Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
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Question/Seeking advice (Venti Vent) (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by Ew_Oxygen1124
I’m not sure if this is the place for this but because it’s happening at my work place and I’m still relatively new, I’m seeking some advice.
I started at my store at the end of July, and so far I am absolutely loving this job. It has its ups and downs, but especially for a foodservice job, I’m truly truly loving working here. There’s really only one partner I’ve had problems with and they are one that everyone has issues with, and they’re not even a bad person, just has some irritating habits.
Everyone has been so kind and patient and understanding with me, and I’ve gotten lots of comments/compliments about how quickly I’m picking everything up. I really feel like I fit in. But….
The last two weeks, a few of my partners, particularly the ones I am closest with/relate to the most have had some conversations about topics that are somewhat triggering to me.
They all have come from a positive, kind, respectful place, and I know for a fact the intent isn’t to harm. It’s happened when I was soloing DT, so I had to have my headset on, but it was early enough in the morning that it was fairly slow. They were cracking jokes, sharing traumatic experiences, talking about what (if any) medications they were taking etc. and I had to take my headset off for a second because listening to it made me feel somewhat anxious and uncomfortable, but I didn’t want to cause a fuss. On top of that I understand that those conversations can be necessary for some people, especially when they don’t have anyone else to talk to about it and you’re relating to someone. I don’t want to take that away from anybody.
But one of my partners noticed I took my headset off and jokingly said “You don’t want to talk to us anymore?” It was sarcastic, and in any other context I probably would have found it funny and shot back with something equally sarcastic and playful. She wasn’t being unkind in any form.
I want to bring it up, because it’s happened more than once and it’s making me uncomfortable, but I don’t want to be the person who said that you can’t talk about mental health at work because I feel like they should be allowed that. I just kind of feel like a pick-me, but I want to take care of my mental health too.
I started at my store at the end of July, and so far I am absolutely loving this job. It has its ups and downs, but especially for a foodservice job, I’m truly truly loving working here. There’s really only one partner I’ve had problems with and they are one that everyone has issues with, and they’re not even a bad person, just has some irritating habits.
Everyone has been so kind and patient and understanding with me, and I’ve gotten lots of comments/compliments about how quickly I’m picking everything up. I really feel like I fit in. But….
The last two weeks, a few of my partners, particularly the ones I am closest with/relate to the most have had some conversations about topics that are somewhat triggering to me.
They all have come from a positive, kind, respectful place, and I know for a fact the intent isn’t to harm. It’s happened when I was soloing DT, so I had to have my headset on, but it was early enough in the morning that it was fairly slow. They were cracking jokes, sharing traumatic experiences, talking about what (if any) medications they were taking etc. and I had to take my headset off for a second because listening to it made me feel somewhat anxious and uncomfortable, but I didn’t want to cause a fuss. On top of that I understand that those conversations can be necessary for some people, especially when they don’t have anyone else to talk to about it and you’re relating to someone. I don’t want to take that away from anybody.
But one of my partners noticed I took my headset off and jokingly said “You don’t want to talk to us anymore?” It was sarcastic, and in any other context I probably would have found it funny and shot back with something equally sarcastic and playful. She wasn’t being unkind in any form.
I want to bring it up, because it’s happened more than once and it’s making me uncomfortable, but I don’t want to be the person who said that you can’t talk about mental health at work because I feel like they should be allowed that. I just kind of feel like a pick-me, but I want to take care of my mental health too.
Purgatory-Maybe 2 points 10m ago
That doesn’t make you a pick-me even a little bit. Listening to topics like that can be difficult, especially when they’re on the headset when it can be harder to escape from it! That’s kind of you to say that they should have a space to talk about mental health (as it should be for everyone), but your mental health is important too!! It sounds like your coworkers aren’t being malicious, so I would highly recommend bringing it up. And you don’t have to say that they can’t talk about mental health at work, maybe just respectfully ask that they don’t talk to you about it. Hopefully it gets better for you soon! Good luck :))
dazedandconfusedhere 1 points 10m ago
Since it sounds like you get along with these coworkers, I would just say something like “hey could we talk about something else or take this off headset? This isnt my favorite topic” or “this topic makes me uncomfortable”
Ew_Oxygen1124 [OP] 1 points 10m ago
Yeah, I think I’m just worried about offsetting the environment or looking like I’m doing it for attention, and I don’t want to ruin it for someone else
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