Yeah the new training literally pisses me off because we have to do the "people watch" thing now and it's just a waste of time in my opinion. I would rather have that 4 hours to spend on bar with my trainee so they feel more confident.

The best bet is to look up the drink recipes and resources and do some side training on your own. I've been a partner for 11 years now and the training has totally gone downhill in the last 8 years at least. Even with all this "craft training" they're starting to do (I'm in Canada and it was an extra 4 hours of training the company invested in in a closed store on a random weekday night) it's not enough. If you decide to stay, ask questions. Maybe find a staff member you trust and ask for a chat over coffee to help. The job isn't so bad with the right training and team but it's hard to get that these days. Best of luck!

Edit: I'm also in your age group (30) and when I came off maternity 2 years ago, I came back to a store that was 75% new minors and its wild trying to keep up with the kids around the store. That shit is hard feeling like the old person when you're not.

Tbh I’m thinking about quitting because I honestly don’t need the job especially going through hell for 15 hours a week lmfao

-.- imagine if uncle Howie or God forbid Laxman sits down with any of the unionized stores and just talk to them. This would be close to the top of their list. We don't need nonsensical training, we need practical. When I first became a shift in 2017, first month I didn't even have keys - two weeks opening shadowing the manager and two weeks closing shadowing the manager. That's how it should be, if not something very close. This job is so much more hands on than anyone realizes, plus most of it is learned on the job.

I'm 28 and started when I was 26! Honestly it's hard and it took me around 6 months to be fully confident about the job. Like completely 100% it was a "I didn't get it" until my brain clicked and I understood. On average it takes at least 4 months for people to be able to get the hang of things.

Look at recipes online, look at the cycles that go on in your store so you can prepare for rushes, when to prep things, and if your coworkers are cool, really communicate to them. Back when I was really bad at CS, for example, I found out that the reason was people are interrupting my cycle so I told them to give me a heads up on things earlier and that helped me out.

I'll be honest, the job is hell sometimes! But if you need it bad right now, def give it some time.

Update: I quit lol
15 hours a week wasn’t worth it to me

I'm 29 and one of the oldest at my store. Whenever my coworkers find out my age, they act like I'm geriatric 😂😂

I spent my first month and a half crying every shift outside. I still cry but it's much less often.

Starbucks training is awful. I had 20 hours of training. A co-worker who started a week after had 40 because they switched to a new model.


For bar, make a cheat sheet. $1 I understand it, others might not. I keep it in my apron pocket all the time. Writing everything down really,really helped.

Nitro • NI is no ice.

CB• V is cold brew vanilla syrup.

IC • Cl is iced coffee classic.

-1 CM is - 1 pump for caramel macchiato (because they get 1 less pump of syrup)

It has to be something you'll understand and something you can look at and quickly get the info you need.

Search Starbucks Chest Sheet on Google. You'll find a PDF from this subreddit with everything you'll need.

The only reason I'm still here is because my team is so wonderful and I genuinely enjoy working with all of them. I couldn't ask for a better environment but I know that isn't the case at all stores.

I’m 51 and I have been there 6 months. I know how you feel as everyone is 20 and my boss is 30. It’s confusing as hell and our store is super busy there isn’t time to sit around and practice. But it isn’t all bad. It took me a few months to finally feel confident enough to do everything - and I still make mistakes every shift! I do really like it though and the best part of my day is when I see customers I’ve gotten to know and chat with. My coworkers are great too and they understand that I can be a bit slow at times, but I keep going. That feeling in the beginning is so stressful and many times I thought of quitting too but I am glad I stuck it out.

I think the most important things you should consider is pay. Is this job necessary for bills and rent payment? If so, the pay is NOT anywhere close to a livable wage. One of my coworkers literally took all opening + closing shifts, almost all available work days and she’s still pretty much living paycheck to paycheck.

The job is stressful, overwhelming and panic inducing especially the first 2 months. Training was definitely inadequate but I realized I’m better off learning recipes online + asking a ton of questions on Reddit. But by the 3rd month I ended up getting into the rhythm of things and starting feeling somewhat efficient and capable at my stations.

I ended up silent quitting. I hated it too, I would dread going in. The hours weren’t enough for me either, I couldn’t understand how everyone there was okay with just 15 hours a week. I trained a different store then went to a new location. At both locations multiple partners would roll their eyes at me when I would ask questions. That was enough for me to quit, I can’t believe people don’t have patience for new employees. If the hours aren’t enough for you I would definitely leave.

I’m a barista trainer and SSV. For people watching day, I introduced my trainees to bar 😂 It was ridiculous and didn’t make sense. It’s really hard and I’m so sorry, but it just takes time for it to all click.

[deleted]

before you commit to the job and its hardships you should make sure you can pay the bills. if they refuse to up your hours, tell them you’re going to be putting your two weeks in and searching for a new job. as well, if you thrive with hands-on learning, insist on trying to do things yourself. they need to bend to your learning style; if they don’t, do not stay.

i fought pretty hard to not people watch and not get hands-on training. they didn’t like it but i became the fastest trainee they had lmfao. i’ve been a certified barista now for only a month and i can run the kiosk i’m in alone now, granted i work ~50hrs a week and have been forced to work alone and figure it out myself.

if you decide to continue with the job, study the recipe cards and try to get as much time on the position you feel the least comfortable with. be brutally honest with how much you want this job and how hard you’ll work to be good at it, and implement this into your shifts. ask lots of questions, own up when you mess something up. normal job things. also, the app is surprisingly cool; i only recently figured out the strawberry frapp gets classic BECAUSE of the app. its a lifesaver

good luck. it can be a hard job honestly, i sobbed for abt an hour after a customer got violent with me a week ago and i nearly quit. but you’ll get regulars who love you, coworkers who make it better.. you’ll figure it out(:

Yeah no wonder the decline in quality baristas has happened over the years smh.

If I still worked at a corporate store I’d be like “smd, I’m still training the way I do” bc these corporate fuckers don’t know shit about what it takes for us to make them their millions

lmaoo almost the same here for me. I started beginning of august and I’m already about to quit. I love my coworkers but I already hate the job and going in because I don’t have an incentive to even go in my opinion. I was told I’d be getting close to 32-36 hrs a week and I was so excited, and since I started I’ve consistently ONLY been getting 20 hrs a week, max 22. I literally cannot even survive off of that, I get about $250 every week. got another full time job somewhere else as an assistant manager making more and I’m leaving in about two weeks.

I’m a trainer n I don’t follow the training sheets. I teach them how I want and they learn more like that

That is how I felt for the first 1-2 months of my job as a S-Bucks Barista.

However—it does get better around month number 3.

I’m only just beginning to get past the stage of running into everyone and everything, now that I’ve been a partner for 5 months now. It takes time to learn the Paterns of movement in such a small space at such high-speeds.

To learn the coffees, it really helps to make flash-cards of drink recipes. My trainer gave me one at first.

I am also 29, and I know what you mean about the decline in health. I felt terrible for the first couple of months working here. The heavy-lifting hurt my back, my feet, knees, ankles, arms and back constantly hurt. Not a slight hurt: an “if-I-sit-down-I-can’t-get-up-again” kind of pain.
Eventually, I did a few things: 1, stretch before work and before bed 2, take my own lunches to work 3, don’t drink too much coffee 4, sleep the night before work 5, wear non-slip shoes with insoles made from the same kind of foam NASA uses to absorb impact on the ISS (can’t over-emphasize enough how important these insoles are. My pain went from a level 7-8, to a 1, just from the insoles!!!)

Regarding the people watching. As a Barista of 5 months, I REALLY wish that had been part of my training. When you watch the store, you learn the rythm of the job. You learn to see how the team works together. You can see what needs to be checked/stocked after a period of time. You can see what to watch-out for, and behavior to avoid.
You can learn literally so much from watching the team, and I really wish I could have done it. You can even learn speed/strategy tricks from other Baristas. I learned one today—how to crush empty milk-cartons with speed.

The stress-level goes down around month number 3, and then it becomes a more positive job.

Regarding the 15 hours per week, I was also super stressed about that at first. When I was hired on, I was told I’d get 35 hours, and only got 15, and I was confused and frightened, since I had moved right before then. My friend who had been a barista, explained that at the beginning, I would have less hours until I “got up to speed” as a barista. Basically, the sooner I got better at making coffee, the sooner I’d have more hours, which makes sense since it’s a skill-based job.
I just took an easy additional burner job for my evenings to tide me over financially until I qualified for more hours.

Basically— TLDR: if you can stick it out for 3 months, it will get better.

I’m not sure if this comment will get read but dude I WAS THERE RIGHT WITH YOU. after the first week of training, my first actual day I was crying in my car stressed out and wanted to quit and go home. i was even told training is supposed to be for 2wks!!!! how do you condense it into that little of a time and make it work?! I literally felt so anxious it was terrible. i made an entire cheat sheet though of what i needed to put into drinks, which helped so much. I started late july early sept, right now? i finally feel okay and I’m not anxious. only issue is so much negative talk, BUT OTHER THAN THAT, it’s been just fine! I can do cold bar just fine, and I know hot bar now but I’m just a lil bit on the slow side. there’s only a few of us in our 20s, one even has a kid, and the rest are all under 20 or are minors and off to college which kinda makes you feel a lil cruddy, but at the same time, the average pay you get can be compared to some jobs people get after college so that sorta helped my morale lol. point is, 6 months is when you finally start feeling like you know the job like the back of your hand. my manager even said she wasn’t even trained on hot bar for a whole year!! she was always so stressed and couldn’t figure out crap for the life of her, but now she’s a manager! I really recommend trying to stay with the job for about a month or two at LEAST, just to for sure say this isn’t for you. this is just my personal experience, and similar experiences from other partners i’ve heard from. you got this love!

The training just sucks, especially the new training apparently, I worked for Starbucks for almost three years and I was ready to quit like a day or two into my training. I did quit a few months ago so I would say this job isn’t worth it, but I def liked it more when I finished the training and got used to everything. There’s a huge learning curve with this job.

If you wanna quit quit there’s opportunities everywhere

what is people watching day?😭

Unfortunately even two years ago when I was a trainer I couldn’t give my green beans enough time on bar to make them feel ready. I tried as hard as I could. I RAN through other parts of training to give them max time on bar. Sbux just will not a lot enough training time to make people actually prepared for the job and it contributes to high turn over.

I got 3 days of training and the rest I had to learn on my own 🥲 their training is shit

for bar i write this on my hand:


hot/iced drinks shots then pumps
just remember the exceptions (caramel macc. gets 1 less, etc)

Hey girlie I’m 16 and at my old job it was really the same way all the kids were older and I expect if I get hired all the kids are going to be older. Honestly, I quit because if you can’t be comfortable in your own job that I don’t think it’s worth it to stay. Although Starbucks is easily the hardest fast food job and I hear can take months for people to even master the basics but I also need the money to girl so I think we can both get through it but hey if it’s too stressful job is never more important than your mental health.! McDonald’s usually has a lot younger kids to becoming a manager or Shift lead would probably be super easy! I was a fake barista there and took orders and it was honestly the easiest job I’ve ever had in my life!! best of luck in your career search

Update: I feel terrible and all of my coworkers are so nice and calling me to see if they could change my mind 😭😭

Chiming in even though OP said they quit.

Couple of things... First, if you've been employed for only a couple of weeks maximum, don't expect full time. I don't know why that's something people need to hear, but honestly, don't expect hours until you're more useful on the floor. If you aren't getting trained, or you're being trained incorrectly you need to talk to your store's manager, not a shift or an ASM, the legit manager. If they don't do anything about it go higher, talk to the District manager and let them know you're not being trained.

Second, Starbucks is extremely fast paced at times, I'll tell you exactly what I told several other Ex-Baristas. If you're crying because of work stress at Starbucks, you need to get out, run, do no look back, just go. It doesn't really get better, things will weigh on you and it just won't feel like a "home".

Third, most drinks in the same category (lattes with lattes, teas with teas and whatnot) have an extremely similar recipe system. Once you learn one and get it good and down you're practically set to make any variant of it, just changing a few things here and there.

Fourth, you're gonna bump into people, you're gonna drop shit constantly, you're gonna feel like you're the weirdo that every barista is looking at and judging. They are, depends on your store whether they're judging with negative intent or to try and find ways to help you. Either way, it takes time to learn the cadence of movement in Starbucks, because unlike a lot of other fast food places Starbucks is a little more mobile for the people making the stuff.

Fifth, take advantage of every benefit Starbucks offers. I know when I was there you got free Spotify and I think it was six free sessions with a therapist, as well as a mobile app for mental health. Doesn't do much but it helps.

And lastly, if you want hours become friends with whoever makes schedules. If it's your Store Manager, brown nose, ASM, brown nose. Get that bread. There are a finite number of hours and a ton of baristas. Give them a reason to schedule you by convincing them to yourself.

i’m sorry. :( if you can find another job, i would start looking now. i’ve been here almost a year, i started here because i wasn’t getting enough hours at my first job…i can’t even afford my rent and bills with the two jobs. i make almost $15/hr at both. i have to fight my manager to get more than 20 hours a week. your experience at starbucks highly depends on management, but if you’re already feeling this way, i doubt it will get much better.

i’m sorry you’re going through this. i hope it gets better soon 🫶