The power of the siren compels you. We are all under the watchful eye of our matriarch, the siren.

Probably the caffeine intake and sugar intake has a role if you work for corporate where you get free drinks. Why would you pay for an expensive drink when you can get it for free? And early access to new drinks/food items. Also your partners become a huge factor as well if you had a bond and want to have the same comfort experience.

I mean I came back because I get paid MORE as a barista than as an ED tech that has coded people in triage!

Yeah I get what you mean. The culture definitely gives that vibe but at the end of the day it's just a job. Like, the cons suck but the perks (free drinks/food, chill partners and customers, the pay, etc) have swayed me to stay.

Umm I don't think this is Starbucks specific. But I can see how it's more of a thing with Starbucks. To be fair the pay is doubled from just even 2 years ago, money talks

I used to tell my (~chill~) trainees "okay this is going to sound like straight siren-cult propaganda, but if you just accept it you'll have a better time here" before reading some of the onboarding stuff, and- good god- I've said it enough that I've started to believe it myself. What am I becoming?

It can be a pretty mentally exhausting job but healthcare is so fucked in the US that Starbies benefits seem really good to a lot of people and stuff like that. I feel like a lot of people will try doing something else but leave in good standing with the company just in case they need to fall back on the siren again.

Oh it is. I have no idea why, but it is. Maybe someday when I quit I’ll write an essay on it after the finality of it. But somehow I’ve been in this cult for 7 years and counting…

100% culty. I had baristas fucking CRY OUT OF JOY when Howie came back. Hysterical Jesus type crying.

I mean, social scientists have studied the methodology of cults and identified 8 signs of a group being a cult and if you wanted you could assign reasoning to each if you really wanted to.

* \-A charismatic leader: Cults always follow a charismatic leader, living or dead, whose teachings are considered of the highest importance. This leader may be considered a genius, or may be considered a religious figure like a messiah or prophet.
* \-Ideological purity: Members are strongly discouraged from questioning the cult's doctrine and any doubts are met with shame or punishment.
* \-Conformity and control: Cult leaders often exercise an extreme degree of control over members' lives, including dictating what they can wear and eat and what kinds of relationships they can have. Conformity is also enforced by group members who police one another.
* \-Mind-altering practices: Sleep deprivation, chanting, meditation, and drugs are often used to break down individuals' defenses and make them more susceptible to cult ideology.
* \-Isolation and love-bombing: It is common for people in cults to be encouraged to cut contact with outsiders, including close family members. Within the cult, new members are often subjected to love-bombing, a practice where new initiates are showered with love andpraise to bring them deeper into the cult and foster a sense of belonging.
* \-Us-vs-them mentality: Cult members are often encouraged to see the cult as superior to life on the outside and to feel that those outside the cult lack understanding or insight.
* \-Apocalyptic thinking: Preparation for a supposed apocalypse or cataclysmic event is a major characteristic of many cults, especially cult religions.
* \-Time and energy: Followers are expected to dedicate huge amounts of time and energy (and often money) to the cult to the exclusion of their own lives, interests, jobs, and families.

I might actually look more into this because it seems like an interesting comparison to make, especially once you consider how to recruit cult members includes such ideas as always looking happy/positive to "sell" the cult. However, I have to open tomorrow and don't have time for this rabbithole right now.

It’s specialized skills and knowledge. Once you learn it, it’s easier to go back to what you know than have to learn something new at a different job. It also has higher pay and *far* better benefits than most similar jobs.

i am one who left and came back 🧍‍♀️ it does sometimes feel a little cult-ish lol

Its a job with high benefits, nuff said

Yes, but there is coffee so...

I’ve literally been having stress dreams where I quit and get sad because I don’t work there anymore

Yeah I get you on this. I worked at a license store almost a year and I had to quit due to me and my family moving across the country. I went to a Starbucks and I was thinking to myself how I loved/hated this place, but miss it a lot because of all the people I worked with were great. And I ended up applying and got the job and met more great people.

Last job was pretty transphobic. Starbucks has folks, management and coworkers, that take me seriously when I say I'm a dude. Add on decent insurance, free college, and 15$ an hour. It's still a shitty customer service job, but I can certainly do worse.

Yeah I wanna go back but I also don’t but it also calls me but I tell myself no but my heart tells me yes and I hate it so much but I love it

I feel this. I’ve been gone for over 3 weeks, tomorrow is my first day back, and I’ve simultaneously felt very excited to come back, and be with my coworkers, but also have been crying hardcore bc I don’t want to go back. Whenever I think about quitting, I also think about how I’ve never been in a work environment where I’ve been so close with my coworkers before. They keep me there. Sadly, a bunch of them just left for college😭

I originally worked for two years and then left, and then I just came back this April. I honestly can’t stand the annoying tt drinks and entitled people, but the bennies are good IMO and I drink so much sbux that I might as well work here. Also since it’s part time I can focus on trying to get my personal small business going at home.

Weirdly over time I have definitely felt this weird dedication to Starbucks while also wanting to do something else? I even have tons of sbux themed merch, I’m sometimes there on my days off, I have a million cups. I was not like this before and the less I fight the job the more I love/hate staying. It’s a comfort and something exhausting somehow? I never ever thought I’d be with the company more than 2 years and I’m almost at 5 now. I used to despise the idea of being a shift and now I’m seriously considering it.

I think it’s because it has potential to be a good job. I loved messing around with recipes to create new drinks when it was slow and as cheesy as it sounds, those tiny moments that made a customers day really did bring me happiness. What totally drained me and far outweighed the good of the job was the horrible customers making things way out of your control somehow your problem and management that belittled you and put “the customers always right” attitude over anything else. Everything I come back I think a different store in a different state/town will be different but it’s just the same shit different scenery every time
Edit to add: The benefits are also fairly compelling. The main reason I went back the last time was because I had no health insurance and knew i could easily get it through the siren

I’ve had nothing but shitty jobs my whole life so I don’t have any frame of reference. Even when I was a licensed nurse. (Health care is the worst in some ways, they don’t have to give any type of breaks and they really, really don’t either). I worked for minimum wage and even less in my teens and early 20’s. I had managers who hit on me, managers who called me a liar for saying my name was my name, a manager who told me to go home and rest because I wasn’t doing well and then threw me under the bus and claimed I abandoned my shift and got me fired. This job is stressful in its own right, and the culture is questionable at times for sure (my store seems to be better than a lot of them, too). But compared to every other job I’ve had it’s been really nice. I’m not saying we don’t deserve better, definitely some of the stories here are straight horror stories. But our whole culture doesn’t value working people and that’s the overlying problem with almost every job, especially in service.

the way i’m living proof of this: i have a very well paying job for being in my 20s w no college experience and yet i still work at Sbux on the weekends, simply bc i was “too upset to leave” even though i genuinely dislike most of the ppl i encounter while working 😐

This is such a validating post

Bro I understand. I left almost a year ago and I still miss it. If the pandemic didn’t ruin everything and if I had gotten paid more I would’ve been happy staying with the company for years tbh. And a lot of people I used to work with feel the same. Hated it but loved it more than anything.

A few things:

1. Sugar and caffeine as other people have said
2. A generally accepting environment (most of the time bigotry isn’t allowed at all, which isnt always true in all work places)
3. Many places are still paying minimum wage and SB is above that (not always by a lot but something)
4. The benefits, free Spotify, free college, free drinks, 7 free food items
5. Their is always a person or two worth staying at a store for, even with all the bullshit.

Let me hit that pen.

I quit about a month ago, I wanna go back so bad. Even though my sm was having an affair with a ssv, toxic as hell but I miss it soooo much

I at previous jobs I have been written up for being young (as since I was the youngest person I was most likely to make the mistake in question). I have had the owner/manager of a small catering company throw things at people because his anger management was so bad. I have had bosses try to deny my vacation a day before I left out of town. I have been written up for not learning things fast enough (I am an insanely FAST learner) by the same boss that let coworker fight in the dining room in front of guests and none of them got fired or corrective actions. I have also been laid off because the university I worked for refused to modernize their programs to the point they are now shutting down. I have had to watch our little cafe turn over more than 60% of its staff a month because the owner and manager were in a Relationship and he would not hold her accountable.

In its field, Starbucks is one of the best places. Pay could be more but benefits are good and the pay is still more than most comparable food establishments besides maybe In-N-Out, which pays close to $20/hr in some areas.

SBUX has a very good resources department and HR which can get you passed most issues you encounter with bad bosses, provided you use those resources.

Of course it could be better, corporate are all asshats who have no idea how to run a store and it shows with their asinine choices, but still there is a lot of good going on.

i understand lol i just left less than a month ago and have felt so guilty about it. i think about going back all the time

YES I FEEL 100% the same. The best and worst. I left and came back twice and because of that I’ve managed to miss out on a lot of extra goodies like bonus raises and tshirts and stuff like that lol, it is definitely a comfort zone and is equally the best and worst job at the same time - i’m at a point now where I have to choose what I’m doing w my life hahah it’s so confusing

I couldn’t agree more. I put in my notice today and I’m a 9 year partner and SM. It felt wrong because I feel like whatever else I go to won’t compare. But it’s also the only serious job I’ve ever held as an adult, so my perspective is very limited.
It helps that the pay is finally decent. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think twice about my decision as I was giving my notice.
For me, the benefits and pay are amazing and worth it for most situations. But the mental toll as an SM is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

It gives me “there is no war in ba sing se” vibes


“There is no staff shortage at Starbucks”

It's the same reason my spouse stays in the military. Benefits. Yes I could go get a higher paying job but the benefits wouldn't even compare.
I honestly think that's why so many partners come back when they are a bit older and realize just how important 401k, quality healthcare and stock options are.

1000% relate to this!

That’s why the pay raises are a double edge sword. Decent money to keep doing a job you hate working for customers you hate.

I make over $5 above minimum wage for a job that I could probably do in my sleep at this point plus the benefits are 👌. Most other PT jobs don’t even provide benefits so I’m stuck until I find a government job with similar benefit packages.

it's like an abusive relationship. you love it too much to let go. i know immediately after i had my last day this past saturday i felt like i shouldnt have quit even though it was an awful working environment

Starbucks really gives Stockholm syndrome. Most people actually hate it but they return anyways. I have been gone months now, but I quit at one point and asked for my job back before my two weeks were even up :/ and then I stayed like a whole extra year before leaving for good

The way I miss making drinks on my days off like a psycho 🥴

We’re all just trauma bonded to the Siren 🥲

Jesus Christ himself could not drag me back to that corporation(seven year partner, left in May 2022)

It’s called a caffeine addiction lol atleast for me

To be honest, I’ve worked at other corporate jobs before and Starbucks is by far one of the best to work for compared to other companies.

Does that mean they aren’t capable of improving? Absolutely not. They have a lot of work to do to be an actual GOOD job.

Compare it to other companies in the same circle I’m not surprised people come back so often. Other companies really suck.

It isn't Chick-fil-A but it definitely can be cultish.

Im afraid i’ll never be able to leave. i love it too much.

Disney is the same way to a T

Yes it’s fun to work there and also not work there

I was there for eight years because I was addicted to the healthcare benefits.

[removed]

[removed]

[removed]