I quit Starbucks yesterday and my mental health immediately improved. This is the tea I was scared to spill and share because I did not want to jeopardize my job. Now, I don’t care. Y’all need to know the truth.

While there was coworkers who I truly enjoyed working with, there were some I truly did not. I will just leave that at that. That’s with any place, right? But when the problem people aren’t corrected, that’s an issue. Anyways…

I loved learning about coffee and honing the craft, but quickly it became apparent that Starbucks no longer cares about that. They just want to continue making billions off of their dedicated followers and their sugar infused coffee addiction.

While working there, I dealt with some of the worst working conditions I have ever been faced with.

Firstly, the fruit fly problem. If you want my advice as a former employee, ask for no fruit pieces in your refreshers. Don’t get anything with vanilla bean powder, chocolate malt powder, java/frappuccino chips, and matcha. These are all stored in semi-open containers that do not close fully. Therefore, fruit flies chill in and on the containers. I had to work the day before we got the pest control treatment for our store and a fruit fly flew up my nose. They were landing all over me. Landing in drinks, landing on food. Some baristas didn’t even throw the drink away they would still hand it out. A fruit fly was found in the cold brew keg before we closed it up and my shift scooped it out and put the lid on to use it still. So, additionally I wouldn’t drink the cold brew. I wanted to quit there and then.

Secondly, the store I worked at needed a remodel so so badly. It had ceiling tiles missing, our AC would break all the time, and the drain would constantly back up. When I, the ONLY one who spoke up at the store meetings with our district manager, asked about a remodel she said “Other stores would be grateful for what you have.” We were told we were on the list but low on the list for a remodel. Two store meetings later the district manager announces two new stores. So they can build new stores that no one asked for but can’t improve the already existing stores? Awesome!

Our ovens literally set the pastries on fire. Cookies would light on fire. Sandwiches won’t cook all the way through. They’re still waiting on new ovens. We finally got new espresso machines the beginning of this year. How does a billion dollar company not have the funds to outfit every store with quality equipment?

Thirdly, (and this has nothing to do with the company… although, they encourage this “customization” culture) the customers are 80% entitled assholes.
Even when I worked at Olive Garden, McDonald’s, Cheddars, etc. I never encountered some of these kinds of people. I got cursed out for being out of Sugar Free Vanilla. I got yelled at through the speaker box because I was out of caramel drizzle. I got complained about because this man was yelling at me about how he wanted his latte made & I corrected him for being an asshole (respectfully, with much effort). A man once asked me for exactly 16 ice cubes. I was making someone else’s drink with the standard scoop of ice and he threw a fit thinking it was his drink. I looked at him dead in the eye and said “This is not your drink.” His face turned red from embarrassment and he sat his ass down. People complained about their mobile orders never being ready when the truth is, everyone and their momma is sending their order in between 6 am and 10 am so you are gonna have a wait regardless, Karen. Don’t yell at me cause your 4 venti (large) overly sugared and complicated lattes aren’t ready. In truth we needed a third espresso machine, but we’re lucky to have what we did, remember? 📷

Fourth, the management. During the time I was there (11 months) there was two Store Managers. The manager that hired me left two months later. We were without a store manager until about february/march. The man that was a hired (a truly kind man) was an outside hire who was entirely new to Starbucks. He lasted 3 or 4 months I think, no offense to him. He did his best trying to make our store better and they ran him off. He left at the beginning of July. We were without a set store manager for the month of August and instead of us getting a new one they pinned our store onto another store manager! She doesn’t answer texts, you can only call her. When you did call her you got voicemailed. And if you or what you had to say wasn’t considered important? Good luck getting a response!

I asked to have a meeting with District Manager to discuss all of these issues above, and yet was met with contempt because I was “supposed” to reach out to the temporary Store Manager who had her own store to run and doesn’t answer calls. I never fully got to express any of this to anyone but other Baristas at work who were also fed up.

I am grateful for the wonderful people I met, but I implore you, if you’ve read this far, to go to a local coffee shop. The whole company needs to unionize. There is no reason our store should be as dilapidated as it is when we’re one of the top earning stores. SBUX CEO can get a billion dollar bonus, and we can’t get new machines.


There is way way more I could say, but I close with this:

Grateful to have learned what I did, met who I did. It was a complete learning experience. I’m just all in all disappointed. I wanted to work there since I was 16 years old. Sad that my expectations weren’t met by this Forbes listed company to work for. Sad that they run off everyone who actually cares and wants to make the stores a better place.