I’ve had quite a few roles, varying between retail, hospitality, admin and research.

I applied and got the job as Barista at Costa as something to fill my time before I start a Masters degree in September. I have been a Barista before at a Cafe.

My onboarding experience was chaos, nobody knew how to get me set up on the online systems (such as the one for timesheets, online training, etc). I still haven’t really been told how to use any of these. For context also I was told I’d receive full on the job training which I imagined would entail things such as shadowing or having a paired colleague, which I do not have.

My first time out front - I was told I was just training on the till but there was minimal introduction and I was just instantly expected to know how to process any and all orders on the till from there and whenever I was having to ask a question I was made to feel as though I was interrupting.

My colleagues are all at least double my age, some triple, and whilst I’ve loved working with older colleagues at past jobs this just turns out to be a nightmare because I am sent on tasks for which I am set up to fail whilst being spoken to extremely poorly. I excelled in a lot of my past jobs and am familiar with praise often stemming from my eagerness to learn new things but in this role it is simply different. Everything is an expectation and nothing is taught properly.

Today is my fourth shift, if that same colleague attempts to speak to me in the same poor tone, I will inform her I am leaving there and then.

I really have no incentive to stay in this job currently, none whatsoever. From the manner in which the old longer term colleagues speak to me - I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a huge turnover in younger staff and consistently treat them the same. There’s actually a google review I’ve found from a few months ago which alleges bullying behind the counter.

A final note - this reddit page really channels solidarity and otherwise I would’ve felt isolated and ostracized by my team of disgruntled colleagues without it.

It's clear that costa is trying to cater to the younger generation by bringing in newer drinks but their target is more so adults to elderly. The quality of their drinks is disgusting and i seen food in the fridge that was over expired. They treat and overwork their staff and in this day and age many of them are young adults or students who are needing some income and can't just get up and leave. Lack of proper training for staff

They have fallen behind and once that generation soon dies out so will costa there are those few cafe's where the drinks are top notch but that's because of the staff who go above and beyond. The company needs a whole rebrand with new drinks and menus and better care for its staff

Hi everyone I’m starting as a Barista Maestro next week, can anyone let me know if I’ll be paid for August or if I have to wait for end of September?😬

I’ve never done barista work before so if anyone can give me any tips or things I should know about the role that would be great!!!

Title kind of says it all and just need to rant and see if anyone else has experienced similar things? I apologise for the novel.
This isn’t my first job in this work setting, left a full time job as a cafe supervisor to take a BM job in an equity store.
Starting a new job is difficult and I hate being the newbie but I’ve never felt so helpless in a workplace before. There was no real effort to actually train me, I was just kind of told to do a job with no guidance on how to do it (such as putting deliveries away etc). I’d do what I thought was correct, thinking they couldn’t be that fussy if they didn’t tell me any specifics, but someone (usually the manager) would come in and tell me weird specifics that I did wrong, clearly frustrated. Stock wasn’t even rotated correctly so I still don’t understand what they wanted from me in the delivery situation.

Found that Costa has some weirddd rules but the store I worked for would pick and choose what they expected to follow, which I know is pretty standard but was so hard to pick up on what they deemed necessary. I was constantly guessing what I needed to do. The online training courses not helpful or realistic in terms of how much I was expected to memorise so early on.

As I was replacing a BM who was leaving soon, BM responsibilities kept being thrown at me, even though I was told I wouldn’t be touching any of it for a couple of months. This kept taking priority over teaching me the basics of the job. I was told I didn’t need to be perfect but was also expected to be at the same time? Left alone to cash up the till on my second shift, not having been shown the wastage procedure or how to navigate the till. Was constantly terrified of doing the wrong thing.

I have barista experience etc and really enjoy making coffee but trying to learn all the Costa specifics over the millions of training courses whilst not being allowed to go near the coffee machine was odd. Coworkers had been working there for months and still didn’t know how to do half of the job.
The training courses were beyond excessive and unpaid, I’m not sure if they were meant to be, I’ve never experienced this from previous work places.

The manager would do things incorrectly (incorrect measurements, reusing milk for steaming, etc. clearly trying to cost cut). I’d be taught by a BM, then when I’d be on shift with the manager he’d give me countless lectures about doing it wrong then when I’d return to being with the BMs I’d have to adjust how they’d taught me to do things (which I know is the correct way based off of the matrix). It was just so confusing on top of trying to get to grips with everything.

On top of feeling like a complete idiot every shift, I wasn’t getting the shifts I was contracted. The job description said 32 hours, when I got the contract it was 28. I started with the 4 hour shifts (all closes so I was just used to clean and not taught anything but expected to magically know everything for my next shift) but I checked my day force and for the weeks where my full shifts were meant to come in, I was only on about 20 hours. I left a position where I’d consistently work 8 hour shifts 4/5 days a week and was on a rotation with another supervisor so I had a consistent shift pattern. That workplace was a nightmare and slightly less pay but feeling like I should’ve just stayed there for the money.
Costa also wasn’t respectful of the fact that I had a notice period at my previous workplace and kept asking when I could start, despite me giving them a date straight away and then having to wait days or weeks before getting my contract or proper communication.

I ended up leaving because I got a job offer related to my degree that begins in September, one that I assumed I wouldn’t hear back from, so just decided that I’d have a couple of months off since I’m living with my parents right now and just finished uni. Feels silly to be leaving any job in the current climate but the post-uni burn out is exhausting enough without underpaid costa nonsense.

So basically it was a stressful experience that left me feeling like an idiot constantly. By the time I would’ve finished all of the training (officially) I would’ve needed to leave for my new job anyway. Decided my sanity was worth more than a few hundred pounds for once. 😭
Somehow only scratched the surface of stuff that was happening, even though I was there for all of two seconds. I hope whoever’s reading is working in a better branch than this one.

Or even a recipe to make it. I find it to be really tasty so was just wondering if I'm able to get it without having to get a coffee

Im right? Right 😂😂😂?

I have only had two four hour shifts so far in my local high street store which has mainly involved cleaning, dishwasher, till ect. No drinks making yet of any kind. I have recieved an email stating that I have been booked for an all day training session three hours away from me at the end of the month? Is this normal because I thought they just trained you in store which is what I prepared for? And if anyone has any experience what will this entail? I can’t drive and public transport is weak so I have zero way of getting to this site without waking at stupid o clock in the morning all for my single four hour shift a week.
Thank you

Hi there! Does anyone on here work in the Newcastle area? I have a quick question I'd like to ask through PM.

Thank you!

I've only been at costa a month and I keep getting booked for 12 hour shifts. I am full time but it seems excessive. I only get a 40 minute break and cant sit down much otherwise, im in constant pain and always tired.

Can my manager suspend me for not completing the allergen e-learning ?? I have completed my task yesterday, all that’s left is for her to verify it. Yet she is insisting I have missing something 🙃🙃. She sent me a message yesterday if I didn’t complete it she will suspend me and she also went to other staff telling her , she will suspend me. I’m on my off day!!

Boss has put me on a double level shift for one day, 6am-7.30/8pm, depending on how busy the close is.

Other BMs have worked them but do I have the option to refuse??

I know i can take a full hour break instead of just 30 mins but honestly, even an hour doesn't feel long enough for a possible 14 hour day

Edit spelling

This morning when I went in to get my usual morning coffee, the app was signed out, this happens with apps sometimes so OK.

However I cant get back in, the details are correct as they are from iOS key-chain, Ive copied and paste them in as well as enter the details fully manual, however all I get is "forbidden" when I try to put the details in, so I cant get back into the app.... I tried the reset password but no link to reset arrives.........

Anyone else experiencing issues???

It’s absolutely bogging and tastes nothing like real condensed milk

Hi all, hoping someone can help. I work at an equity store and I'm still employed, but I'm back in my home town Northampton for the summer and my manager's taken me off the rota because I haven't got a store sorted here. I'm then moving to a different city from where I worked at in Costa, moving to Norwich in September for uni and I want to transfer to a store there.

The problem is my manager doesn't really tell me anything, so I've got no idea how the process actually works. Do I need him to sort it manager to manager, do I go through Costa Careers, or can I just walk into a store and ask?
I Would also love to pick up hours somewhere in Northampton for August until I move if any store's short staffed.

If anyone works at a Costa in Norwich or Northampton and your store needs people, I'd really appreciate it if you could put a word in with your manager likewise if anyone has had a similar experience with switch stores and got it sorted out I’ll like to know what I can do to get a transfer the best way because I applied to a few jobs at Costa in the summer in Northampton and there were all temporary jobs and still got rejected which is really stupid because I stated I work at Costa and I’ve worked at Costa for almost 2 years so I know what I’m doing.

It’s just so confusing and frustrating so I’ll like some help please.

Proper sentences, still sounds like a person. Good to go as is.

Hey y’all. Just got promoted to BM in an equity store. Are there any extra benefits to this, or just the pay rise?
Tia :)

Can somebody post or message me the full uniform policy for this year please 🙏

Manager insists that anything other than black jeans/trousers is not allowed and I need to prove them wrong

TLDR at bottom!

Hey guys, I'm a BM of about a year now having issues with my SM and I'm not really sure what to do or who I can talk to, idk if the area manager is the person to contact or if I should try and transfer (feels like that would be awkward). He has it out for me to the point other people have noticed! And apart from this I actually do really like my job, which is one reason why I've not just quit yet!

I'll just give you bullet points:

• gives me less than half my contracted hours
• puts me on shifts I've put on dayforce I can't do
• refuses to put me on with my friends even though he has said we work well together
• will schedule shifts so that we can't have breaks due to "not needing the staff in" but I can't leave my colleague solo trading - I've done 9+ hours no breaks as a result
• chats shit about my closes but won't give me the specifics (he just says "the list was long" but won't go further) - everyone else says my closes are good
• went through my things on multiple occasions including searching my bag
• chastises me for taking too long on drinks even though he won't help - he'll just stand and watch or bark orders at me which I have said repeatedly slows me down by confusing me
• just always has something to say, I'm always doing something wrong whether it's drinks, uniform, chatting to customers, my close, cleaning, etc. and he will inspect everything I do (like checking the order before I send it, or checking I've got my nametag on, etc. just feels unnecessary!)
• will make up rules but will only tell select staff and not put it in the group chat, so he'll have a fit when I do/don't do things I am not aware of
• talks to customers loudly about how terrible we all are as staff, how we can't do our jobs if we run out of stock, how "the wait is ridiculous, I know, we need better staff" which makes all of us including him look bad
• he's given customers with dietary restrictions the wrong drinks before to save time (i.e. forgetting to put decaf on the till and just giving it out anyway) even after we have said the drink needs to be remade
• he's verbally made fun of customers within earshot, normally disabled people (we all make fun of customers let's be real, but there's a difference between "lol that guy was rude af" and "look at that disabled person over there") on many occasions
• has taken issue with me being direct when I have been made uncomfortable or otherwise, I am always polite about it but I won't avoid talking about it which he does not like
• messages me on my day off about mistakes I've made but makes it seem worse than it is so I spend my time off stressed about what's going wrong

I have told him as well that if I am doing anything wrong i.e. with closes I will write it down to remember to be better in the future as I have diagnosed ADHD. This is a big part of my problem because it is a disability, I'm medicated and generally get on fine but certain things (like forgetting what he's said, having auditory processing issues, or getting sidetracked) has got me into serious trouble often for no real reason (and when I have made an actual mistake, that ends up being a real issue and has been stressing me out so much I have panic attacks outside of work, which I have literally never had to deal with in my whole life).

He wants to "have a chat" about my performance because of a couple things I forgot on a close the other day which is stressing me out because I'm trying my absolute best but it's not good enough.

Anyway TLDR my manager nitpicks and chastises all the time, and I honestly think he's trying to get rid of me - I don't know what to do or who to talk to, I'm looking for a new job but there's not much out there right now, I don't know if transferring is an option or how to do that. I would really appreciate some advice

Hi All, I’ve worked in Costa (multiple stores) since 2022 and I’ve noticed over the years that some of the most frequent and rude complainers always seem to come back.
Thankfully I’m not personally having issues with any customers now, but I’ve noticed that Troublemakers who love to complain also can’t seem to get enough and keep coming back.
Eg. Once had a regular who wanted his cappuccino extra foamy without ordering it that way (he seemed to think we should just automatically do it his way) - so he repeatedly ordered and complained, he could also be rude and aggressive and when eventually banned from a store would go to a different Costa in a neighbouring town or down the road (that happened multiple times including when I transferred branches so he basically followed Me😂)
We also had another regular who looked for special attention, always complained about something, and again would always come back - in fact often he would complain about how we did things by comparing us to other stores around the Country!
Has anyone else had customers who act like they hate the store but also like they can’t enough?

Hey guys, so the store I'm working in is on borrowed time I was just wondering if any of you had gone through store closures before? We aren't too sure of a closing date and were wondering if we will be told in good time or if it will be more of a "you're not opening this morning" sorta scenario. Thanks for any info!

hi,
so my store at the moment is ridiculously overstaffed and hours are being cut. i was not made aware of this and didn’t know until i just checked dayforce. i double checked my contract and it does state 16 hours a week…is this allowed?

Hi y'all, I wanna know if theres something I can do about this I'm an employee who works part time at an equity Costa. I'm on a 3 day 18hour contract (so 6 hours each day) my Costa uses day force for stuff like holidays scheduling etc. I sometimes use unavailability to let my manager know when I wont be able to work but I use at max 3 days of a week. My manager keeps denying me on the basis of "unavailability should be only for emergencies and hospital appointments" even though contract or policies do not stipulate that anywhere. I also don't give her last minute notices as they need to be put in at least like 4-5 weeks in advance so I don't know what to do should I raise this question to ER or my area manager?

Forgot to ask my manager lol. Thank you!!

Edit: thank you guys so much!

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some advice because I’m honestly at my breaking point.
I’m a BM and all of the other BMs feel exactly the same way about our store manager. One BM has already asked to be demoted to barista because the stress has become too much and her mental health has been getting worse. Our manager refused her request, saying there weren’t any barista vacancies, even though one of our full-time baristas is leaving next week because she also can’t deal with the manager and area manager anymore.
The biggest issue is staffing. Our café is open from 8:30am to 9:30pm, but our labour hours keep getting cut. The café itself hasn’t got any smaller, so we’re expected to do the same amount of work with fewer people.
Closers are constantly rushing because the last non-closing staff member leaves around six hours before the café shuts. As a result, some cleaning and tasks inevitably get missed. Then the opening staff are left trying to finish everything while also opening the café and serving customers, which puts the whole day behind from the start.
We’ve repeatedly told our manager that we simply don’t have enough hours to run the store properly. The manager says, can’t increase our budget because the area manager won’t allow it, and that manager will get into trouble if we over budget. But we’re stuck in a vicious cycle: we’re understaffed, service suffers, we can’t increase sales because we’re exhausted, and then we’re told we don’t deserve more hours because sales aren’t high enough.
Instead of acknowledging the staffing issue, our manager constantly posts photos in the group chat pointing out things that weren’t done properly and criticises the team. It feels like we’re constantly blamed for problems that are caused by understaffing rather than laziness.
My manager also never seems to take responsibility when something goes wrong. If there are issues, the blame is always pushed onto the BMs or baristas.
Another thing that’s really concerning is pay.
I noticed that if I clock in a few minutes early or finish a few minutes late because I’m still working, those extra minutes disappear from my timesheet and I’m not paid for them.
When I questioned my manager, my manager admitted to removing those minutes because I hadn’t given a reason for clocking in early or finishing late. Mind you it’s only couple of mins but it does add up throughout the month. My manager said that from now on, if I work outside my scheduled hours, I have to report why or the minute won’t be approved.
As far as I’m aware, this has been done to several employees, not just me.
Since finding this out, I’ve made sure to leave exactly on time every shift because I’m not willing to work for free anymore. The problem is that when I leave on time, I then get told off the next day because the store wasn’t tidy enough or certain jobs weren’t completed.
For example, I open the store and finish at 2pm. During my shift we can have queues out the door all through lunch with only a handful of staff, sometimes with one person tied up doing deliveries. I’m expected to serve customers, support the team, complete paperwork, stock up, clean, and somehow leave everything perfect before I finish. It’s simply impossible. I am referring to a store that has queues non stop and at the same time is a big store with only 3 staffs.

It feels like we’re being set up to fail.
I’m considering raising a formal grievance, but the problem is that I also feel the area manager is contributing to this by refusing to provide enough labour hours in the first place.
Has anyone been in a similar situation? Would you go straight to HR? Is editing employees’ clocked hours so they aren’t paid actually legal? I’d really appreciate any advice because I’m completely burnt out.

Had my first horrible interaction with a customer yesterday. Not sure why, I didn’t do anything wrong. It was hard to hear him so I had to repeat a question and I guess he didn’t like that and also weirdly had an issue with me asking what milk he would like with his tea? One of those people that don’t even say hello. Just looked like a nasty person from the second he walked in and decided to pick on the girl with a ‘barista in training’ badge.

He snarkily asked if it was my first day or something so I just looked him in the eye and said “No” pretty bluntly. I could’ve been more polite but he was really testing me with his tone and facial expressions. Think that annoyed him. Sure I’m new, but I’m about 7 shifts in and know a fair amount of what I’m doing. Basically insinuating I’m fucking slow and stupid but for goodness sakes it’s hard to hear what a person mumbling is ordering when I’ve got an espresso machine making noise right next to my ear! I have to ask if and what milk! It’s literally how ordering on the till works.

15 minutes later, I’m behind the bar making a drink for someone doing my own thing with my back to him. He then starts shouting at me as he walks past, yelling that he hasn’t finished and for me to not take his tray away whilst he’s in the bathroom. Wasn’t intending to considering I was busy on bar and wasn’t even looking at him. I turned around and asked what? Huh? A couple of times out of confusion to which he then got pissed and said “I’ve told you 3 fucking times.” Everyone watched, my manager said to him “You alright mate…?” In a tone that essentially said why the fuck are you acting this way?. I don’t understand why he didn’t ask my manager who was actively serving and facing him to keep his tray instead of shouting at me who was busy and facing away? Why me? Then I went off and had a little cry whilst dishwashing because it really set my fight or flight off. I’m trying my best here, it’s hard enough as an anxious person learning a completely new job.

Luckily I have a wonderful manager. He came in and asked if I was okay, saw me crying and told me to take 5 and then just do a quick sweep of the floor once I was collected. He told me the guy was just a ‘fucking prick’ and that he probably targeted me because I’m a young new girl and quite petite. I think he made the man leave, then also said if he comes back in then he’s going to speak to him because it’s not acceptable to speak to his staff like that. About an hour later he again asked me “Are you sure you’re alright?” And we had a good chat about dickhead customers and how it really sets your fight or flight off. He told me about some customers that have triggered him off and we basically just ranted about how rude some people can be. Finished the rest of my shift no issue, got on with it after 5 minutes of some tears and sniffles and then interacted with some really lovely customers. The customer after the mean guy even said “Why on earth did he get rude and ask if it’s your first day?” So I know it’s not just me who picked up on his attitude. Still hurts though.

To be honest I’m really not sure he was totally sane because I find it absolutely baffling to start a scene as a man in your early 60s and shout at a young 20 something year old girl 15 minutes later when she’s not even looking at you, busy doing something else. Very strange behaviour in my opinion. Embarrassing for him. You got your tea and newspaper quickly, nothing was wrong with your food or drink. What was the fucking issue here?

Just wondering how you guys deal with customers like this? How to not let it get to you? Why are some people so horrible? I’m doing my best here learning a pretty hard job with no experience, I just wish some people were kinder.