Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
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Starbucks needs to stop running this place like a damn zoo. (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by Used_Entrepreneur550
I feel like I complain a lot, but Starbucks has gotten out of hand.
Mobiles are insane. Modifications are insane. Everything is. What even is Starbucks anymore?
Mobiles are insane. Modifications are insane. Everything is. What even is Starbucks anymore?
MarieCrepes 114 points 8m ago
Our RM came in recently and was a completely pompous ass. My SM reminded him we desperately need the Mastrena II's as we are the busiest store in the state and he was so dismissive about it that my DM actually made him apologize to my SM about it. He took it as "If we get the Mastrena II's, we can increase sales" where as in reality my SM's plea was "If we get the Mastrena II's, my baristas won't suffer as much." He came over to me and complimented me on bar, and I told him I still had a long way to go as I'd only returned to Starbucks a month prior. He made some offhand comment to me that he didn't think he'd made a drink in over 10 years. These people higher than us in the company don't even have the capacity to understand our problems becacuse they don't experience them. Howie is still living in the 90's and delusionally thinks Starbucks is progressive and has competitive wages. Unfortunately they will never hire a CEO that understands what it's like to be a Starbucks barista at your average store, and because of that I doubt it will ever be fixed.
MarieCrepes 77 points 8m ago
Mobiles at my store often surpass over a hundred an hour, which is physically impossible to complete. It causes such a strain on us. But all Starbs can see is the $$$ instead of the 50 plus angry customers waiting in the lobby, so they don't give a shit.
coffee-and-chillll 35 points 8m ago
This is so damn accurate. I quit recently, but as you said they’ll never acknowledge the lobbies filled with angry customers that’s become the norm, which happens in the first place because this company sets incredibly unrealistic expectations for us to uphold, and therefore sets unrealistic expectations for customers and the experience.
During one of my last shifts a customer started cussing over a frapp, that’s when I knew for myself that I wasn’t making a mistake in quitting. This company has long been setting us up for failure and I simply couldn’t tolerate it anymore. With a drive thru, mobiles, delivery, and cafe, OP is so right - Starbucks has become a damn zoo and it’s so out of hand. As you said, anyone with any decision making power is stuck in the 90s and wants us to think we’re lucky to work here. Sorry but the chest and neck pain directly caused by the stress of this job didn’t make me feel lucky :/
During one of my last shifts a customer started cussing over a frapp, that’s when I knew for myself that I wasn’t making a mistake in quitting. This company has long been setting us up for failure and I simply couldn’t tolerate it anymore. With a drive thru, mobiles, delivery, and cafe, OP is so right - Starbucks has become a damn zoo and it’s so out of hand. As you said, anyone with any decision making power is stuck in the 90s and wants us to think we’re lucky to work here. Sorry but the chest and neck pain directly caused by the stress of this job didn’t make me feel lucky :/
Longjumping_Stick_56 8 points 8m ago
my store too
Lightheaded_gamer 88 points 8m ago
This maybe a bit off topic but it goes with OP’s main point.
Who here applied for Starbucks thinking it would be a safe and steady environment to either work while you pursue your education OR a place to build your career in?
Because when I hustled to get a position in Starbucks, it was still prior mobile order rush and it genuinely felt like an actual cafe at the time; sadly not anymore.
Who else feels this?
Who here applied for Starbucks thinking it would be a safe and steady environment to either work while you pursue your education OR a place to build your career in?
Because when I hustled to get a position in Starbucks, it was still prior mobile order rush and it genuinely felt like an actual cafe at the time; sadly not anymore.
Who else feels this?
coffee-and-chillll 25 points 8m ago
I feel this soooo much. I started years ago but after mobile ordering started, but even then it felt like an actual coffee shop and cafe environment. Once I went to a drive thru store…lol any feeling of a coffee shop was destroyed.
I don’t even think it’s only drive thru stores now that feel this way, I think because of the company’s unrealistic and ridiculous expectations it’s a company wide atmosphere of chaos, fast food, and misery. It’s kinda sad to me, I really enjoyed this job back when it felt more like a coffee shop. I miss the good times, but that’s not the reality of this job today at least in my experience. They’re all about profit, unrealistic demands and everything being quick, skeleton labor, at the cost of quality and actually getting to interact with customers authentically.
I don’t even think it’s only drive thru stores now that feel this way, I think because of the company’s unrealistic and ridiculous expectations it’s a company wide atmosphere of chaos, fast food, and misery. It’s kinda sad to me, I really enjoyed this job back when it felt more like a coffee shop. I miss the good times, but that’s not the reality of this job today at least in my experience. They’re all about profit, unrealistic demands and everything being quick, skeleton labor, at the cost of quality and actually getting to interact with customers authentically.
Lightheaded_gamer 7 points 8m ago
It’s a sad reality for the company. I wished I could say majority of the parts I working for Starbucks was great but I’d be lying. I only liked my coworkers , all of my ssvs and maybe like 2 SMs. 🙃
Everything else since day one was pushing this corporate expectation while trying to make a “connection” with customers who 99% of the time don’t really want to connect back. Starbucks have grown to big and too greedy that the down to earth , local coffee shop atmosphere is no longer there.
Everything else since day one was pushing this corporate expectation while trying to make a “connection” with customers who 99% of the time don’t really want to connect back. Starbucks have grown to big and too greedy that the down to earth , local coffee shop atmosphere is no longer there.
nicolelynnejones 14 points 8m ago
I’d also like to add that the Starbucks model is affecting local cafes too. People are demanding they create drinks which don’t exist outside of Starbucks, and having the balls to demand insane customizations (which again, doesn’t really exist outside of Starbucks), and want the baristas to work at an insanely fast pace because that’s what they’re used to. A local cafe opened a few years back (one where they grind and pull their own espresso, properly froth the milk, focus on quality over quantity) and people would line up by the hundreds and wonder why their drinks were taking more than a few minutes. Going to a cafe that I used to find relaxing and cozy has turned into a bunch of people ordering iced caramel macchiatos and standing by the hand off impatiently. Just sit and relax and enjoy the coffee! Cafes are not fast food restaurants.
coffee-and-chillll 2 points 8m ago
I hate to hear this :/ Hopefully Starbucks doesn’t severely negatively affect local cafes, but I can totally imagine the impatience and entitlement that Starbucks breeds into their customer base affecting all coffee shops/cafes. Tbh I think Starbucks has turned coffee into a fast food thing, which is a real shame. Hopefully there’s still people out there like us that can appreciate and enjoy the simplicity and peace of local cafes.
I absolutely love going to local cafes, ordering something simple, giving the proper time it takes for the drink to be made as I couldn’t care less how much time it takes to get made, and enjoying the serene, calm atmosphere without a damn drive thru, blaring music, the loud noise of constant blenders, the nonstop ringing of ovens, employees having to rush at an insanely fast pace, and entitled customers throwing fits over their orders who don’t even stop to just enjoy a moment.
I swear, the longer I sit in an Sbux now the more it sounds like a McDonald’s with all the various noises, sadly. Cafe only Starbucks are a bit better, but it’s just so far away from a coffee shop now. Here’s to enjoying our local cafes :)
I absolutely love going to local cafes, ordering something simple, giving the proper time it takes for the drink to be made as I couldn’t care less how much time it takes to get made, and enjoying the serene, calm atmosphere without a damn drive thru, blaring music, the loud noise of constant blenders, the nonstop ringing of ovens, employees having to rush at an insanely fast pace, and entitled customers throwing fits over their orders who don’t even stop to just enjoy a moment.
I swear, the longer I sit in an Sbux now the more it sounds like a McDonald’s with all the various noises, sadly. Cafe only Starbucks are a bit better, but it’s just so far away from a coffee shop now. Here’s to enjoying our local cafes :)
coffee-and-chillll 2 points 8m ago
Couldn’t agree more, all of this was spot on. All the best to you ✨
Lightheaded_gamer 2 points 8m ago
Thank you and same!✨
Used_Entrepreneur550 [OP] 13 points 8m ago
I remember back in the early 2010s when I was a young child I’d go to a Border’s bookstore that had a Starbucks in it. No mobile orders. Really quiet and real cafe-like environment. Now it’s been ruined by overly sugary drinks and mobile orders.
Lightheaded_gamer 18 points 8m ago
At around 2015 (this was two years before I started working for Starbucks) My first few drinks I used to get from both B&N Starbucks and corporate Starbucks were teas and tea lattes ; way before I got into coffee.
Starbucks cafes seemed so sophisticated compared to how it is today. Back then, there were never moments of lobbies filled with angry people, never a moment of customers yelling at baristas, nor there’s ever been a moment where people trashed the bathrooms. Starbucks was a cafe where you study, do paper work, have meetings ,or at most just eat and have a caffeine boost.
If you put Starbucks 2010s next to Starbucks 2020s as a visual comparison; it’s two companies at this point
.
Starbucks cafes seemed so sophisticated compared to how it is today. Back then, there were never moments of lobbies filled with angry people, never a moment of customers yelling at baristas, nor there’s ever been a moment where people trashed the bathrooms. Starbucks was a cafe where you study, do paper work, have meetings ,or at most just eat and have a caffeine boost.
If you put Starbucks 2010s next to Starbucks 2020s as a visual comparison; it’s two companies at this point
.
th3_thing 5 points 8m ago
This makes me so angry I want to cry. I was never a Starbucks or Cafe person in general until I started working for the siren but the way everyone talks about it makes me really want to experience it not only as a worker but as a customer. I've been working here a damn year and a half and I'm getting less and less patient as we enter the holiday season with even more stupid people who mobile order $40+ of crap before pulling in drive thru and get pissed when it isn't ready
Lightheaded_gamer 3 points 8m ago
Sending you virtual hugs cuz I feel that 🥹
daisiesanddaffodils 4 points 8m ago
Tbh I feel like this is why ex-partners have been having trouble getting re-hired. Maybe it's just me, but every ex-partner I've spoken to about it has mentioned trying to get their job with the siren back and not even getting a follow up call. I think they know their entire mission has changed and they don't want to bring back people who liked the way things used to be done/might try to keep doing things the old way.
coffee-and-chillll 7 points 8m ago
Can confirm this. It took me 4 months to get rehired, and the moment my first shift started I knew I’d made a major mistake. Idk if they even have a mission anymore beyond making as much money as possible. It felt sickening to be there and didn’t even compare to my first experience working for the company, I felt like I had no choice but to quit and it was a major relief once I did.
daisiesanddaffodils 6 points 8m ago
I don't blame you at all, I can believe that 💯 when I lost my office job I used my Starbucks experience to get a job at an actual local Cafe that's everything I loved about working at sbux originally and none of the corporate overmanagement
coffee-and-chillll 1 points 8m ago
Hell yeah, I’m happy to hear you got to use your Sbux experience to get a job at a local cafe. It sounds like working there is everything we were all hoping for in working at Sbux, I think most of us didn’t realize it’s become fast food with zero concern about quality from the higher ups.
My first store was a small, quaint Sbux and I absolutely loved it, but that was years ago and the company has lost any feeling of a coffee shop/relaxed cafe environment. Happy to hear you get to experience at your local cafe job what we all hoped for at Sbux but is no longer what the company is now. Cheers to you friend 💫
My first store was a small, quaint Sbux and I absolutely loved it, but that was years ago and the company has lost any feeling of a coffee shop/relaxed cafe environment. Happy to hear you get to experience at your local cafe job what we all hoped for at Sbux but is no longer what the company is now. Cheers to you friend 💫
Lightheaded_gamer 3 points 8m ago
Legit Starbucks has changed so much that for anyone who wants to return, it's highly recommended not to if you have not worked there in years. I wouldn't want anyone's last impression of the Starbucks THEY worked for to be destroyed but whatever it is today.
coffee-and-chillll 3 points 8m ago
Wish I could’ve read this before I was rehired lol. My last impression of Starbucks will definitely be the sh**show it was when I was rehired, but it’s okay because it’ll always serve as a reminder to me of why I no longer work there. Years ago it was an awesome job to me, now…idk wtf it is today.
OneRoseDark 27 points 8m ago
fast food.
olivinemultichrome 18 points 8m ago
It’s a glorified ice cream and bubble(less) tea place, obviously
Traditional-Emu-1403 3 points 8m ago
It’s a juice and milkshake shop for annoying children and adults who don’t even like coffee.
coffee-and-chillll 1 points 8m ago
100% accurate. Starbucks is so damn far from coffee now, and I’m sure they love that because more $$$. Before I quit, customers that would simply order a caramel macchiato or a latte just as that, with at most 2 modifications and no cold foam or vanilla sweet cream, were now abnormal. The normal now seems to be paragraph-type orders with 6-8 modifications.
It’s like the company thrives off of the endless modifications and the wild concoctions customers make that are so far off the standard build of the drink that it becomes a completely different drink, and that all adds more labor for us but they keep those labor cuts going so it’s more work on employees :/
Also gotta love when customers add their 5 modifications and then comment about how expensive their total is…it’s like dude you got yourself to this total lol
It’s like the company thrives off of the endless modifications and the wild concoctions customers make that are so far off the standard build of the drink that it becomes a completely different drink, and that all adds more labor for us but they keep those labor cuts going so it’s more work on employees :/
Also gotta love when customers add their 5 modifications and then comment about how expensive their total is…it’s like dude you got yourself to this total lol
Theotar 2 points 8m ago
Man I remember the good times when the most common drink was a simple vanilla latte. We even had a button for it. We had more staffing, drive throughs where rare stores, everything felt like it was in control. Miss how much time we spent really teaching new barista‘s. Really felt like you where joining a group of friends rather then getting new staff every three months.
Terry_Jean 1 points 8m ago
There literally needs to be a Mobile Bar separate from drive or cafe.
sam_thegod -8 points 8m ago
Stop complaining and just do your job lmao
MarieCrepes 4 points 8m ago
Why are you on this sub if this is your mindset?
Used_Entrepreneur550 [OP] 1 points 8m ago
Doesn’t mean Starbucks should push unrealistic expectations and make their workers suffer. You try work here.🙃
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