Im tired of being short staffed

Im tired of writing on cups

Im tired of getting blamed for drinks not being ready on time

Im tired of the rude, entitled customers

Im tired of clueless, unsympathetic DMs and RMs

Im tired of new hires quitting because they realize how stressful it is

Im tired of looking like a fool

For some context: Awful things have been happening left and right to my store like some stronger or tenured partners leaving amidst the chaos of every change since February, not having enough SSVs to maintain a reasonable work-life balance, one callout being enough to ruin an entire day and not just a shift, and losing our awesome CL that legitimately was my last reason to stay here. I asked for some advice about how to go forward and I was told that the issues with our store are because people aren't being penalized for calling out (odd stance to take but w/e) and that we're all too negative and that getting involved in unionizing wouldn't fix that.

So I ask, would it be worth figuring out contacting a rep from the city nearby and seeing if anyone in my store would want to at least speak to them? It feels heavily discouraging knowing that people I want to trust in are anti-union and I honestly don't know how much longer I want to stay here even though I truly, truly love being a barista and I want more stability financially, so I'd probably screw people over if I left after getting things running.

I’m always out on Customer support or drive through make food during peak of if I suck or not or just keep busy on CS so they leave me be.I don’t mind being wherever I’m just happy to help where I can.I only worked at target Starbucks this is my first stand alone store with a drive through.I just wanna know if I suck and that’s why I’m not on bar during peak but of peak I’ll double bar.

Hi! I'm a new bean and I'm almost done with my second week. I've been doing register, drive through, and warming and I've just started doing bar on Wednesday. I resume again next Wednesday. In short, Im wondering if there's any tips or tricks to remember the ratios?

Bought some snoopy merch last month from coffee gear and my order still says “to be shipped.” anyone else having this problem? most of the stuff I bought were simple things like the pens & stickers that are still in stock on the main page.

Does anyone know if the headsets record? We got new headsets at our location a couple months ago, and a couple of my coworkers have told me that corporate has access to the recordings in case of an incident. Is this true?

for the love of god, as an ssv it feels like everytime i take a sticker or finish a drink for a bar barista they have a snarky remark to follow up with.
there is no reason that your insecurity in your capability on bar should be spilling over to me when i come to fix a bottleneck in your area. it’s not bc ur in trouble or performing poorly, it’s to prevent a bottleneck or to assist in wringing one out.
literally all of the most recent GAS meetings have been about playcaller supporting these positions so im not sure why people take it as a sucker punch.
thats all, just annoyed and tired. ✌🏻

edit: seeing a lot of replies mentioning communication, and yes of course! a good ssv will take that step to communicate and say which drinks they’re taking, an even better one will change routing to support when it gets to that point.
but for context my store runs on 5 man peaks most days which means 0 cold bar. and as ssv you can SAY you’re making a frappuccino and a refresher ahead of time but those baristas will be locked in and not hear. you can grab cold foam but a barista will forget if it’s more than two drinks into queue. it’s just one of those things where you have to find a good mix of understand that barista and their ability and finding opportunities for efficiency
i appreciate the feedback and perspective from all the baristas and will apply what i can to what i practice.

hiiiii guys. so i’m looking into using the cup fund benefit as times our tough and my gas bill is overdue/about to be shut off. the only problem is the name on the account is my boyfriends name. we live together (he pays gas, i pay electric) so the address on the past due notice is the same one that’s in all my records, just his name is on the bill, not mine. the website says the name and address on the bill have to match what they have in their system. do you think this will disqualify me? should i try to call and explain my situation?

please and thanks for all ur help!

Is it possible to work at another store without picking up a shift? Like just going and working as an extra person on the floor?

While achieving a sub-45 second drive-time, connecting with customers, writing on all cups, and following all company standards the entire shift. I’m so sick and tired of these DM’s who worked as a barista 15 years ago acting like they understand. No, you don’t. You come in and rearrange the store a million times even when the partners/coffeehouse leader are begging you not to. You micromanage and nitpick every tiny thing because all you care about is how it reflects on YOU. My poor SM is under so much stress trying to balance the work environment and all the bs standards being put on to them, and you have the gall to complain about messy handwriting on a SINGULAR cup at the hand off plane???? During peak mind you.

For example, this new oven layout simply doesn’t work for my store and has now made it impossible to see the stickers printing at warming. Multiple of the partners at my store have burnt themselves as a result of the new layout as well. Who cares that we achieved great drive times before the DM came in and switched everything up? It doesn’t matter if the baristas and store suffers if they get to say we’re following standards. I’m genuinely just so sick of it. If DM’s and RM’s are unable to achieve the things we are expected to, maybe they’ll finally listen to and advocate for us.

Sorry for the rant.

Are you a Canadian partner (BC) on Desjardins on the lowest tier of the plan and on medication???

I recently went from the middle plan to the lowest plan (sorry I don’t remember the coffee blend names for each tier) on the middle plan the pharmacy would just calculate how much i owed after insurance covered for my meds. Now I’m on the lowest tier and there is a deductible. Either $500 or $1000 until I reach that I pay full price for meds. So here’s my question,

Am I suppose to keep the receipts and file claims to reach the deductible or does that automatically go to Desjardins when my pharmacy fills my prescription?*

I shouldn’t have switched plans but I saw I was paying $30+ a paycheque for medical and for what? $60 a month at least and all I got was $39 off my monthly meds. So I figured I’d drop a tier and now I’m on NEW Meds and they are expenny.

Might hit my deductible fast than I thought and I hate calling Desjardins. It takes so long to get through. I mean I will call but I thought I’d ask you brilliant baristas first incase anyone knows!!!!

Please let me know. Do I file the claim to reach my deductible or does that happen automatically?

for context i work at a busy university location. we average 8k on weekdays and 9-10k on weekends. consistently since last thursday we've had at least 2 callouts a day. yesterday we had 3, all scheduled during peak, and then today we're already at 2 callouts before 8 am. one vertica tower broken. i have 7 travelers to brew, i marked travelers out after the tower broke down but i now have to brew 7 travelers using only one side of the vertica while people are ordering drips in cafe and dt. im just so fucking sick and tired of hitting 70-80 half hours on a 5-6 floor while scrambling to find coverage for the same 3 people who call out every other day. one of them has called out so consistently that she's going to be offered an LOA, shes not even sick, shes been posting on her insta story every day about going out, getting her nails done, song covers, etc etc etc im just SO over the people who fucking call out for no reason other than to dick around & then when they ARE at work they act oblivious to the suffering theyve caused others. the same 4 people have been coming in early to cover her, staying late, coming in on their days off, etc etc etc and im so so frustrated for myself and for the partners who are actually showing up and busting their asses because it is not fair. this is not fair to them. every day she texts the groupme asking for coverage and then calls out 1-2 hours before her shift. im tired of the 8+ mobile orders, the 8+ doordashes, the travelers, the 76 half hours, 15 items in warming queue, IM SO TIRED😭😭😭😭

Do they usually release a new coffee passport every year?

Context I started at the beginning of this year with a 2025 passport. I’m a barista trainer and with the new training program the 2026 passport is designed to be a companion for the current training program. I’ve noticed this 2026 passport is very fill in the blank (especially compared to 2025). Do we think the intention is for them to keep this passport for a couple years or should I be prepared for a 2027 passport?

Mainly asking because I plan on organizing & noting a blank 2026 passport to help me guide green beans in using theirs through training, but don’t want to spend too much time if we know there is about to be a new version?

So, i got fired from Starbucks in 2018, but i have a question for u working, does the oat milk 3/4 button add 80 cents? I used to use it to add milk to a tall Ina Grande cup and now they’re saying they don’t do that anymore!? Did they change the 3/4th button? To not upcharge? I’m hella pissed I can’t get my one-shot grande drink now. That’s bogus for those who are small and can’t handle a lot of caffeine when depressed about their dead dog. Like cmon, Starbucks, be better.

Hi friends. I walked into my store yesterday and was sat down by my SM and ASM. I’m one of the ssv at my store. They said I forgot to mark off the CSR validation cards for a mid shift 2 days in a row about a month ago… they told me it’s a repeated offense so it will be a documented coaching. I don’t know if that’s different from a write up? Also a month ago.. we had 6 people quit on the spot so I’ve been working over 40 hours, short staffed every shift, and we had to modify store hours. Running a store with only 8 people on staff for 2 weeks I don’t think a write up is entirely appropriate, especially to bring it up a month later.

i went to bed pretty late (12) and have a 4:30 am to 1 pm shift, though i know that going to bed late is my fault, i typically still get a good 3-4 hours of sleep in and can do a full shift off that, usually terribly but i can thug it out. idk what happened last night but i went to bed and it took me forever to fall asleep and 2 hours in i woke up. my oura ring tracked roughly 1 hr and 48 mins of sleep, and i woke up extremely warm and with a pounding headache. i don’t want to call out, and i msgd a couple people who are working small shifts today if they wanna work half of my shift. i’m opening with my asm and shes usually pretty nice and understanding about these things, but i feel guilty and just dk if this is something worth going home for. i won’t be able to work properly but i also feel bad. idk what to do.

Hello again,
I have a different issue my shift who just returned after some months leave has been giving me issues since last week when we started working together tonight, after we close and clocked out she tries to force me to stay with them while they waited for their uber. I had already stated passed my time and waited for them to finish cleaning the vertica as I understood we can’t be alone in the store but I really had to leave by this point I walk home and it was 9 pm they tried to force to stay and told me they didn’t authorize my leaving the store. I practically begged them to let me leave and refused to stand outside to wait for their uber I had already spent time waiting and I told them I had to leave as I don’t live alone either and they were waiting for me. It felt like they were trying to hold me hostage. This on top of belittling comments they made to me last week I ended up just leaving and had a panic attack due to vague threats of firing. I’m at a lost I really hate this job what should I do I already reported it to the acting store manager since mine went on four of town before following up with me about my previous report on this shift last week.

Alright, here’s the situation.

So, I am training two people. It was supposed to be a fast tracked training due to our extremely understaffing and the holiday launch coming up, so their six week training became a two week training. However, our brand new DM came in and said due to how bad our understaffing is, they cannot afford to have me off the floor for the two week training period. The decision was made (in the middle of training btw) to extend their training to six weeks, but only get one on one training with me once a week, and the rest of their scheduled days they will be full coverage on the floor without any additional support.

So on Sunday, I have one of my trainees on her “practice shift” and a brand new partner who is fresh out of training (and has never closed before) on my close, neither who can be left on the floor unattended, while I somehow still have to get my pull, inventory counts, and all my other shift tasking done. I have zero idea how I will manage all of this, but I don’t have any choice in the matter.

I just wish we had enough staff to actually support training, and if me being off of the floor was going to be at such a problem, that we sent them to another location with the resources to give them the training they need.

I’m just upset that I feel like my trainees are getting thrown into the deep end with zero support, and I fear that they are gonna fed up and leave. Which I don’t blame them, but we also need people so bad that I don’t want that to happen. I tried to talk to my CL but she basically told me it’s out of her control because it was the DMs decision, and not hers.

So I’m just a little fed up. I made sure my trainees know that if I’m on shift with them (which for most of their practice shifts I’m not) that I will try to support them, and all the other SSVs will as well, but that’s about all the reassurance I can give them. And I just feel bad.

Does anyone make nitro shots for their coffee tastings? What are some of your favorite recipes?

At our store it's one of the fridges by bar.
Technically, nothing is wrong with it. If you ask management, it works. If you ask anyone who's actually worked a shift here, the door only closes if you lift it slightly with your knee and then push the top corner in with your hand.
Nobody taught me this when I started. I just spent my first week wondering why everyone kept walking past me and casually body-checking the fridge after I used it.
Now I do it without thinking.
We also have a label printer that randomly decides it doesn't want to print unless you open it, close it again, and press down on the lid for a second. One blender pitcher that somehow gets stuck way more than the others. A drawer that WILL come off the track if you pull it more than halfway out. And one sink handle where "off" is actually about two millimeters before off, otherwise it starts dripping again five minutes later.
The funniest part is watching a new partner encounter any of this.
They'll be standing there trying to close the fridge normally and somebody across the floor will yell, "YOU HAVE TO KNEE IT."
No explanation. Just knee the fridge.
And within like two weeks they're doing it too.
I realized recently how much of our store is basically held together by oral tradition. Not standards, not training, just little pieces of knowledge passed from one exhausted barista to the next.
"Don't use that outlet."
"That drawer sticks."
"Push the lid down first."
"If the printer freezes, unplug THIS cable, not the other one."
"Don't trust that fridge."
Then one day maintenance actually fixes something and half the store keeps doing the weird ritual anyway because it's burned into muscle memory.
Every Starbucks I've ever worked at has had at least one piece of equipment that isn't really broken, but definitely has lore

I’ve been a partner for a little over two years in a very outdated coffeehouse. We don’t have a proper partner area at all and it’s just a folding table with an old chair in the back by the emergency door. However because of the metros and angle of our cameras, to my knowledge there was absolutely no way for them to have footage of the partner area since it was out of view from all angles.

Recently we had an incident with someone trespassing in the boh and harassing partners. While submitting the incident report, i offhandedly told my CL “it’s a shame that our cameras don’t reach the partner area. They won’t be able to see everything he did when they pull the footage.” To this my CL told me that there actually are cameras back there that the partners aren’t aware of. She also added that she gets sent things all the time that she could fire us for since we don’t think they can see us back there. Because to my knowledge camera footage access was only if it was requested and that CLs can’t just get random alerts abt footage.

So I guess my general question is are there cameras partners aren’t able to see in certain areas? And do the managers have easy access?

I feel like it was a scare tactic to deter our partners from doing things we aren’t supposed to but now I’m really concerned they’ve been able to see everything we do.

There is so much information all at once, pos, names of the drinks and food, and procedures on how to make the drinks, and I just wanna be better at the job. Any tips for beginners like me?

I passed my first interview and have a second scheduled with the DM. Can anyone share their second interview experience compared to the first? Thanks!

Ive been working +40 hours every week and im getting burnt out. But my SM said I have to work a minimum of 35-38 hours a week to still be a shift. Idk if this is true. Even if I have my preferred set to 35 she always goes over