It's a lot to learn. I got hired early November and didn't feel comfortable until, well, actually today. And I still have questions, but everyone at my store is absolutely wonderful (besides management) and never makes me feel bad about questions on the fly.

Were they trained enough? Are they comfortable asking questions? Or is it just super obvious they don't want to be there?

we have about 2 deadweight partners and as a more tenured partner (almost 1.5 years) it’s extremely frustrating. for reference, both of these partners have been working at my store for 6+ months.

partner A is weird, creepy, plus he’s just bad at the job. he cannot properly take orders, and when he’s on bar he makes one drink at a time and he moves at a snail’s pace. on DT he’s typically very monotone and he comes across as very rude to the customers. my SM has had multiple talks with him about it but the behavior isn’t changing. he doesn’t ask the right questions (like about how many splendas someone wants in their pike, or if someone still wants whip on an oatmilk hot chocolate, etc) he’s also the kind of worker who doesn’t take initiative to do anything unless you ask him to. for example, if bar is a mess, trash is overflowing, and coffee needs brewing, he will stand still doing nothing unless you ask him to do one of those things.

partner B is a different situation. they’re a very nice person, and they’re always nice to customers. they told me a month or two ago that they were recently diagnosed with some form of a learning disorder, and that they have trouble remembering and processing instructions and steps in different processes. they’re pretty good on DT and cleaning and all that, but they can’t remember how to make any drinks on bar. i feel bad for mentally labeling them as a deadweight partner due to their diagnosis, but it’s true. they don’t know how to make lattes, frappes, refreshers, nothing. it’s not their fault, but it really makes them struggle on the job.

so overall, yes i totally understand your concerns and i think every store has at least one partner that kind of falls behind. it’s not always their fault, and they might be a nice person, but it is the way it is. not everyone is cut out for a job with as much info as starbucks.

-psa, i would like to add that partner A did not have a phone or a car at the time of him being hired. not to mention his attitude and the way he interacts with people and customers. me personally, i wouldn’t have hired him in the first place so i understand your concerns😭

Having these coworkers is why we know that people who believe in “unskilled labour” haven’t ever worked in the service industry 😅

We had a partner at my store that left maybe a year or year and a half ago. They only stayed with us for a total of 1 year or a teeny bit less than that. But they alwaaays rang things in wrong on the register. They also never showed the will to learn recipes and just stood there at register and didnt even kno how to do the whole coffee brewing thing. When he would get put on bar, he would have several unfinished drinks sitting around while he starts yet another new drink.

This all was like this throughout his entire time with us. Didnt show any signs of improvement. Always rang things up incorrectly and missed modifications or cup sizes or whether it was iced or hot but he also never asked questions either. He just didnt show the "want" to learning anything. We would have to remake many many drinks each time he was working. When he was on bar, he never moved with a sense of urgency and would pull a sticker and stare at it for a while. But he ended up leaving because he was joining the navy or one of the branches.

But he was very nice tho and talkative with customers on register and i think sometimes he put that over everything else such as making sure the orders were accurate to what the customer was ordering

I get more frustrated by long term partners who have been there for much longer than I have (I’m a 2.5 year partner) that still have no clue, I can forgive new partners. There was one partner who when they started seemed very useless for quite some time, but has grown to be one of my favorite partners to work with even if they still aren’t the most comfortable on bar. I do think there is always a place each partner can excel, it just gets hard to balance having someone always be on the position they do best when we often have to be very flexible and well rounded.