These comments are making me sad. We are supposed to be inclusive and I’m really sorry you aren’t feeling supported in your own stores. Have you spoken to your SM about this behavior?

Hi! I’m probably not who you really want responses from, but I wanted to show solidarity, as I’m a HoH barista. I really hope you get some responses here to help you out. ❤️

i worked with a deaf barista at a store i was borrowed at once! they only put him in non customer facing roles like CS, warming, and he was great at cold bar. when he finished a drink he would ask one of us on bar to call it out for him.

i think there is way more accommodations starbucks can make, but i know the partners at that store try their best to make him feel welcome. i hope the partners at your store do the same!!

My coworker is deaf and she has been with the company for about 5-6 years roughly. Before our lobby was closed she was placed on mobile bar pretty often. Now she's placed on CS, cold bar and warming and she's great! When she would take orders up front she would have the customers write it down on an LCD screen and they would always be very understanding and friendly. I've been learning ASL (still need more practice) and try my best to communicate with her. Now as a SSV I want everyone on my shift to learn basic signs to communicate with not only her but our community since we would also get deaf customers.

I'm not deaf but I have issues with audio processing (people's words sound scrambled/not in English/sometimes can't hear them at all, just a bunch of distorted noise) and I've tried asking my shift manager to not put me on drive thru or window because I embarress myself asking people to repeat themselves or staring blankly because I'm trying to figure out what they said. Unfortunately they make me do it anyway. My coworker yesterday also sarcastically asked me "what, do you have a hearing aid under that hat?" after I asked her to repeat herself and everyone laughed. Starbucks says they're accommodating to disabilities, but in practice they aren't. I just get made fun of for it a lot.

These comments are making me sad. We are supposed to be inclusive and I’m really sorry you aren’t feeling supported in your own stores. Have you spoken to your SM about this behavior?

Former deaf barista here.

I usually asked the customers to repeat themselves, and also explain your deafness. They’ll be much more understanding for your situation.

You can ask to not be in driv-thru. The shift will understand and have you on front, warming, or perhaps bar.

Although, as a former shift, I had to wear a headset anyways.

Lastly, power through it.

We had a deaf partner at my first store and we had a sign up on the glass that showed customers simple ways to communicate. “Hello” “thank you” and just letting them know they may need to signal for her attention.
As far as with us, we had a dry erase type board if we need to ask questions or tell her something we didn’t know how to sign. It seemed to work well.

Deaf person here!

I’m lucky that I’m in a Deaf-populated area, so my store already had boogie boards. So when I’m on front (usually just to cover someone’s break) I have the customers write on the boards. They’re labeled with some prompts like “name. Size. Drink.” And the customers usually do okay. The main issue is when they’ve got 5 drinks in an order, or if their first language also isn’t English.

I sometimes work window too, I use the boogie board to write down the price as they approach the window, and then ask if they want a receipt.

It’s been a few months but some of my coworkers are finally also starting to pick up signs too. It helps that they benefit from signing too, like being able to communicate to each other if it’s too loud in the store or too much chatter on the headsets. Some are picking up more conversational things too, but the minimum everyone knows has been “hot/cold, bar, food, bathroom, lunch, 10, where?, what?, vanilla/salt/chocolate (specifically so I know which foam to get started for them)”

I have a cochlear implant so I wear the headset, but I usually don’t understand most of it so I ignore the chatter until someone says my name so I look at them. That way they can start gesturing/signing at me or say more simple things like “can you remake this drink?”

I’ve been on all of the positions, it seems that they prefer I’m NOT on CS anymore though because I have some vision issues too so I usually end up bumping into people or missing cues when I’m going back and forth all over the store. Plus many people actually prefer doing CS so they can be in the back with music while prepping/washing dishes so since they know I prefer bar they just go ahead and put dibs on CS anyway.

Often times I’m on either cold bar or I’m soloing all the bars. If I’m on cold bar, there is a shelf in front of me that the refreshers stay on. When cold drinks come through on the other machines, the partners know to bring over the stickers and stick them on the shelf in front of me. That way when I look up, I already see what needs higher priority (especially because they’ll move drive-thru to the front of the sticker line), and I put the stickers on the cups when I start them so if someone comes over to help because we’re getting slammed they know what I haven’t started by just looking at the shelf instead of asking me and interrupting my flow.
For soloing, it is really important to me that the play caller *actually* tells me I’m soloing so I can get an action plan together immediately.

I’ve been put on warming more often recently, and it’s in an area where I have larger view of the bars and I’m right behind the drive-thru person. So I watch over the DT’s shoulder for them inputting any new food orders to get them started ASAP, but in my downtime I’m often still taking on some CS support with running to replace the syrups or take over the orders that are just something like “short cup full of frap chips and 8 Trenta ice waters.”

It can get lonely when I can tell everyone is having a conversation on the headsets and I can’t join in, but it’s pretty normal here that a few other partners actually don’t wear the headsets either or aren’t listening. I’ve also had customers get frustrated with me for “ignoring” them when my back is to them while I’m working cold bar, because they’re trying to yell out a modification to me for their drink or they’re trying to ask me to hurry up and get their drink finished. Or they’re hovering over one of the hot bars trying to ask me for a cup of water or if my current queued beverage is their order. Partners are pretty used to just answering their questions for me now, or pausing me briefly to sign/tell me there was a modification they forgot to ring up.

I am not deaf but we have a deaf partner at our store. We have a little board on the wall that has push buttons. Our SM put stickers on them and labeled them as things CS would replenish. So whether they are on bar or CS they can communicate what they/we need. They also have a little writing tablet they keep in their pocket when they need to ask questions or anything. I wish I had a picture on our button board to share

I’m hearing with a deep love for ASL and the Deaf community. Your partners need to step up and learn enough sign to get through a shift with you. Do NOT feel bad. Everyone has limitations and capabilities. I would be delighted to work with you and harass everyone to learn some ASL.

I was a HOH barista! Is there anything in particular you’re looking for?

I live in DC, the Starbucks by Gallaudet University is staffed by exclusively Deaf and HoH baristas

Deaf/ HoH barista here … whenever I’m on register and have difficulty understanding customers I would use hand gestures such as what size/ receipt etc. I hear pretty well with my hearing aids/ implant where I can converse. However I take initiatives with patrons to either slow down or pause as I put in the order and repeat the order back to them.

If you reached out to accommodation department, they’ll be happy to help you - Sbux sent over boogie board, pins and ASL aprons so patrons acknowledge that I am Deaf/HoH.

Most of my partners and I use hand gestures or they face me as they talk or show me.

Hope these tips help and it can be fun as long as communication is a two way street. 😁

I'm hard of hearing, but I've found being clear about your needs helps (even though my manager and hr ignored both of my requests), when customers get rude because they have to repeat themselves, I remind them that I'm hard of hearing. Have a dry erase board if needed.

My biggest tip is just making sure that your shifts know your needs so they can properly accommodate and help you. I’m half deaf/hoh and tbh I can’t even do drive through because of the amount of noise/extra things that happen while taking orders. My sm and shifts are actually really super accommodating and just don’t put me on dt. And I have a lot of trouble hearing on the floor usually but they help me a lot when I need it

Not HoH myself, but have several deaf customers. I'm not sure if they share the same sentiment, but I love that we're no longer required to mask up. It's not that I talk louder, but I'm able to speak in a way where they can read my lips easier. If that's a skill you have, then maybe talk to you team and request that when they talk to you then it's face-to-face.

I've had HOH partners before, one was fully deaf I believe. We ordered some special pads off Amazon, to write on and communicate with them, we also would write recipes on the bar, gave them recipe cards. They worked really well, they both moved for college but I miss them dearly.

Do you use ASL? I know it’s a lot to teach people and you’re not obligated to, but hopefully your coworkers are supportive and would willingly learn some.

[removed]