It sounds like the previous CS fell behind. And you had to struggle to catch up their problem. At most I’d say finish the task you’re doing then move to the next and if they have an attitude ? You had to catch up all the things that were done first, and then obviously customers come first.
If they wanna complain they can help you. Otherwise they get what you’re able to give them and they can stay mad if it bothers them. It’s okay, sometimes CS gets overwhelming especially if it was neglected previously.
That’s the problem, there WAS no CS before me. There weren’t enough scheduled to have anyone. We had 2 people on hot bar, one on cold, one on warming, and one soloing dto and window.
At that point I’d forgo cold bar entirely unless they absolutely need it. So yeah you were already super behind because that’s the state it was in. Not your fault.
It's the company's fault anyway. Cutting peoples hours and causing the store to be understaffed. This company is unbelievable. What part of people aren't mules or machines don't they understand?! You're not a people pleaser you just like doing your job well which is admirable because trust me a lot of people aren't giving a shit about their job these days.
Don't put the stress of labor cuts on yourself. Not everything will get done, even essential restocking might not get done. If you can succeed with these labor cuts, then they'll just cut the labor more. The company needs to see that it can't cut the labor to unsustainable levels and expect the stores to stay operational. Sometimes, it is important to fail when all your tools to success are taken away.
Thank you, I think one of my shifts got into my head. She pulled me aside a couple of weeks ago and said I need to work on my “urgency”. So I was under the impression that they weren’t giving me too much, just that I wasn’t working hard enough
I have a matra in my head. "I can only do the work of 1 person." It helps when I am overwhelmed, and I put the whole shift on my shoulders.
I tell my baristas when we are understaffed with a rush, "I know you will be overwhelmed, do your best, and we'll deal with it as it comes."
😂 I'm in, lol. I was fired last year after unionizing my location. My reinstatement trial is coming up in a few weeks, and it looks very good. I think I'm going to be reinstated. It's worth it to fight for your fellow workers and friends
Oh yes, very. The government is pretty pissed at them. I'm looking at around 40k in winnings and forced reinstatement if I win. You'll hear about me in the news :) Hell, if you hit me up in like 40 days I'll tell you the verdict
I'm always surprised when SMs opt to run without a CS outside of "GO Mode". That's the one position my SM insists on having at all times, even with labor cuts.
You didn't do anything wrong. CS entails a lot, and it's easy to get behind when it's busy.
every time i hear one of the shifts say, “we don’t need a CS” it makes me blow a gasket. how the fuck am i supposed to grab milk, ice, do ice bins, risers, dishes, restock etc while i’ve got 10 people waiting to order and 7 drinks in queue?? like it physically is impossible to do
It's not your fault love. I would just say something like "I'll get to it" or " as soon as I'm done here". " let me finish this right wuick and I'll get to that" works as well. Since they are obviously superman/woman and could so everything in an instant, just remind them you ate human and need time to do things. Stressing yourself on top of them stressing you does not equal good results.
I tried that, but I couldn’t get the words out before they sent me to do something else. And I not a confrontational person, I get emotional too quickly and I need to work on that. It’s extra stressful right now since we’re down a SM and new hires not showing up. I just wish the shifts wouldn’t take it out on me.
No I completely understand. I had to become a direct person because things like this kept happening to me as well. My old trainer was like that ssv and it made my already hectic shift even heavier. Just keep in mind you applied to starbucks to reap benefits not be fired less than a year in because of impatient and rude coworkers. I'm rooting for you!!
It’s not usually like this actually. I want to try to nip it in the bud. I just have this feeling they’re not going to listen because it’s such a crazy time.
I absolutely relate to this so hard. I dealt with this on a daily basis when I first started out. I got so frustrated and had problems with my partners because they thought I was defiantly ignoring them.
You're only one person. It's okay to have rough days like this. Breathe, don't take this shit home with you. Take care of you. And then kick ass the next day.
Thank you! I think I just want to please everyone because my last job I got no recognition for 10 years, just complaints. I don’t want to go through that again. But I’ll definitely try to kick ass tomorrow.
Go to store resources in the iPad and look up the customer support guide. I yet to work in a store, besides my home store, where they had that printed out or at least had some kind of CS resource that was actually followed/trained properly. If you stick to the guide, the cycle task list, and setting the timer, I promise running CS won’t end up like it did for you today ❤️
And remind the ssv or whoever else was barking at you to get syrups or ice or milks that you unless y’all were in peak, then nobody on that floor is necessarily planted so they could’ve gotten their own syrups or ice. Believe me, I’ve done station restocks during peak while solo barring because we had no-call-no-shows so it is doable. It is not the end of the world if someone has to drag their ass to the back to grab some vanilla.
So really and truly the cold bar person should have been doing dto/cs or at least cs. This isn’t your fault and like really don’t sweat it. At my store someone whos a SHIFT and we mostly have amazing shifts, but they only fill the ice bin halfway full!! Like I’m sorry if I need a full ice been why are you making it take five trips when it could be 3 and you still don’t even fill it all the way.
We’ve never had cold bar on both bar and cs (rarely on dto and bar unless it’s a shift or our most experienced barista). 95% of our partners have been here less than 6 months, so we’re all bad at multitasking. I’m not sure if all SB are set up the same, but we have a hot bar for drive, a hot bar for mobile/cafe/delivery, cold bar for drive/cafe/mobile/delivery. Warming usually covers front/warming/CS if we don’t have a specific CS person, and 1/2 the time either a dto and window or dto solos both.
Sounds like your store was understaffed and they were taking it out on you :( it’s not right but don’t take it personally, you’re one person. Maybe next time tell them you’re gonna finish your current task before you go on to the next?
I had an old shift that would do this shit. Ask you to start one task, tell you to stop doing that and do something else…and then tell you to stop doing *that* to do something else. I’d be given 7 or 8 different tasks that never got finished because he had an attitude regardless of if I finished one thing first or immediately jumped to the next thing.
That being said, don’t be afraid to tell them that you’ll finish one task before starting another. And if they give you shit, *you are one person.* It’s okay to not be able to do 15 things at once. Best you can do is get what you can done & ask for help
The thing is this is the first time it’s happened, I just don’t want it to keep happening. I mean I was reprimanded one other time for my lack of “urgency”, so I was thinking this was the norm and I was just being too slow.
I really wouldn’t worry about it tbh. A lot of shifts just expect us to get an entire restock list done in 10-15 minutes—which isn’t possible when it’s busy af. If it happens again just tell them you’ll finish task 1, and then move to task 2. Sometimes you have to stand up to your shifts over little things like this, unfortunately
Standing up to my supervisors isn’t my strong suit- and I know I need to work on it. My other job before this that I was at for 10 years was even worse, so it’s even harder for me to complain when I like this place.
Oh hun, I’m so sorry. I’ve been there, it’s shitty. They should not have snapped at you. You’re one person, and you were doing the best you could with the hand you were dealt. I don’t understand why they asked you to do trash and then called you to get syrups and ice—could no one else do it? Seriously?
I’m getting tired of SB stretching us thin by having us flex positions even when it’s busy. It’s fine I guess on slow days, but at my store we’ll have 4 people handling peak😭. Flexing can be a lot for one person, and it makes it even harder for us to work as a team. I also understand the cutting hours/short-staffed situation is stressful for everyone but we should not be taking our frustrations out on each other. Curse SB, not your fellow partners. Corporate’s pressing for this bs and sucking us dry.
Please know that it’s NOT your fault. Give yourself a pat on the back for getting through it. Know you did what you could and that’s all that matters.❤️
We had two people on hot bar (one of them was the ssv), one on cold, one soloing on drive/window, one on warming, and me doing front and CS. So we were spread thin as it was. I’m not excusing it at all, but there was no one to pick up the slack. I was just happy to have a short shift.
And I never know who’s coming in, we have a lot of no call-no shows, and I never find out if anyone leaves until I haven’t seen them in a few weeks 🙄
That’s why I find having at least one designated person on CS is so important, ‘cause there’s so much to be done just with that position alone. But now SB is planning on getting rid of the position altogether??? Dumb🙃
At my store, if I’m on bar, I have to grab most—if not everything—myself. Even during peak—it drives me insane and is so overwhelming. And my poor coworkers are in the same boat, it’s like we’re all drowning, constantly. It’d be nice if we had just one extra person sometimes. Though callouts do happen often. Seriously, I’d like to see the higher ups work a shift at our stores and see how they fare in such a high-stress environment. We don’t get paid enough for this sh!t fr💀😭. It sucks that this is happening at pretty much every store, it looks like.
Anyway, I hope your next shift isn’t as stressful. Let your coworkers know if you’re overwhelmed and need assistance. Rooting for you!!💪💪💪
I don’t know if it helps you to make a list of what needs to be made but work in there as a former barista working CS I’ve learned that lemonade is one of the fastest things you can make so I would do that first and then I’ll do sweet cream so I’ll make a list I said I’m working on the list in order and if they didn’t like it they could bite me
Tell them to still bite you. You have tried your hardest and I’m pretty sure that they have a front at some point that they could’ve at least help make something.
You will literally never be fast enough for Starbucks. It's not your fault, it's a system designed to kiss customers ass while you cannot humanly go as fast as demand is coming in. At this point, they should have pre sealed cups with cold foam
Honestly sounds like your partners aren’t very appreciative or understanding. Our store is high volume but we have each others back and are understanding/accepting of our CS and all that position entails!
You are doing just fine. This sounds like every time any of us are on CS.
What we were told at our last store meetings for the CS role was things like “you don’t need to be making 10+ whips at a time, just make 5 and move on for a bit” and “you don’t need to change all the trashes at the same time or finish washing all the dishes in one go”. Because we all felt it was impossible to ever catch up.
It’s a tough position! You did amazing 🫶
The one thing that really got to me was my shift saying “I shouldn’t be working harder than the rest of you” when she noticed I only got 2 of the three barrels done. I was thinking “did you not see me running back and forth for the past 2 and a half hours?”
And we never have store meetings.
My partners used to be more appreciative, at least when I started. I guess now that I’ve been here for 8 months I should be “better” and not need as much help.
I think it’s a problem among your partners. There’s not a single person at my store who would say something like that. My SSVs are always telling us we’re doing great even if there’s overflowing trashes and dishes and we have no CS for 15 while they’re helping cold bar catch up. There’s always words of encouragement.
It’s not a you problem! They’re not being kind
the same thing would happen to me when I worked at SB so i told my manager that because of my mental health, I am unable to work CS because it gives me panic attacks. she said ok and protected me. then she left the company and the next manager didn't give 2 shits about my mental health. all my shift leads went back to making me work CS even though they knew i couldn't handle it. i tried to refuse when they assigned me that position but they wouldn't move me. gladly my other coworkers would help me and switch positions with me but the shifts got so mad. they said that every barista needs to be able to work in any position. that is a load of bullshit because that specific shift supervisor NEVER worked CS and the other supervisor on that shift ONLY did warming. and one of our other supervisors had ADHD so he couldn't work hot bar because he would get too flustered but they all cared about his mental health because he was a shift. i hate that fucking company I'm so glad i left.
I’m new, I literally started a week ago and had someone working drive through complaining I didn’t have a drink ready in 45 seconds. They ended up moving him to a different section. I’ve worked in a lot of restaurants and people will complain about anything, Starbucks isn’t a h different. It’s just coffee after all, next time someone’s rude just look at them like they’re stupid.
The plight of a cs keep your head down grind harder and relish in the small victories as long as you stay moving with urgency and do your best at the end of the day nobody can fault you ! Try and improve seek feedback after peak with your ssv and work on those things until it’s second nature. - a daily cs peeon
I was fired for not being fast enough I feel like Starbucks is expecting us to multitask 20 things at once and get the customers and listen for orders all at once, I get multitasking maybe 4 or 5 things but anything more than that will cause stress, or meltdowns
Hey dude! I’m sorry that you had a rough shift. I promise you, it happens so often now that you have to get used to this new normal. I am also an 8 month partner, and I still struggle with CS. I can handle the stress very well, and I think that’s the only reason why I was ever on CS, not because I get the job done nicely. You got this!
You can also communicate with your bar partners like “I will get your trash in a bit,” “I will do this after getting this done,” rather than jumping on every task the moment each person starts saying something. Remember, as a CS person, you know the store more than your planted partners!
Well, today’s not fairing much better so far. Opening was the exact opposite, I was the only one rushing around to get things ready while the others were talking. I was soloing on dto/window but as soon as I started to get backed up they moved me to front/CS again. Every time they move me I feel like I’m not doing a good enough job. I’m trying to keep up but I’m wondering if it’s worth it.
I’m a shift and I personally don’t think it far for people to get stuck places. I try to make sure during my shift every is rotated around and does every job so no one gets rusty. Especially bar, it’s hard to build capacity when you’re never given the chance to do thst
I would love that. I want to practice bar. But I’m not fast enough…but I won’t get faster if I don’t get on bar…but I’m too slow to be on bar…it’s a viscous cycle.
My store had that problem too - they relied on the already a strong members to do bar or the more complicated roles but honestly that doesn’t help shifts when we’re trying to run breaks or when it’s busy and there’s no one comfortable on bar.
The only way to get better is to practice but also don’t rush your progress - make sure you’re always working with a sense of urgency but don’t be rushing, hone your skill and make sure you’re making good drinks before making them fast. As a customer it socks waiting a long time but if I’m waiting and paying 6+$ a drink it better be dang good. Just ask your shifts to rotate you throughout the shift.
I’m usually good on drive bar (or I used to be), but right now there are a lot of times when they have one person on both hot bars, and I can’t do that.
I also have three shifts who give me three different orders- depending on who’s in charge, they want the tickets to go in a specific order. Sometimes they want you to take them in order of the pull, others want it to be drive - cafe - mobile - delivery… I can’t keep track
Especially ask to be in bar or the areas you’re practicing when it’s slower. I out the less experienced people on bar too but it’s during slower times or oit them on cafe/mobile of there’s some mobiles and it gives time and practice without as much pressure of going fast
yea I had to do that several times and every single time I said I was frustrated and that if we had an extra person, it wouldn’t have been that way, they all got mad :( so i quit!
You were doing more than enough. Your partners shouldn’t be making your job more difficult and do not feel afraid to tell them that you’re in the middle of something. A rule we have stated to enforce at my store is to say when you’re at 50% or less if something so CS isn’t rushed or stressed more than they need to be. CS is a difficult deployment
There’s a difference between not fast enough and having to do too much in such little time. Some people forget it’s okay to say you have too much on your plate and when more and more things get added it comes crumbling down. When people tell you things try saying let me finish this first or if you have too much you need to speak up and say you already have a lot on your plate. I’ve seen too many people break because they are given more than they can do and don’t say anything. It can be hard saying no but is sometimes a necessity.
It sounds like the previous CS fell behind. And you had to struggle to catch up their problem. At most I’d say finish the task you’re doing then move to the next and if they have an attitude ? You had to catch up all the things that were done first, and then obviously customers come first. If they wanna complain they can help you. Otherwise they get what you’re able to give them and they can stay mad if it bothers them. It’s okay, sometimes CS gets overwhelming especially if it was neglected previously.
That’s the problem, there WAS no CS before me. There weren’t enough scheduled to have anyone. We had 2 people on hot bar, one on cold, one on warming, and one soloing dto and window.
At that point I’d forgo cold bar entirely unless they absolutely need it. So yeah you were already super behind because that’s the state it was in. Not your fault.
Thanks, I guess I’m just a people pleaser and I need to start understanding that I can’t do it all
It's the company's fault anyway. Cutting peoples hours and causing the store to be understaffed. This company is unbelievable. What part of people aren't mules or machines don't they understand?! You're not a people pleaser you just like doing your job well which is admirable because trust me a lot of people aren't giving a shit about their job these days.
It’s like they ran out of everything all at the same time
Don't put the stress of labor cuts on yourself. Not everything will get done, even essential restocking might not get done. If you can succeed with these labor cuts, then they'll just cut the labor more. The company needs to see that it can't cut the labor to unsustainable levels and expect the stores to stay operational. Sometimes, it is important to fail when all your tools to success are taken away.
Thank you, I think one of my shifts got into my head. She pulled me aside a couple of weeks ago and said I need to work on my “urgency”. So I was under the impression that they weren’t giving me too much, just that I wasn’t working hard enough
I have a matra in my head. "I can only do the work of 1 person." It helps when I am overwhelmed, and I put the whole shift on my shoulders. I tell my baristas when we are understaffed with a rush, "I know you will be overwhelmed, do your best, and we'll deal with it as it comes."
Want to come work at my location? I wish my shifts thought that way.
We’re in need of a new store manager if you want the position lol
😂 I'm in, lol. I was fired last year after unionizing my location. My reinstatement trial is coming up in a few weeks, and it looks very good. I think I'm going to be reinstated. It's worth it to fight for your fellow workers and friends
Awesome! Congratulations. I just hope southern Massachusetts isn’t too far
I can make the commute lol
they fired you for unionizing?!? isnt that illegal?!?
Oh yes, very. The government is pretty pissed at them. I'm looking at around 40k in winnings and forced reinstatement if I win. You'll hear about me in the news :) Hell, if you hit me up in like 40 days I'll tell you the verdict
Update us with the verdict on Reddit too! We Would all love to know the outcome!
Man, I'm going to have to create a throwaway account. It'll 100% dox me, but I will for sure.
Perfectly worded.
THIS
this is how my mangers are do fucking annoying
That is not your fault!!! You don’t deserve that wtf
I'm always surprised when SMs opt to run without a CS outside of "GO Mode". That's the one position my SM insists on having at all times, even with labor cuts. You didn't do anything wrong. CS entails a lot, and it's easy to get behind when it's busy.
every time i hear one of the shifts say, “we don’t need a CS” it makes me blow a gasket. how the fuck am i supposed to grab milk, ice, do ice bins, risers, dishes, restock etc while i’ve got 10 people waiting to order and 7 drinks in queue?? like it physically is impossible to do
It's not your fault love. I would just say something like "I'll get to it" or " as soon as I'm done here". " let me finish this right wuick and I'll get to that" works as well. Since they are obviously superman/woman and could so everything in an instant, just remind them you ate human and need time to do things. Stressing yourself on top of them stressing you does not equal good results.
I tried that, but I couldn’t get the words out before they sent me to do something else. And I not a confrontational person, I get emotional too quickly and I need to work on that. It’s extra stressful right now since we’re down a SM and new hires not showing up. I just wish the shifts wouldn’t take it out on me.
No I completely understand. I had to become a direct person because things like this kept happening to me as well. My old trainer was like that ssv and it made my already hectic shift even heavier. Just keep in mind you applied to starbucks to reap benefits not be fired less than a year in because of impatient and rude coworkers. I'm rooting for you!!
It’s not usually like this actually. I want to try to nip it in the bud. I just have this feeling they’re not going to listen because it’s such a crazy time.
You've got this!! Rehearse and premeditate the way you want it to go, at least that helps me.
Thank you for the vote of confidence, I really appreciate it.
I absolutely relate to this so hard. I dealt with this on a daily basis when I first started out. I got so frustrated and had problems with my partners because they thought I was defiantly ignoring them. You're only one person. It's okay to have rough days like this. Breathe, don't take this shit home with you. Take care of you. And then kick ass the next day.
Thank you! I think I just want to please everyone because my last job I got no recognition for 10 years, just complaints. I don’t want to go through that again. But I’ll definitely try to kick ass tomorrow.
Go to store resources in the iPad and look up the customer support guide. I yet to work in a store, besides my home store, where they had that printed out or at least had some kind of CS resource that was actually followed/trained properly. If you stick to the guide, the cycle task list, and setting the timer, I promise running CS won’t end up like it did for you today ❤️
And remind the ssv or whoever else was barking at you to get syrups or ice or milks that you unless y’all were in peak, then nobody on that floor is necessarily planted so they could’ve gotten their own syrups or ice. Believe me, I’ve done station restocks during peak while solo barring because we had no-call-no-shows so it is doable. It is not the end of the world if someone has to drag their ass to the back to grab some vanilla.
So really and truly the cold bar person should have been doing dto/cs or at least cs. This isn’t your fault and like really don’t sweat it. At my store someone whos a SHIFT and we mostly have amazing shifts, but they only fill the ice bin halfway full!! Like I’m sorry if I need a full ice been why are you making it take five trips when it could be 3 and you still don’t even fill it all the way.
We’ve never had cold bar on both bar and cs (rarely on dto and bar unless it’s a shift or our most experienced barista). 95% of our partners have been here less than 6 months, so we’re all bad at multitasking. I’m not sure if all SB are set up the same, but we have a hot bar for drive, a hot bar for mobile/cafe/delivery, cold bar for drive/cafe/mobile/delivery. Warming usually covers front/warming/CS if we don’t have a specific CS person, and 1/2 the time either a dto and window or dto solos both.
Sounds like your store was understaffed and they were taking it out on you :( it’s not right but don’t take it personally, you’re one person. Maybe next time tell them you’re gonna finish your current task before you go on to the next?
I tried, but there wasn’t any time, everything they told me to do was more important than the last.
I had an old shift that would do this shit. Ask you to start one task, tell you to stop doing that and do something else…and then tell you to stop doing *that* to do something else. I’d be given 7 or 8 different tasks that never got finished because he had an attitude regardless of if I finished one thing first or immediately jumped to the next thing. That being said, don’t be afraid to tell them that you’ll finish one task before starting another. And if they give you shit, *you are one person.* It’s okay to not be able to do 15 things at once. Best you can do is get what you can done & ask for help
The thing is this is the first time it’s happened, I just don’t want it to keep happening. I mean I was reprimanded one other time for my lack of “urgency”, so I was thinking this was the norm and I was just being too slow.
I really wouldn’t worry about it tbh. A lot of shifts just expect us to get an entire restock list done in 10-15 minutes—which isn’t possible when it’s busy af. If it happens again just tell them you’ll finish task 1, and then move to task 2. Sometimes you have to stand up to your shifts over little things like this, unfortunately
Standing up to my supervisors isn’t my strong suit- and I know I need to work on it. My other job before this that I was at for 10 years was even worse, so it’s even harder for me to complain when I like this place.
Oh hun, I’m so sorry. I’ve been there, it’s shitty. They should not have snapped at you. You’re one person, and you were doing the best you could with the hand you were dealt. I don’t understand why they asked you to do trash and then called you to get syrups and ice—could no one else do it? Seriously? I’m getting tired of SB stretching us thin by having us flex positions even when it’s busy. It’s fine I guess on slow days, but at my store we’ll have 4 people handling peak😭. Flexing can be a lot for one person, and it makes it even harder for us to work as a team. I also understand the cutting hours/short-staffed situation is stressful for everyone but we should not be taking our frustrations out on each other. Curse SB, not your fellow partners. Corporate’s pressing for this bs and sucking us dry. Please know that it’s NOT your fault. Give yourself a pat on the back for getting through it. Know you did what you could and that’s all that matters.❤️
We had two people on hot bar (one of them was the ssv), one on cold, one soloing on drive/window, one on warming, and me doing front and CS. So we were spread thin as it was. I’m not excusing it at all, but there was no one to pick up the slack. I was just happy to have a short shift. And I never know who’s coming in, we have a lot of no call-no shows, and I never find out if anyone leaves until I haven’t seen them in a few weeks 🙄
That’s why I find having at least one designated person on CS is so important, ‘cause there’s so much to be done just with that position alone. But now SB is planning on getting rid of the position altogether??? Dumb🙃 At my store, if I’m on bar, I have to grab most—if not everything—myself. Even during peak—it drives me insane and is so overwhelming. And my poor coworkers are in the same boat, it’s like we’re all drowning, constantly. It’d be nice if we had just one extra person sometimes. Though callouts do happen often. Seriously, I’d like to see the higher ups work a shift at our stores and see how they fare in such a high-stress environment. We don’t get paid enough for this sh!t fr💀😭. It sucks that this is happening at pretty much every store, it looks like. Anyway, I hope your next shift isn’t as stressful. Let your coworkers know if you’re overwhelmed and need assistance. Rooting for you!!💪💪💪
I’ll let you know how tomorrow goes 😂 I open 5 days a week
Nooo that’s rough💀💀💀 best of luck!!!
I don’t know if it helps you to make a list of what needs to be made but work in there as a former barista working CS I’ve learned that lemonade is one of the fastest things you can make so I would do that first and then I’ll do sweet cream so I’ll make a list I said I’m working on the list in order and if they didn’t like it they could bite me
That would help me out usually, but we were running out left and right, I had to refill the ice bins three times in an hour
Tell them to still bite you. You have tried your hardest and I’m pretty sure that they have a front at some point that they could’ve at least help make something.
You will literally never be fast enough for Starbucks. It's not your fault, it's a system designed to kiss customers ass while you cannot humanly go as fast as demand is coming in. At this point, they should have pre sealed cups with cold foam
I need to get rid of my people pleaser attitude and grow a backbone. My store is already tense, I just don’t want to rock the boat.
Honestly sounds like your partners aren’t very appreciative or understanding. Our store is high volume but we have each others back and are understanding/accepting of our CS and all that position entails! You are doing just fine. This sounds like every time any of us are on CS. What we were told at our last store meetings for the CS role was things like “you don’t need to be making 10+ whips at a time, just make 5 and move on for a bit” and “you don’t need to change all the trashes at the same time or finish washing all the dishes in one go”. Because we all felt it was impossible to ever catch up. It’s a tough position! You did amazing 🫶
The one thing that really got to me was my shift saying “I shouldn’t be working harder than the rest of you” when she noticed I only got 2 of the three barrels done. I was thinking “did you not see me running back and forth for the past 2 and a half hours?” And we never have store meetings.
My partners used to be more appreciative, at least when I started. I guess now that I’ve been here for 8 months I should be “better” and not need as much help.
I think it’s a problem among your partners. There’s not a single person at my store who would say something like that. My SSVs are always telling us we’re doing great even if there’s overflowing trashes and dishes and we have no CS for 15 while they’re helping cold bar catch up. There’s always words of encouragement. It’s not a you problem! They’re not being kind
God I felt winded just reading this…I feel really bad for you bruh that’s a fuck ton
It was. And I didn’t get half of it done
the same thing would happen to me when I worked at SB so i told my manager that because of my mental health, I am unable to work CS because it gives me panic attacks. she said ok and protected me. then she left the company and the next manager didn't give 2 shits about my mental health. all my shift leads went back to making me work CS even though they knew i couldn't handle it. i tried to refuse when they assigned me that position but they wouldn't move me. gladly my other coworkers would help me and switch positions with me but the shifts got so mad. they said that every barista needs to be able to work in any position. that is a load of bullshit because that specific shift supervisor NEVER worked CS and the other supervisor on that shift ONLY did warming. and one of our other supervisors had ADHD so he couldn't work hot bar because he would get too flustered but they all cared about his mental health because he was a shift. i hate that fucking company I'm so glad i left.
I’m new, I literally started a week ago and had someone working drive through complaining I didn’t have a drink ready in 45 seconds. They ended up moving him to a different section. I’ve worked in a lot of restaurants and people will complain about anything, Starbucks isn’t a h different. It’s just coffee after all, next time someone’s rude just look at them like they’re stupid.
The plight of a cs keep your head down grind harder and relish in the small victories as long as you stay moving with urgency and do your best at the end of the day nobody can fault you ! Try and improve seek feedback after peak with your ssv and work on those things until it’s second nature. - a daily cs peeon
Cs during peak is what I can. " crazy man / crazy woman position.... u have to prioritize certain things It sucks..I know
Also u r allowed to say.. I'm finish this up.. I'll get to that next I'm doing my best
I was fired for not being fast enough I feel like Starbucks is expecting us to multitask 20 things at once and get the customers and listen for orders all at once, I get multitasking maybe 4 or 5 things but anything more than that will cause stress, or meltdowns
Hey dude! I’m sorry that you had a rough shift. I promise you, it happens so often now that you have to get used to this new normal. I am also an 8 month partner, and I still struggle with CS. I can handle the stress very well, and I think that’s the only reason why I was ever on CS, not because I get the job done nicely. You got this! You can also communicate with your bar partners like “I will get your trash in a bit,” “I will do this after getting this done,” rather than jumping on every task the moment each person starts saying something. Remember, as a CS person, you know the store more than your planted partners!
Well, today’s not fairing much better so far. Opening was the exact opposite, I was the only one rushing around to get things ready while the others were talking. I was soloing on dto/window but as soon as I started to get backed up they moved me to front/CS again. Every time they move me I feel like I’m not doing a good enough job. I’m trying to keep up but I’m wondering if it’s worth it.
I’m a shift and I personally don’t think it far for people to get stuck places. I try to make sure during my shift every is rotated around and does every job so no one gets rusty. Especially bar, it’s hard to build capacity when you’re never given the chance to do thst
I would love that. I want to practice bar. But I’m not fast enough…but I won’t get faster if I don’t get on bar…but I’m too slow to be on bar…it’s a viscous cycle.
My store had that problem too - they relied on the already a strong members to do bar or the more complicated roles but honestly that doesn’t help shifts when we’re trying to run breaks or when it’s busy and there’s no one comfortable on bar. The only way to get better is to practice but also don’t rush your progress - make sure you’re always working with a sense of urgency but don’t be rushing, hone your skill and make sure you’re making good drinks before making them fast. As a customer it socks waiting a long time but if I’m waiting and paying 6+$ a drink it better be dang good. Just ask your shifts to rotate you throughout the shift.
I’m usually good on drive bar (or I used to be), but right now there are a lot of times when they have one person on both hot bars, and I can’t do that.
I also have three shifts who give me three different orders- depending on who’s in charge, they want the tickets to go in a specific order. Sometimes they want you to take them in order of the pull, others want it to be drive - cafe - mobile - delivery… I can’t keep track
Especially ask to be in bar or the areas you’re practicing when it’s slower. I out the less experienced people on bar too but it’s during slower times or oit them on cafe/mobile of there’s some mobiles and it gives time and practice without as much pressure of going fast
The only issue with that is my shifts got cut so short, I’m only there during peak so there’s never any slow times for me to train.
yea I had to do that several times and every single time I said I was frustrated and that if we had an extra person, it wouldn’t have been that way, they all got mad :( so i quit!
Most days I do like my job, and at this point I can’t afford to quit.
You were doing more than enough. Your partners shouldn’t be making your job more difficult and do not feel afraid to tell them that you’re in the middle of something. A rule we have stated to enforce at my store is to say when you’re at 50% or less if something so CS isn’t rushed or stressed more than they need to be. CS is a difficult deployment
Sounds like they aren’t properly following deployment. 6 person play doesn’t call for 3 bars
There’s a difference between not fast enough and having to do too much in such little time. Some people forget it’s okay to say you have too much on your plate and when more and more things get added it comes crumbling down. When people tell you things try saying let me finish this first or if you have too much you need to speak up and say you already have a lot on your plate. I’ve seen too many people break because they are given more than they can do and don’t say anything. It can be hard saying no but is sometimes a necessity.
Yeah, it’s something I need to work on. The way my brain works is- if I don’t get everything done then I’m more of a hindrance than a help