barista

shift manager

store manager

manager

general manager

Starbucks

When I left my previous employer for an opportunity with Starbucks I was SO EXCITED! I thought I had finally found a company that cared about their partners as much as I cared about the companies I'd worked for in the past. It was supposed to be an opportunity to finally grow within my position and career with an employer as loyal to me as I was to them (I'm a very, very loyal employee). When I first started having trouble I was surprised and spent every minute of everyday trying to figure out what it was that I was doing wrong. I attempted reaching out to my training manager as well as my district manager for help/guidance and every attempt was met with hostility and questions as to why I wasn't "getting it". 
I live in Wisconsin, in the city. The location I worked at may have only had sidewalks to shovel but this particular location had a very large amount of sidewalk they were responsible for taking care of. Considering how Starbucks Corporation handled every maintenance issue within the store (up to and including burnt out lightbulbs and changing air filters, which I (the store manager) had been responsible for at most previous employers) I assumed they had someone coming to take care of the sidewalks during/after snow storms. Upon arriving to work at 5a the day after a significant snow storm (probably the largest of that season) I saw the sidewalks had not been cleared at all. I was surprised by this, called around to other stores as well as calling facilities to figure out why this had not been taken care of and determined through this that we did not have a company hired to clear snow. I have a history of back problems, it was made clear to me that it was my responsibility to get the sidewalk cleared before we received a ticket from the city, so as the acting manager (Store Manager was on vacation) I made sure it was done. I spent over 4 hours shoveling several inches of snow that had been rained on, and then frozen over night. Because of this I received a back injury I am still recovering from (sustained December 2015, as of this writing it is April 2016). The company used to handle workman's compensation benefits was slow and disorganized, after using up my initial 6 sessions of physical therapy it took me over 2 months to get in contact with anyone regarding coverage for further treatment. Upon doing so I was told my claim would need to be sent to a completely different company, which took almost an entire month to contact me with their decision of which further physical therapy was denied and the request my physician had made for me to see an integral pain management specialist is still pending. Also, my doctor had provided me with work restrictions of which made performing closing related duties difficult. Each night that I was scheduled to work a closing shift I went home in so much pain I was unable to sleep that night, it was unbearable. When I asked my training manager and district manager (on numerous occasions) if I could make changes in my availability (limiting my ability to work closing shifts) I was told that my request was denied, was unacceptable, and that as a manager I was expected to be available to work any and all shifts as needed per their discretion. I understood their reasoning but explained to them this was by no means a permanent change and as soon as my work related injury had healed I would be happy to go back to my full availability, I was still denied. This bothers me because every single partner at that location was permitted the opportunity to change their availability at any time with or without reason. The store manager himself had his availability limited so that he was unable to work any closing shifts, opening shifts, or weekends. As a manager I was expected to have open availability but 'as a manager' he was not? that seemed unfair. 
I have over 6 years of restaurant management experience, I am very good at what I do. The company I left to pursue the opportunity with Starbucks chose me to train the bulk of all new manager hires (growing company meant a consistent flow of trainees for me), when 2 new District Managers were brought into that company I again was chosen to train them. Starbucks offered me a position as an Assistant Manager and left me with the impression that considering my previous experience I would be managing a location of my own within 3-6 months. I was happy to take this 'demotion' because I felt it gave me a better opportunity to get to know the company and it's inner workings before going off to run a store on my own, also they matched my current pay (at first). I worked as an ASM/RMT for almost an entire year, and when my pay went from hourly (received during initial barista training) to salary it was cut by $0.50 per hour (I realized this upon termination when I was told I would be paid at the hourly rate for my time worked that week). When placed in a store for training I was placed with one of their newer managers, he had been a partner for something like 10 years but only been a store manager for 1. Again, I initially saw no problem with this and saw it as an opportunity for the two of us to learn from each other. He could teach me Starbucks while I shared with him some of the knowledge I'd gained over the years. I was wrong. Every time I made an attempt to share with him my observations on a situation he became angry with me. Each time I went to him seeking understanding on a situation and the actions taken regarding it again he became angry with me. I was simply seeking understanding as the actions taken, in my experience, often lead to larger problems down the road. When I started having concerns regarding my performance I went to him for understanding, as he was my training manager and the right thing to do was go to him before contacting anyone up the chain. His coaching and feedback was very confusing and often contradicting. For example, in my position I was not allowed to work over 40 hours a week otherwise I would have to be paid over-time and as we all know thats something every company tries to avoid. If, due to circumstances beyond my control, I was unable to finish certain administrative duties that had been delegated to me within my 40 hours he instructed me on multiple occasions to do the work from home. Off the clock. When the district manager caught wind of this he (training manager) lectured me for over an hour about why what I had done was against handbook and so on. I assured him I would make sure it did not happen again... within the hour he delegated a task to me that I told him I would not be able to complete by the end of my shift and therefore would not be able to meet the deadline he had set. He told me I would need to work on it from home then, when I reminded him of the conversation we had just had regarding this he rolled his eyes at me, told me he was leaving for the day, and left the premises. 
I reached out to my district manager for help on numerous occasions, I needed guidance on the proper way to handle the problems I was having with my training manager and wanted to be sure I was appropriately following direction that had been given to me by the two of them. My district manager seemed to take little interest in my inquiries. When a longtime partner who had recently transferred to our location quit without notice I reached out to him (the partner) to find out why. Essentially, much to my surprise, he was having the same problems with the store manager as I had been having and felt that it had created a toxic work environment that was negatively affecting him both physically and mentally. I thought I was the only one having these issues and seeing a partner quit for the same reasons I was struggling left me deeply concerned. How many other partners were feeling this same way? I reached out to my district manager to relay this information as the store manager was once again unavailable, I received no response to my email. 5 days later I was terminated.
Although I believe that the company itself does in fact care about their partners my experience was the opposite. I believe had I been granted an opportunity to work in a different location I would still be a happy, smiling partner with nothing but praises for the company. Unfortunately for me the manager assigned to training me and the district manager went way back to their first days with the company and the friendship they had developed meant more to them than professionalism. I am incredibly disappointed with my experience working with this company, I had expected so much more. In some ways I regret the decision to become a partner. I sincerely believe I have been taken advantage of and mistreated. No person should have to go through what I did. I am now unemployed with a broken back and honestly a broken heart...and there is nothing I can do about it. I was so excited about working here, I had loved my experiences as a customer and felt that by joining their team I'd finally found my 'Home". I thought I would be so happy.... As of this writing my chances at finding a job anytime soon are slim, who wants a foodservice worker who can't lift more than 10 pounds, who cant mop a lobby, or be on their feet for extended periods of time. Something I am so good at, at a company that said they cared about their people, has potentially ruined my entire career.

I loved working with coffee, making drinks, even doing the basic store cleaning and stocking. The company itself has a way of making you feel included- like in a family. You get the chance to transfer after a few months, making it great for job security, yet when I tried to transfer when I moved, I was told I had to wait 6 months plus as a shift. Later, when I tried to quit, I was told that I could step down and transfer immediately. I felt bullied into staying at that particular store, and I will explain why.

I WILL STRESS, this is a single store issue that was in the hands of a poor store manager. The manual labor, when scheduled correctly, is a cinch and you really come to LOVE to make drinks, and you will ADORE your regulars. I had regulars bring us food often, and I even had a couple who went to Peru and brought me earrings. You do have the ability, on the small day-to-day interactive level, to make a difference in someones life. You can cheer up most customers, develop lasting friendships, have great in-store bonds with coworkers and you may live for the new drinks in all of their deliciousness.

Now, this is nothing on the company's administrative end, which is great, but our DM's were really tough on our store and my manager (one of our DMs in training actually refused to shake my hand when I met her, just as a clue as to the type of personality this is). My manager felt pressured into coming in on her days off for almost 12 hours to do extra work off the clock and unpaid. As a result, other management, like me, was forced to as well. I worked on my lunch and breaks and even before/after my shifts to try and meet the incredibly high standards that we had- all without our constant requests for more staff and longer hours for closing.Though we were the highest grossing store in the district, after our remodel we were frequently denied requests for more time at night for closing our new machines and bigger store. It was denied every time, saying we didn't meet our sales figures to afford it, yet every time we met the highest sales in the district we were praised but told to cut more hours, cut more partner beverages. 

When I started to speak up about the physical and mental exhaustion I was feeling from being a closing shift working HOURS off the clock daily, I was told that that was 'how it had to be' and 'all stores are like this' and 'we just have to deal with it' and to not tell anyone. As a person with a couple mental disabilities, when I came to my manager saying how depressed I was and how I just couldn't do it any more and cried, my manager put her hand on my shoulder, said 'We all have those problems. We just have to keep working through it.' She told me to get back on the floor. I was crushed, at the time not realizing that my disabled workers rights and just my workers rights in general were being broken. I just wanted to help my store, I didn't want my workers  too stressed because we were losing employees right and left, so I decided to take on the burden of most closing cleaning tasks myself on top of my shift duties because we were often too busy to have me pull a worker off the floor. I had many moments where workers wanted to walk out, and I get why. I never understood how we didn't meet the sales to get another closer when we often were busy until the time we locked or doors or even after (Sbux has the 10-minute rule where you have to stay open past the closing time, which took up a full third of the time allotted for closing).

I have been told many times that what happened in the store was my fault for letting myself be taken advantage of. That I shouldn't accept more shifts or stay longer or refuse to be promoted, yet I had tried not to. I really had. My manager set up my interview for Shift without asking because we had nobody else to take the position. When I said no she told me to try anyways because the appointment was that coming Thursday. A week before this incident, I told her I would think about the position of Shift in 6 months. I felt a little betrayed, but I was told I was -needed-, and that they couldn't do it without me.

When everyone at your workplace is a friend, and practically family, to sit there on a lunch and watch your workers struggle it hurts. I had  been told it was expected of me to work on my break, so I thought I had to. And when I didn't, when it got to the point where I was too tired to get up from my chair and I hadn't eaten all day, we would be at least half an hour late on the close. So I would come in, be yelled at, have my job be threatened, and have to take the time to do the midday work on my shift since the openers were stressed and that carried onto the mid shift if there was one. My closers too were told about how bad they closed, even when I was told by my manager to leave some things in interests of time. Several of my closers came to me saying they heard about the other workers complaining about their close and one girl actually cried. They felt like no matter how hard they worked and for how long "It never matters", because even if we had an awesome close we still didnt get out on time. It got to the point where I would just clock out early and try and send my workers home on time, if not early, so I could clean and count and stock. It got to the point where morning people say I was the best closing shift- but only if they knew at what cost. I even redid the stores closing routine to be more efficient and people enjoyed it.

Most of the amazing staff I had there left right before or after I did. I was asked to come back several times, but I knew I would be asked to take on the same stresses without complaints. Several of the other workers who quit discussed bringing about a lawsuit, but I, who could've sealed the deal, decided that my manager did not deserve that. I couldn't bring myself to blame them, so I blamed myself, and went on trying to repair the feeling of never making a difference no matter how hard I worked. It was like a nightmare those last few months.  I witnessed trainees training off the clock, during breaks. And I witnessed other employees asked to do online training before clocking in, and only one that I saw fought against the manager for unpaid work, she told him to deal with it, and he clocked in anyway. Whether or not he got paid for that time, I don't know, but that type of interaction affects the whole workplace. I even trained people on my shift without being a certified Trainer- without the bonuses. I felt like it was my required duty, since a Trainer would skip over things and hand them to me and I would have to take time out of my schedule to touch bases and even train them on things that absolutely should've been done by the official Trainer. I was told I couldn't be a Trainer since we had two already at the store. But I would pull out the diagrams and cards and make sure that person was adequately trained to handle the stresses I knew were coming.

The company itself, offers great benefits, and offers ways to move up in many different directions. Stock, 401k, medical and dental. Thats great! The company's green apron cards, awards, meetings, are all great. I would even work for the company again, taking a chance on having a slower store with a better manager. But to take that chance on having a store just like the one I had before, is terrifying.

At the time, I was being too low for the stresses. $700 was not worth it per check to pay for all my time lost and my rent and groceries in the expensive SF Bay Area. After I left, the minimum pay went up. And they also reconsidered their dress code. That may even be worth it now to reconsider the job again, this time refusing to work off the clock and extra hours. The job is THAT enjoyable, that even though I had a bad experience, I'd go back. 

I hope that most DMs are more understanding in the future that when you end up forcing more tasks on a manager in less time- you reach a point where you simply cant cut any more time or add any more tasks without understanding that when you are threatening someones job because unreasonable standards, you are forcing someone into desperation to work off the clock- and if the manager is working off the clock, then all the other workers follow suit.

When I was pregnant, I had a high-risk pregnancy.  My manager and fellow partners were extremely supportive.  I don't have a very close relationship with my family and was not planning on having a baby shower.  One night after close, as we were about to leave, all of the store partners including our manager showed up with pizza, cake, balloons & presents to throw me a surprise baby shower.  One of them even made a baby bib out of a green apron for my son.  This is what the partner experience should be.
	  In the years since I returned to work for the company in 2005 I have witnessed managers who treat partners with disrespect and disdain and are not held accountable in any meaningful way.  The partner experience can be greatly improved by holding managers accountable to more than the bottom line and corporate metrics.  Currently, managers are not held accountable for the way they treat partners. I have heard managers refer to us as the fast food of coffee, I have heard managers tell partners that they are all expendable, I have worked with managers who could not schedule competently, who did not know beverage recipes, and I have been told by a manager that he didn't work closing shifts because he had too much work to do, as if closing wasn't hard work.  More recently I have witnessed managers nit-pick partners to the edge of harassment and write up partners for infractions, completely disregarding any more constructive means of correcting behavior such as a written partner plan or merely a verbal conversation.  Managers will schedule partners for shifts at other stores without asking them first, they will schedule partners on days they are unavailable, they will schedule partners for 12 hour shifts, clopens, or 7 or more days in a row. 
	Managers also make it very difficult for partners to call in sick.  In defiance of stated company policy partners often work while sick because managers refuse to take responsibility for covering the shift.  Partners are told to call around and get someone to cover the shift or come in anyway. 	
	We used to have a yearly 360 review of managers by partners.  We have not done this in several years, which gives the impression that Starbucks does not care how partners feel about their manager's job performance.  This also sends a message to managers that there are no consequences for creating a negative partner experience in their store, so long as the bottom line is met.
	I believe one of the reasons for this attitude is that Starbucks seems determined to hire managers from outside the company who only pay lip service to our values at best rather than develop and train existing partners.  What skills we may lack can be trained and would be a better investment than trying to instill the Starbucks culture into an outside hire.  It is also very demoralizing.  When a manager is hired from outside the company the message that is received by existing partners (whether intended or not) is that Starbucks does not believe we are worthy of the time and effort to develop.
	 I have been trying to advance in the company for almost a decade now.  When I first expressed interest in becoming an ASM or manager, I was told by my manager at the time, that I would be completely on my own because it was not in his best interest to have me promote out of his store.  I worked very hard, taking on at one point 5 different specialist roles.  In order to get all of these as well as my regular closing duties accomplished, I often worked on them during my lunch breaks and skipped many of my 10 min breaks.  In fact, skipping 10 min breaks in order to complete floor tasks on time is a common occurrence.  I passed my ASM interview and was transferred to another store to be an assistant manager.  That manager refused to work with me on my schedule, even though it would have been easy to do so, instead holding my position over my head demanding that I give him completely open availability or step down.  As a result, I often had to get my son (who was in 3rd grade at the time) up at 3 am, then drop him off at my husband's work (in the psychiatric ward of the local hospital) where he would sleep in the break room until my husband got off work at 7:30, then my husband would drop him off at school. I was even scheduled to work when my manager knew I had requested time off for conferences with my son's school administrators.   This led to many problems for my son at school due to stress and lack of sleep.  We eventually had to home school him.  Then Starbucks laid off a bunch of ASM's and put a hold on my promotion.  At the time I was told that the next ASM slot that opened up would be mine.  Then I was told that I would have to start over from zero.  I have tried many times to be promoted again.  I have had meetings with managers and our district manager on the subject.  I have asked specifically what I should be doing/learning to achieve my goal.  I have even asked what specifically it is about me that makes me unsuitable for management, and received no meaningful answer.  Is it my ROTC Silver Leadership Medal?  Is it my years of community service?  My experience as an office manager?  My 20 years of retail experience? My 2 years of experience serving on the Board of Directors of a non-profit?  My decade of experience in this company?  There needs to be a clearly defined, accessible path for advancement.  Partners should know what skills and experience they need in order to move forward, and how to go about acquiring them.
	Another way the partner experience can be improved is holding managers accountable for proper training of new hires.  When I started with Starbucks in 1998, I had classes at the training center.  Our training hours were not used as coverage on the floor and our trainers were not expected to be coverage on the floor while training us.  Both trainer and trainee were focused solely on giving the new partner the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.  This no longer happens.  Managers typically pay lip service to the idea of training plans.  New partners are scheduled non-coverage hours, but their trainers are not.  Often the trainer is expected to work on the floor as well as train a new partner or the new partner is scheduled during peak times.  Because of this, many new partners do not get the skills and knowledge they need to succeed and both the partner and customer experience suffers. 
	Aside from managers, the leadership of the company needs to consider the impression their actions give to the partners.  When the company changed the Coffee Master program, we should have been given the opportunity to acquire the new knowledge and skills while keeping our black aprons.  Instead we were told to turn them in.  Can you understand how disrespectful that felt?  Another way the partner experience can be improved is to get rid of Ecosure.  These evaluations can be done by Starbucks partners.  Partners can be trained to do these evaluations, one or 2 per district.  Also, if they were focused not just on conducting the audit but on using it as an opportunity to educate the store partners about the standards and the reasons for them as well, this would be of far greater value than the current system which often feels like a gotcha full of unreasonable and arbitrary rules.
	I greatly appreciate all of the benefits that we as partners get from Starbucks.  Our medical and dental coverage is better than what my husband can get through his work at the hospital.  Bean Stock is often the only way that I can afford the holidays for my family.  I intend to take advantage of the new tuition benefit to finish my degree.  These are all wonderful benefits that help us provide for our families, but the bulk of our partner experience happens in the stores and the people that have the most impact on the partner experience are the store managers.   I have always been proud of our benefits package and I used to be proud of our working environment as well.

I would like to start by saying this is my first actual paying job. I went into this not knowing what to expect but came out with high standards for what I want my next job to be.

The training period is technically only 3 weeks, but it really is an ongoing process. You start off with a crash course in barista basics, which teaches you the baseline level of what you need to know before you're set loose in the store. Once you've learned the basics, you know the patterns for all the drinks and the systems established to make operations efficient and just need polishing. That varies with how quickly you are able to learn. I would say it would take anywhere from 1 to 7 months to become a decent barista here. That being said, there are always new drinks being introduced and policies updated, so there are trainings and supplemental materials to fill you in on this information every few months. HOWEVER, although everything you need to know is outlined in these trainings and supplemental materials, there can be frequent miscommunications regarding standards set within the store. Some of them are set at the store level while others are set at corporate and are required at all stores. There is sometimes confusion and a bit of inconsistency over how these tasks are executed.

I think it's also important to mention you will not just be making drinks and food. You will be cleaning the store (restrooms included), taking out trash, and preparing setup for the next day, among other tasks. There are designated positions to some extent, but they tend to be assigned day of by the play caller, so it is important to be flexible and know how to negotiate if you need to switch roles for some reason.

Customer service is highly valued at Starbucks. It's measured and discussed weekly, which is why it is pushed so much. If you are a people person who can strike up a conversation with anyone, this is a job you can definitely do. You don't necessarily have to be outgoing; a simple "How's it going?," "Want a recommendation?," or "Do you need a straw?" can be more than enough to make an awkward transaction better. You will be expected to speak to customers and welcome them to the store whether you're taking orders, making drinks, or cleaning the lobby.

The culture of the store is what you make of it. I personally love my boss and everyone I have interacted with in my district. We get along very well and have a very strong work relationship. Communication is easy because of this, and it helps when you need to take a leave of absence, pick up more hours, or even have a discussion about how things could be better. However, I have been to stores where partners have not felt they were able to have open communication with or receive support from their coworkers and supervisors, so teamwork and the culture of the store can vary.

The benefits are pretty nice. I cannot tell you everything they offer, but the things I've made the most use of are Lyra (mental health app that helps you find therapists; you get some free sessions!), Spotify, Headspace, Lyft-to-work, tips, catastrophe pay, partner networks, and markouts. You can mark out one food and one drink per shift (during the pandemic, you can receive these daily) as well as one pound of coffee weekly. You receive employee discounts at any standalone Starbucks (as far as I know, none of this applies to Target/hotel Starbucks), as well as various clothing and shoe stores. Additionally, there are partner networks designed to connect partners across stores and get them involved in the community. There is insurance, sick pay, paid vacation time (I don't remember the rollover policy for either), and stocks, as well as a plethora of other benefits I don't really think I will ever need, if we're being honest, but I'm glad they cover their bases and make sure to cater to their partners. 

I will say this:  pay is not that great. I started much lower than I'm making right now, and I'm barely in double digits per hour. In addition to low wages, no one actually works 40 hours a week. I am full time and work part time hours, so that also affects my pay. You do, however, receive a yearly raise. I am not sure what the current starting wage is now, but this is not a good job if you need a higher salary.

Additionally, it is important you have some boundaries in regards to when you can work. Your availability is not always when you have free time. Know your body and know how well you can function with the hours you provide. I could technically work all day, every day, but I know I'm not the most pleasant person when I have to come in early in the morning after closing the night before. There is a legal limit to what they can schedule you for (I think there has to be at least 10 hours between your shift), but adjust your availability accordingly and be sure you can actually commit to it. You can edit this as you learn.

As for the pandemic, I appreciate how it was handled. They closed the stores for a couple of weeks and came to the decision to allow partners the choice of working or taking a LOA (leave of absence). Those who took the LOA were still paid and received benefits. Those who kept working were given a temporary raise in the form of catastrophe pay. We have been slowly moving back to full operations, pulling back when we see the need to close back up arise.

Finally, upward mobility. It's not that hard... if the conditions are right. First of all, as cheesy as it sounds, you have to believe in yourself. The only reason I have not moved up in this company is because I told my boss (even though they believe I could be an amazing supervisor) I still had a lot to learn at the barista level. If you want to move up, have confidence. Secondly, meet the prerequisites. You have to have trained incoming baristas first if you want to go further in the company. Lastly, there has to be space. You can technically be promoted at any time, but if you have a barista-supervisor ratio of 1:1, it's not likely you will move up unless you are open to transferring. Once these conditions are met, your manager will walk you through the steps you need to take to grow.

All in all, I believe I got lucky with my first job, found an amazing family-like group of coworkers and supervisors, learned how to be more confident and make drinks. My only true complaints are pay and miscommunication of standards.

This job was nonstop stress. From the moment I arrived at work, often past the time I was supposed to clock out, my coworkers and supervisors would yell and berate me, often for things out of my control. I was not allowed to stand still for a single moment before a supervisor yelled at me to do something, and occasionally there was nothing to be done. I'm not a slacker, at every other job I've been praised for my work ethic. But here I was expected to constantly perform as if corporate was watching me and hoping to see that I'm a perfect, maximum efficient robot.

We were not allowed to ever take a second to breathe on the floor, no matter what happened. I mean every second of every minute you are supposed to be doing something For The Siren. Most of the rare moments I stood still, I was trying to figure out what to do in a minute of downtime with no customers, what I could restock or straighten up. But that was not good enough, I was yelled at for not instantly knowing and jumping into action. I wish I was exaggerating.

I took sociology 101 in my first year of college and remember learning the term "overspecialization" in regards to factory jobs in the industrial revolution. It resonates all too well with the positions at Starbucks. You will be placed in one role for several hours and aren't allowed to deviate for anything no matter what. For example, you are making drinks on bar and need more of something, but see it near the warming station. You can't grab it yourself even if everyone else is too busy, you have to ask and wait for someone to bring it to you. Or maybe you're ringing on the register and someone asks for a little ice in their hot coffee to cool it down to drinkable temperature. Your role is to get the hot coffee, however, the ice bin is the bar person's jurisdiction. Your only option according to policy is to place the hot coffee in line on the bar, explain to the barista already busy making at least two drinks simultaneously (as is the standard procedure on bar) and hope they hear you, understand, and remember once the hot coffee reaches its place behind however many drinks were in line to be made first. By that time, the hot coffee might have cooled off so it doesn't need ice anymore. In any case that customer now has to wait at the bar for a drink they otherwise would've gotten at the register.

You might think I'm being overly serious and dramatic about these small little things that aren't a big deal. And I'd agree if it weren't for a couple things... everyone there is so serious. They take this job and themselves so incredibly seriously that you'd think we were in the corporate offices instead of in a coffee shop being paid a few cents over minimum wage (myself, I was paid 5 cents over minimum). I would try to go into work telling myself everything would be ok no matter what happened at this one little coffee shop. But that was hard when everyone acted like we were all supposed to perform open heart surgery or something. I can't stress enough how seriously everyone took themselves. I worked at this job for more than 6 months and I couldn't tell you much about any one of my coworkers because no one ever spoke about anything not work related. It was like once we were in the building we were supposed to pretend we didn't have lives outside the place. Being professional is one thing but restricting people from speaking about anything personal, ever, to me is very robotic and unnatural.

The other thing is that this job is made up of endless little stressful things. That's all it is. I would have a few nice moments, like when a little girl told me I made the whipped cream "beautiful" on her drink. Or the regulars who ask you how you are, and genuinely seem to care more than any of your coworkers there have. But for the most part it was just being screamed at endlessly for little things that were usually out of my control. One supervisor liked to yell at me for his mistakes, especially in regards to brewing coffee. I would tell him I needed a rebrew, he'd affirm but not do it, and yell he heard me the first time if I reminded him. But when we ran out he'd yell at me for not telling him we needed more. There was this ridiculous blaming mistakes on someone else all the time, not just by him but everyone. I think it's the creepy, cultish language they push to use from corporate down to you. It lulls people into a false sense that their company actually cares about them as a person, when in reality they couldn't be more expendable cogs in the machine. They say "connect" instead of talk and "partner" instead of employee or coworker, for example. In turn they devote themselves to this company to get minimum wage in return.

I've ranted enough so I won't even go into my first manager who was probably an actual psychopath, or the one after him who tried to make me commit to 6 months of completely open availability for the same pay, knowing I needed another job because I could not afford rent making minimum wage when they would only schedule me 20 hours a week.

Oh, they also tax you $16 monthly out of your paycheck for the "free" Spotify subscription, and considering Spotify is only $10 a month, that's really not free at all.

Starbucks on its surface should be a very good company to work for. They have a great benefits package, tuition reimbursement for school up to a four year degree, and preach about how they treat partners (employees) as their soul of the company. They offer cool financial incentives. Their corporate culture talks about an efficient and technologically advanced company who is committed to zero negative impact on the environment, amazing work/life balance for their people, and an exceptional customer experience. It should be a great company to work for. However the truth is quite literally the opposite, and no where does this hold true than their store managers. I applied to work for Starbucks in the Store Manager role to expand my leadership capabilities, and while I was successful in doing so, it was only in the face of extreme adversity, borderline harassment and neglect, and with a high degree of mental and physical stress that ultimately led to a disappointing departure from Starbucks. I cannot speak for every market, but the Greater Houston Region suffered from an extreme lack of leadership capability at the district, and regional level. The region was led by an individual who was hired without coming up through Starbucks management, and therefore was out of touch with his direct reports and his store locations. His failure at effective leadership showed in every meeting that I and my fellow peers had with him every time consistently. He didn’t understand our metrics for success, and he didn’t understand the challenges that were standing in our way. This led to a high level of frustration & stress for managers at the district and store level. Additionally, District Managers often times allowed their personal pride and ambition get in the way of understanding the businesses in their portfolios. They would often times be so consumed with accomplishing certain tasks, following made up or confusing standards, or hitting certain metrics that they would completely miss what was actually happening with their direct reports and their business. Then they would get frustrated and come down on the Store Managers for not doing their part, when there was no clear planning or communication, nor was there cooperation from us as Store Managers (and not for a lack of trying). I personally managed a location in the western downtown area, and was plagued with a lot of violent offenders, harassers, or substance abusers. This led to a high level of disruption on a constant basis, sometimes multiple times a day. Rather than help me address the problem, Starbucks was too concerned on their public image, and the DM was only concerned with meeting certain metrics, and so my partners were often left to fend for themselves while dealing with biohazards, harassment, petty theft, loitering, panhandling, and aggressive individuals. Not once did my Regional Leadership, my District Manager, or anyone else in Starbucks take any action to protect their investment and prevent their people, the so called “soul” of the the company, from being exposed to these actions and risks to their well-being, even after I constantly spoke up about their inaction. Unfortunately my experience is not uncommon across the downtown area. The Regional Leadership thought it was too expensive and risky to the brand to offer protection for my partners and myself. I personally had been physically assaulted twice while working here, and while some of the issues rely on Houston Police and the problems going on with the city not upholding charges, it is squarely Starbucks responsibility to offer a safe working environment for my business to be conducted and my partners to work. They failed at this. I also witnessed Store Managers screwed out of their quarterly sales incentive bonuses. I have watched DMs harass and belittle SMs, including myself, for either failing to achieve a goal that wasn’t clearly communicated or making executive decisions on actions for the betterment of their business that weren’t “previously and timely discussed” with the DM. District Managers put highly unreasonable demands on Store Managers, at all hours of the day, and will obscurely threaten SMs jobs if they perceive dissension. The company does have a strong HR process to protect partners, but for Store Managers too much of the process goes back to the Partner Relations Manager and the Regional Director. Additionally, they do not forecast nearly enough labor to support their business, they pay new partners terrible wages that they can’t even support themselves off of, and they don’t offer competitive wages to attract good talent. If you want absolutely no work/life balance, a high degree of stress and confusing obscure work, terrible leadership, and at times terrible employees and customers, then Starbucks is right for you. I cannot recommend highly enough that as a leader you stay away from this company.

I worked at the same Starbucks for a little over two years. It was fairly busy café store. Something about this store deemed it unable to have a good store manager. The manager that was there when I started was ok at first, but it went down hill after we had a remodel of the entire store. She was under a lot of pressure by her higher-ups and I understand that but she just started to not care. She was never on time, never worked until her scheduled time, didn't care about the partners personal needs no matter the reason. Long story short, all of her employees, including myself, got fed up and reached out to corporate. They began an investigation on the subject and the DM personally interviewed almost every partner and after all of the partners had the same complaints, she was given an ultimatum, and decided to resign. So we ran the store on our own for a few months while they looked for a new manager for the store. 

They hired someone that had NEVER worked at Starbucks before but had managing experience. This was a disaster. They sent her to another store for about a month (a drive-thru, which is irrelevant training since she was going to a café store), and she was supposed to receive all of the training necessary in that amount of time.  To this day, this manager is not a barista and only runs around doing "manager" things and micro-managing everyone. She won't take any direction, no matter from who or the approach they take. I had tried to approach her about a couple concerns I had but it was shrugged off. Even little things, like ordering of supplies. I tried to guide her a little bit on when to order things and when we have too much stuff and literally have pallets of product with no home, and she disregarded it as if I was wrong and what she was doing was logical.  Personally, if I was hired in her position having never worked for the company, I would be reaching out for help in every way possible. I would be reaching out to the barista that has been with the company for 15 years, and used to be a store manager. That's obviously not the approach of this manager. She tried in the beginning to get the barista training she was supposed to have, but it was short lived when she was overwhelmed with management duties and trying to please her bosses. I mean I feel sorry for her, but at the same time so many of her partners have tried to help her. When it's slow, she doesn't do training. She can't even mark cups correctly. Any time I was on bar and she was marking cups I would have to ask her what things were multiple times. The store is changing rapidly and it shows. We have lost many regular customers because of it. They would tell me it's just not the same anymore, and it wasn't just because some of the baristas weren't there anymore. It was that the newer ones weren't friendly and knowledgeable like previous ones. They're not getting the training they need. On top of this, baristas aren't being held accountable for not doing things they're supposed to. No one ever gets written up. No one is ever held accountable. Period. 

The manager always brings up one issue at store meetings. "Stop gossiping and talking bad about each other behind each others backs" as well as telling us that we can't talk about ANYTHING personal while on the clock. We can't even ask how your week is going or somewhere you went recently. Then after the meeting was over and all this was said, the manager would be heard in the back room doing the very things she said we were not allowed to do. Constantly talking about other baristas and shifts and how they're doing all of these things wrong, but never just trying to approach that person professionally. It sickens me and makes me feel like she shouldn't be a store manager at all. 

Honestly, aside from her immature approach to a lot of things, I think this manager may have all of the best intentions in the world, but no resources to succeed at her job. She was set up for failure the day she was sent to the drive-thru store to do training for her café store. And she was set up to fail when she only trained for a month to run an entire store with no knowledge of the company. Starbucks isn't a simple place to run. There are a LOT of variables and a lot of knowledge is required to run a store. In order for a barista to be comfortable JUST being a barista, it takes about 6 months, and to expect a store manager to do 5 times that in a shorter amount of time is ridiculous. 

I never had a job where I sincerely loathed going to work, until I worked at Starbucks. There is a reason that so many people have left that store. There is a reason that the customer voice has significantly decreased. There is a reason that I will never recommend Starbucks as an employer after having over ten years of retail and food service experience, and five years of Military experience.

If you enjoy working in a chaotic stressful disorganized environment for very little pay and having everything you do timed down to the seconds, then this is the job for you. As a customer for decades, I always believed working at Starbucks would be fun, because the Baristas are always cheerful, smiling and friendly. In reality, you are instructed to "connect" with the customers, making eye contact and small talk that includes open ended questions to make them feel acknowledged and welcome. There is no time or place for genuine interaction. Every activity you do is timed, and there are timers with constant bells and beeps going off at all times, keeping you in a state of hypervigilance with excessive amounts of cortisol and adrenaline flowing through your body which can lead to developing adrenal fatigue and even depression. The additional constant noise of the coffee grinders, espresso machines, loud Spotify music in the cafe and customer chatter, combined with wearing (dirty) headsets, causes tinnitus and cumulative hearing loss over time. Positions are supposed to be rotated so no Barista is at any one station for more than 30 minutes at a time, yet in reality, you will likely be standing in one spot or doing one role with repetitive tasks throughout your entire shift, which is injurious to the body over time, and offers no job satisfaction whatsoever. Schedules are supposed to be posted 3 weeks in advance to allow for planning your life outside of work, yet the manager of the store I was in would change schedules even after they were printed and posted, often only a week in advance and without personally telling you, and expect you to honor the changes. Much of the scheduling changes were due to the high turnover of employees who would quit or simply be a no show. If you needed to request time off, you would have to give a minimum of 4 weeks' notice or your request would be ignored. Training was hit or miss; some people would get paired with a Barista Trainer, some would not, depending upon whether or not the store manager was willing to deplete the budget of labor hours and if a trainer was available. The store manager at the store I worked in is a burnt-out miserable middle manager with no life outside of their Starbucks store, and they projected their unhappiness onto the Baristas by micromanaging, criticizing and draining the morale of the crew. The pay starts at barely above minimum wage (around $9) and the career path offers a step up from Barista to Shift Supervisor, which basically involves taking on most of the operational duties of the store manager during a shift, yet for only a negligible increase in pay over the Barista wage. Merit raises do not exist, there is a paltry across-the-board annual cost of living raise. Unfortunately, you cannot live on Starbucks wages so this is not a good choice for a full-time career. Yes, they offer benefits to all employees who average 20 or more hours per week during the previous 6 month period, yet what is presented as a perk is primarily a way for the company to retain a higher amount of employee earnings so they can earn interest on the hold time of the money. The free food and drink becomes a negative rather than a benefit, when you realize all of the drinks are full of sugar and fat, and all of the food is full of salt and fat. Everything on the menu is designed to be as addictive as possible - carbohydrates, fat, sugar, cheese - really unhealthy stuff! One of the Starbucks stores I visited had an insulting infographic in thier back storeroom explaining the "effective hourly wage" at Starbucks, when you factor in the cost of their free drinks and free food items. The truth is, they extract from you every penny of what they pay you and expect you to keep giving until you get worn down and leave. It's not the happy go lucky workplace it purports to be; it is a billion dollar corporation that wastes excessive amounts of water, milk and paper and creates tons of landfill garbage. This is just a highlight reel of what it is like to work the retail side of Starbucks. Baristas and Shift Supervisors barely make above minimum wage. Store Managers don't earn much relative to their time and commitment, yet the District Managers and Regional Managers earn six figures. If a store is performing well financially, the Store Managers are allowed to be tyrannical in their "management" and the senior managers look the other way. Baristas are treated like an expendable commodity, because they are. Starbucks are always hiring and people are always applying; there is constant employee turnover. The reasons for that become evident once you accept a position there.

A typical day at my work place involved a number of different tasks being performed depending on what my shift manager decided to have me do for my shift. Sometimes, I would be stationed in one place, other times, I would perform multiple roles and not be stuck in one position for an extended period of time. The tasks I would most commonly perform would be cleaning, coffee cadence/store support, register work, or bar work. Each one came with a different set of standards and required tasks, some more than others. For example, cleaning would require that I follow not just the local laws and health code regulations, but also those set forth by our company's own health auditing company. Coffee cadence/store support, on the other hand, would require that I follow a strict list of tasks to keep my store supplied and our lobby area looking welcoming and clean. Each role kept me occupied and I was never left wandering around with no idea as of what to do.
I learned a lot during my time at the company. I learned how to up-sell to customers, how to be engaging without being overbearing, and how to multitask better and be more intuitive as to a customer's overall wants and needs. I also learned about basic health and safety policies and how to interpret information given to us directly from the company regarding advisories or changes to the rewards program or promotions. I honestly feel that I still learn something new everyday, despite being with the company for 5 years straight.
Management here was hit and miss. Overall, it was pretty solid, but some naturally stood out more than others. I've had my share of both good and bad managers, both of the shift manager and store manager kind. The bad ones usually never lasted very long, or ended up transferring to another location.
My workplace culture was overall, a very good balance between what the company should expect for us to provide to our customers and for what we as partners should expect from the company. Some things have been hit or miss over the years as far as certain events/policy changes, but overall, I've been very satisfied with everything the company has offered and expected and provided for me in terms of my workplace. The core values emphasized not only our customer's experience in the store, but also our experience with them. They wanted to promote a two-way relationship that made customers want to come back and become regulars and enjoy the brief period of time they would visit the store. On more stressful days, these values could be a little more difficult to implement, but they would shine through in the moments that counted. We have a large base of regulars at my store because we focus so much on those values on top of providing a great overall customer experience, and it has made my crew that I work with very popular.
One of the hardest parts of the job, I feel, was dealing with people who took "the customer is always right" to a whole new level. I love most of the people that come into my store, but there's occasionally a bad egg in the bunch that has taken company policies to the extreme. For the most part, these issues were always resolved by my shift or my store manager, and very rarely were they taken to the corporate level, as far as I am aware.
Despite this, the most enjoyable part of my job was dealing with and attending to customers. Outside of our large, amazing base of regulars, some of the more frequent customers are fantastic people to attend to. I know many, many customers by their first names, know about their family lives, and know their drink orders down to a science. They are wonderful, wonderful people and they always make the more stressful days a little bit more bearable. I wouldn't trade them for anything. My fellow partners, especially on my current crew, are amazing as well, and have helped me through a lot and kept me going strong on those strenuous days. If they ever needed help, I would offer it when I could.
Overall, I love working with the company, outside of the few stressful days it provides. The crew that I work with and my base of regulars have ensured that I can say that I fully enjoyed my time with the company, even during a stressful situation when it crops up. This company was wonderful to work for and I will miss my time here when I move on to the next leg of my work life.

I worked at this company for four years. I varied in responsibility levels. I wouldn't recommend this job to anyone that isn't a student whose parents are paying for a significant portion of their expenses, or perhaps someone looking to receive gender-affirming care and then get out immediately. 

To begin - the culture is just off. Quite frankly, it's a fast food job. Dressed up, for sure, but that's what it is at the end of the day. I've never heard of a fast food job using only corporate jargon and crafting this idea of working for their corporation as some kind of gift. Calling employees "partners" because they give out a bit of stock? Seems like just another way to e.motionally m.anipulate people seeking community. Employees who have been working for 5+ years often just speak in starbucks marketing phrases. It's quite off and I don't know if it's something I could properly describe or if you'd just have to experience it to know. 

Managers are given incentives to "meet labor" which basically just means they get a bonus for running s.keleton crews. This means that even though they claim to offer a "regular/set" schedule, your schedule is often drastically changed based on season/store performance. All of the messaging you hear is that it's a supportive work environment, that values the humanity involved with the job, but that's not possible if they're constantly disrupting employee's pay. 

The problem with running s.keleton crews, aside from the obvious reasons, is that the company was seeing record profit until recently. They're telling partners that profit hasn't grown as much as it has, and that in order to raise pay/hire on a larger scale, they'd have to cut our other benefits that makes the company desirable in the first place. This is all without any mention of the obvious u.nion-b.usting campaign. 

They value customer satisfaction over employee safety/wellbeing. Employees are pushed to create what they call "the third place" experience for every customer, despite how rude or unsafe their behavior is. For instance, employees are not allowed to ban someone making repeat s.exual advances to an employee (minor or legal adult) without DM approval, for which you need to submit multiple incident reports. (Upon submission, the DM calls the employee who submitted and chastises them for how they handled the situation.) 

The hours are absolutely unmanageable in order to make a living wage. Sure, you "only" 30-32 hours to do it, but the rushes are so intense (and often lasting) that employees are often moving quite rapidly for their entire shift - making every hour feel like double. There's no where to sit down if your store is lucky enough to have a break in rushes, because employees are expected to deep clean in that time. 

In my store specifically, my district manager fired a 25-year-old, single, black mother in the peak of the pandemic with absolutely no notice. I've heard they did something similar in a new district. This was performed by someone who was also very loud/insensitive about disliking masks around folks who didn't have a choice of whether or not to be around people. 

A couple more pandemic highlights - just to paint a picture of how poorly the company handled the pandemic internally: 
- they waited two weeks past when most people had been told to shelter-in-place before closing stores for only a month. (we were deemed essential to "support the doctors on the front lines") 
-My store had two bathrooms and both were open to the public, which caused quite a bit of discomfort amongst employees. When asked if we could close off one to the public, our DM told us we couldn't because it would "look unwelcoming to customers" and suggested we prop the doors open in-between use. 
-At one point in the peak of the pandemic, the company sent out this "offer" where we received three options - continue working as-is, quit and they would make it so that you could receive unemployment, or take a leave of absence and maintain benefits. No one in my district was able to take the LOA because "too many people" chose that option. Employees didn't even receive any real notification of this - it just traveled through word of mouth. 

Of course there are some benefits to the company. The healthcare, 20 free therapy sessions (which you will need after working for the company), spotify, free coffee, etc. But they simply didn't outweigh the negatives, to me. I stayed with the company for so long because of the healthcare specifically, but if I could do it all again, I would have left after the first year. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Barista 2760 salaries reported	$16.23 per hour
Shift manager 1343 salaries reported	$20.12 per hour
Store manager 103 salaries reported	$75,483 per year
Manager 19 salaries reported	$23.82 per hour
General manager 104 salaries reported	$56,394 per year

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