrimination incident report and if applicable, click that racial bias box. this will go to PRSC (or whatever the acronym is) and eventually land on your DMs desk. also maybe call or email your DM and explain what has happened previously and how your store leadership has handled it in the past and that you still don’t feel comfortable serving him
uwumoment 7 points 1y ago
starbucks is such a shitty company when it comes to incidents in stores. if this was my store he would have been banned a while ago. we successfully banned a dude after far too many attempts at sexual harassment and assault, and at the small coffee shop i work at this dude came in talking to me about how he has 1000 wives and 30000 children and how he doesn’t like sex anymore, my coworker told him it’s an innapropriate conversation to be having with us, we kicked him out, he is banned, and we filed a police report. i don’t understand why starbucks wants to keep its baristas in harms way.
i would talk to your dm or partner resources. my new manager believes the partners here come first. like they always should.
i would talk to your dm or partner resources. my new manager believes the partners here come first. like they always should.
faunaflorist 3 points 1y ago
Look up the CALL program and see if it’s available in your area. I hate calling the police on people especially that are simply extremely mentally ill but the people from the program are essentially social workers trained to deal w people like that.
Mea-fae_Owl73 2 points 1y ago
If your SM won’t do anything, I encourage you and every single partner who finds this customers behavior unacceptable to fill out an Incident Report on the iPad (IRF icon) every time he displays unacceptable behavior. Any partner can fill it out. There are various categories to classify the incident under (there are also definitions for each category just to ensure that you are reporting correctly). Make sure you include the basics Who What Where and What happened with specific details (what the customer was wearing, what they looked like, what they said etc). This report gets automatically sent to your DM and SM. This is extremely helpful in getting a problem customer banned.
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