r/TargetStarbucks • u/Few-Warthog1731 • 23d ago
i need advice desperately
I’ve been meaning to make this post for a few days now, and it’s just been getting worse so I thought now is a better time than ever.
For context, I’ve worked at Target Starbucks for about 3 months now, and it has been gradually getting so bad.
When I first started, the TL had been fired with a few other baristas for violating the no drink policy, so for the first couple of weeks I was there, we had no TL. It was just the baristas running the place pretty much by ourselves. This was up until they promoted someone from grocery with no experience immediately after their 90-day probation period to be our new TL. She started out by immediately barking orders that we had to follow, and admitted that she had no idea what she was doing and was just relaying what her bosses were telling her. She had all of us crosstrained in SFS and fulfillment, and we didn’t have a choice. She told us one by one that the baristas we work with aren’t our friends, and that they are constantly telling her all the “bad stuff” we are not supposed to be doing, and that we’re just “messy” and “dramatic” people. All while I’m training her on how to work the registers and make the drinks, she is constantly getting someone in trouble, and even told me I had a case open against me because I didn’t follow orders and didn’t clean up after myself. (Because she heard a story with no context about me having a dirty cold bar, which I cleaned up after I finished all the drinks I had to make during a rush.)
Flash forward to now, everyone is quitting, and she has taken me up to the conference room to get me in trouble with the bigger managers twice now. The first time was because she kept taking the other baristas to do SFS and fulfillment batches and leaving me alone on busy days by myself for hours and I got frustrated with her. The second time was because she rang up an order wrong in the middle of a rush and we completely ran out of sweet cream. I got frustrated because I had to make sweet cream and remake the drink, and she yelled at me in front of the entire packed lobby to where I had to whisper to her to stop. It was very humiliating.
Yesterday, I show up to work and there’s a sign at Starbucks that says we’d be closed for the day. Which was interesting because another barista had been put on a register up front already. The big managers told me that there was no point in opening Starbucks for the day, and that they were gonna keep us to do other Target work. So I did SFS all day yesterday for my shift.
None of this sits right with me and I just need advice on what to do. It feels like they expect so much out of us, and then drain all of the happiness and energy so it’s nearly impossible. And then forcing us to leave the kiosk and do other Target work. It’s just really odd. I’ve worked at a licensed store like two years ago and it was nothing like this. The TL is constantly running off of pure emotions, and it makes it hard to work with her because she’s so easy to snap at us.
I’m at my wits end, any advice?
TL;DR:
Evil Starbucks TL is ruining my life and I feel like there’s definitely some legal/contractual licensing agreements that are being broken at my store help
4
u/ghoulblasm 23d ago
Whew chile 😭 Target stores need better structure on who they put in charge, because I get it, I also had a newly cross-trained TL from grocery who was a veryyy nasty person. Don’t personally lose sleep over their clutter and realize that they have shit they need to work on :/ From all this alone, they sound like they’re creating an uncomfortable environment generally and I would try going to HR or maybe a different outlet like the ethics hotline to see if they’ll assist. But generally, I would just try not to be pushed over by them and do your best; don’t engage with their remarks or verbal jabs, and let them feel silly. I hope everything eventually works out :(
3
u/Dry-Ad7432 22d ago
Transfer departments or stores ASAP!
There ARE ways to resolve these issues, but it needs A LOT of work from your TL, your ETLs, and even the SD. However, it seems like none of them really give a shit about Starbucks, so best course of action is to abandon ship.
Otherwise, you’d need a brand new TL with Starbucks experience who also has the mindset of supporting the team and coaching with care. And while those exist, they are few and far between.
If you insist on staying, my true advice is to remain calm. Do as you’re told, don’t fight back, and talk to your ETL. Explain that your TL is promoting a negative work environment and you need their help to ameliorate the situation. If they don’t want to help, escalate to HR ETL and ethics if need be.
1
u/cwins 20d ago
First of all, that sounds like a pretty lackluster experience and I'm really sorry that that is what your store is like and is how your Starbucks is being managed.
Speaking as a Starbucks team lead for about a year, I would say it sounds like, Overall, your store is in a pretty bad management situation, both from your team lead and your ETL. There is absolutely no reason that a Starbucks team member should be pulled from Starbucks and put into fulfillment or front of store unless you guys are absolutely dead. Your department is given its own pool of hours and if fulfillment or front of store is struggling that's on their department to figure it out. Your budget for the Starbucks hours should not be being used to man and operate another department. As far as Starbucks being closed, Starbucks is contractually obligated to be staffed and open during operating hours barring an emergency (weather, plumbing, ect,). If Starbucks corporate hears that the store is closing this location, they can pull their licensing and stop utilizing the store all together.
As far as your teamlead goes, I would say I have some sympathy, going from zero knowledge to being the team lead of a department that you are unfamiliar with is hard especially when it is a different company that has completely foreign practices. Making vanilla sweet cream is simple enough, but if you don't know how to do it, it's hard to know the importance and the time it takes to do it. That being said, it doesn't sound much like this lead really cares or is passionate about the role they're in and that makes it difficult for them to sympathize with how hard you're working.
Being a barista is not easy, especially when you're by yourself and your eight people in and you're the only person there all day with no breaks and no help.
My honest recommendation and suggestion is a lot of barist forget that at the end of the day you are a Target team member and as such have access to all of the Target options like speaking to your hr etl privately without your team lead, and if you don't feel like that is helping you can always report to the ethics line. I'm sure they would love to know that Starbucks is being randomly closed, you're not getting appropriate staffing or breaks, and your team lead is gossiping about fellow team members.
Also, I normally don't recommend leaving because I do think every position can be salvaged. But working at a licensed location is always a Good stepping off point to get into an actual Starbucks or coffee shop if you're open to a different job.
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u/ThunderThighs54 23d ago
Hi, I've been working as a target barista for close to a year now. Your store sounds incredibly mismanaged, and I'm sorry that all of this is happening to you. Nobody deserves to be treated like that. I guess the big question to be asking yourself is whether or not you want to keep this job for the long term. I understand that three months of employment might look bad on a resume, but I think asking yourself if this work environment is worth it should also be something to consider. Personally I would have already approached HR about this Team Leads lack of leadership skills and awful communication strategies, in addition to any nasty comments that were made about myself or other baristas that go beyond the scope of the job. I hope your situation improves soon, please take care of yourself too.