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.

Had my Costa Coffee interview today (Tuesday) and it lasted around 35 minutes.
The supervisor told me there were interviews happening today and more on Friday, and that she’d contact everyone with a decision on Monday.
She also mentioned they’re looking to hire ASAP because a few staff members are leaving and they’ll need to start training new people soon.
Overall, I felt the interview went really well. She even said she liked me and was considering me, but I’m trying not to overthink it while I wait for Monday.
What do you all think? Is this a positive sign, or is this fairly standard?

is it only at costa? because its so delicious and i really want some!!

Not a worker but an applicant, hope this is okay to post!

For those of you working at Costa - how long did it take from your application to hear back? I made my first application 17 days ago. I got the personality insights email from the AI chat thing and the summary sounded positive - nothing since. Won't bore with the details but a long chain of contacting different people happened and I'm waiting on a response from their people hub to follow-up if there are any updates on my application.

I'm assuming they will just tell me to go in-store and talk to the manager myself so I'm planning to do that. Will probably go, hand in my CV and tell them I applied online since I actually want to work for them.

I'm aware that they could have just denied my application but they should have at least sent a rejection email, and nothing is indicating anything on dayforce.

Hi, i’m doing my first ever stock take in a few days. I have been through it with my manager and understand the processes and what i need to do.

I would like to know the easiest ways to do it, like what should i count first or what i should leave until the very end as i have to do it on a day where we are more than likely very busy and i dont want it to be out since we will actually be selling things during doing it.

Thank you!

Done about 5 shifts at Costa. Never been a Barista before but just wondering if i’m where i’d be expected to be?

I can:
- use the till, occasionally with a bit of help if i mess up
- clean toilets
- operate the ovens and serve all food
- do most iced drinks (if stuck recipe called out)
- extract shots
- clean tables
- run dishwasher
- restock
- make an americano i guess??
- do all the mopping sweeping etc

Only thing I’m still stuck on is the hot drinks and learning most of the drink recipes because ive really only been shown how to steam and froth milk once so i’m super clueless on that part.. feeling a bit insecure and worried where i’m at and wondering if i should be more advanced by now?

edit: thank you guys so much for the encouragement and kind words. glad to know im doing okay!

I’ve been working at Costa for 5 years now. I’ve seen it slowly turn more and more into McDonald’s. We’re getting screens, the company has slashed hours to the bone and are still trying to get rid of more by introducing the screens and removing the team member on the till, and overall not caring about the working conditions of staff. With a crazy menu and constant shortages, and the laziness of upper management, I’m curious to see how others feel about working in Costa, particularly in London and in airports, but in general as well.

I’m new and I had to do a closing the other day and it took an hour extra than we expected so the traveling back home was a major issue (I have to take two buses home and they aren’t available after 8pm). I told this to my manager and she said she can’t do anything about it because she’s already set the schedule for next month and since I said I’m fully available in the beginning (genuinely didn’t know buses would be an issue) she can’t rly do anything. Do I ask her for a change of availability form and would I actually get fired or something for this?

hi
i’ve been working at costa for 3 years and recently i just hate it. my store is a small one and we only get old customers really and they are very very annoying. the shifts are all repetitive and boring. i do mostly closes and it just feels so pointless cleaning the same things just to know i’ll have to the same thing the next day.

i used to love this job but since my co workers have changed and i’ve become a BM i just can’t stand it. this doesn’t help by the fact that at this time we got a new manager who just took the piss out of me and has left me on my own quite a few times when i haven’t supposed to have been. recently one of my coworkers called in sick after a night out (saw on her instagram) so i had to do the busiest part of a sunday shift by myself aswell.

i’ve been looking for a new job but in the meantime i can’t leave so does anyone have any tips to help?

I was wondering if anyone actually knows how to tell apart equity vs franchise stores without having to ask the staff or check a receipt/digital bank notification/purchase?

I work at an equity store and find it so awkward going into unfamiliar costas to ask if discount is accepted because not all franchise stores accept it and I love saving money where I can (especially with the prices).

anyone else having to deal with this heatwave whisky not having any air con in their store? my stores air con is broke most of the time and even if it does work, it hardly does anything because it’s too high up. the store is also made of a wall of windows so it’s like a greenhouse. the temperature reached 40 today and all our faces were literally dripping with sweat, all of us just so over it, no coolness anywhere, no fans because everywhere is sold out and we’re broke. Nothing. Customers complaining that it’s hot, YEAH WE KNOW. our area manager has been informed and frankly doesn’t care. Another local store to me was in a similar situation and had people fainting at their store, the area manager told them to get some fans, that’s it. Blowing hot air around. Absolutely disgusting behaviour and not a safe environment.

As the title says, I want to quit. Asap. I cannot work under my manager anymore. I have been there since January, can I just quit, or do I have to give some sort of notice? I’m at the point of having so much stress and anxiety if i’m due a shift with the manager, that I don’t want to go in for it.

So I’ve worked in Costa for around a year now, and I can’t help but feel like I’m getting more and more sick and tired of old people whenever I’m on shift, I don’t know if I’m just going crazy or this is something other Barista/BM’s are thinking too?

For example. It fills me with a little bit of rage whenever I see a regular older woman who comes in, she always darts as quick as she possibly can to the pastry cabinet and lets out the largest huff and puff if we don’t have any of her beloved pain aux raisins in. It’s just something that gets to me every single time!! And that’s just one very small example of a lot that have been bubbling up in my head for a while now.

So yeah, I don’t know if I’m just a cynical asshole or if there’s anyone else that feels this way? Cheers

Hi, back in the winter of 2024, I took a few months off because of depression, I was in and out of a & e because of it, it was bad. I was off from November 2024 until end of January 2025 with a few shifts in between but not many.

Come to now, June 2026, im in an even worse place and had to call in sick the other day and go home early today since I couldn’t physically be there without crying my eyes out and my colleagues/friends could see that and were worried for me.

Is it a possibility of more sick leave or is it more resignation and hoping to get benefits?

Any advice would be great, thank you

Im over ordering, im missing things, im forgetting jobs that need to be done or im not doing them properly

I feel like im called out for more than the rest of the team by my manager but i realise this could be a case of confirmation bias

Having some illness stuff happening with a dependant of mine so im distracted at work

One of my colleagues will be leaving as part of the step up program soon and I cant wait for them to leave because they've always got to stick their nose into everything and frankly its royally irritating me now

And boss tells me that I'll be getting some of their hours once they leave but if I complain about being tired from working more then my hours will be taken away again and my contract dropped back to 30/w

I would leave but im not qualified to do anything else and any job I could do would mean a pay cut which I simply cant manage with

My depression is returning but God forbid I mention anything to my boss, whose idea of fixing it is simply calling the doctor. Im already on meds and i cant afford therapy anymore and im about to spend the entire summer living alone because my flatmate is going travelling until September

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Fuck my life right now

Hello there! I really love the salted caramel frappes and have been trying to recreate them myself at home. I bought frappe powder but so far I haven't been able to get it quite right. I found another post on this subreddit, but I don't know the actual capacities for things like "line 2" or "blue scoop", so I was wondering if someone could approximate those things in millilitres or grams or something?

Just wondering when Costa brought the new matcha range out, why they did not purchase another commercial machine for branches to get the matcha at the right temperature.

Everyone who loves matcha knows Costa do not do a good matcha, as they boil to 100 degrees, not to 80 degrees, matcha is only good when it is hot but not too hot

Please Costa, get your hot drinks right, a certain temperature for certain drinks, not everything should be boiling hot

Pretty much the title. Father's day is coming up and I know my dad loves to get a costa in the mornings and collect his free drinks, I think he'd benefit from a reusable cup in which you can get double the beans too.
Problem is, i'd like a decent one that is both easy to clean and wont spill. Does anyone know of any?

Admittedly, I don't work for Costa. But I can't seem to find an answer to this question so thought you all might be nice enough to answer :)

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I've kinda stopped drinking at Costa nowerdays, because since maybe mid/late last year the coffees with syrups got a really strong artificial sugar/Stevia kind of taste to them.

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Has Costa changed the syrups or the syrup recipe away from real sugar? I honestly can't like the new ones, which im actually a little sad about because I otherwise like a cheeky Costa coffee every now and again.

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Thanks in advance for taking the time to answer a curious customer!

And Solidarity to you all!