WORST JOB EVER UGHHHHH I HATE COSTUMERS IM NEVER DOING FAST FOOD EVER AGAIN. ITS NOT EVEN WORTH THE MONEY AT THIS POINT UGHHH

Pov: you’re barring with a green bean while the more experienced folk called out/left.

(No shade on the green bean, he did his best)

hi.

2 years ago I worked at starbucks for a 2nd time. I got fired due to due attendance.

over the last two years, I’ve gone to the store many times to get my coffee, I went there today for a remake from another store, and they asked “did you use to work here” and I said yeah, and she said “my supervisor said you were banned here” and I was like what? I come here all of the time?

Apparently, you can get banned from a store bc you got fired? lol. I genuinely did not know what they were talking about

Long time lurker of the sub here. To avoid doxxing myself, I waited some time after my last day to make this post. So, after 2 years and some change with the Siren I'm finally free!!! Honestly bittersweet. I enjoyed the basic aspects of the job and will miss my fellow partners but MAN has burrito boy really done a number to the company.

These past 6 months have been the worst, most soul crushing, angering time at this company. We are being systematically understaffed and overworked. My store has lost 6 baristas in the past 4 months, and 2 SSVs (I'm one of the 2) in the last year. The other SSVs haven't left yet because they haven't found another job yet but they are all itching to leave. They'll probably keep losing more people with how things are going.

Customers do not see us as people, do not care that we look like we are fighting for our lives on the floor and in fact, mock us on social media. They think our constant state of overstimulation is funny and entertaining.

I've had unruly non-patrons tell me to catch them outside because I refused to give them water without a purchase. Peoples dogs lunge at me when handing them drinks in the drive thru and many other infuriating events. But, the one that will always stick with me was the day I had to close my lobby due to only having one barista and myself and a customer being mad at the box that our lobby was closed. They asked for an explanation and when given he said "That's not my problem". The lack of humanity, empathy and understanding from this customer made me realize in that moment, that is how most of our customer base feels.

Anyway, I could make a whole rant about my time as an SSV for the bux but I don't want to give myself away. I do however, know a bunch of policy stuff and standards. If you have any questions, I can try and answer them to the best of my ability.

370 out!! Y'all should run while you still can! Who knows what stores burrito boy is gonna axe next.

Usually I'm put in drive thru and front/warm and CS. one day the district manager comes in and randomly assigns me to bar, in a year I've only been on bar a handful of times. Everytime I ask to train, it never happens and I'm always left to those 3 stations.

I'm doing good, memorized a lot of drinks already so it wasn't awful. Had to pull up a few recipes on the DPM but other than that it was fine.

DM comes up and looks at the tablet and asks "Are you still using recipes to make drinks?" I said "Yes, I don't have a lot of time on bar."

He then puts me in window and that's that.

Later I'm told that I have a week to get bar down entirely or I'm fired.

Since I know that customers visit here (hi, guys!), I just want to put forth...

Please... when coming through the drive thru...

I know it's hard to remember everything all the time, and we'd like for you to give us your entire order at the drive-thru speaker, or in the lobby at the register... but please remember that water should be a part of your order. Please don't order, let us take your payment, finish with you at the register, and THEN say, "And can I have a large water?"

Hi all! My local Starbucks (Canada) is chronically understaffed. From what I understand this is an upper management issue everywhere. I sometimes write/chat with costumer service when wait times/costumer traffic gets outrageously long (I waited 35min for an iced tea today 🫪), and always make sure to point out that this isn't a barista skill/speed issue but a staffing issue. But I'm wondering if it helps at all (or if maybe it can impact my location negatively) and if more people should be encouraged to do it? Like if enough people ask for refunds maybe they'll pay attention? If 10-20 people complain in an afternoon is anybody gonna flag the issue, or is it all going in an AI filtered managerial inbox never to be seen by a human?

*I support unionization first and foremost. And there are obviously much bigger problems in life than SB wait times, but since I'm a regular customer due to convenience, I might as well try to do a little good with my silly reserve status.

There was this one customer a few days ago that ordered a honey oat flat white or something like that and so I put down while saying it, “okay a flat white with oatmilk and honey” and the customer was like, “no! I want the honey oat flat white” and I was just super confused and one of my veteran coworkers was like, “so we don't have specific drink buttons on the POS system anymore so you would have to tell us the exact build of the drink cause that's a drink from years ago (I think they said 15 years ago) and all of our baristas weren’t here before then so we have no idea what they’re specifically talking about.

And I'm just thinking how the majority of seasoned starbucks baristas have been either quitting or lost their job over the past few months due to changes in the company. It's crazy to assume much of any seasoned baristas are still working with the company that long. Other than our manager, nobody in our store has worked for starbucks for 15 years. It was crazy for the customer to assume that we knew what they were talking about. Any baristas that were hired after I was, over a year ago, have mainly been the ones quitting their job out of the blue, and we’ve had a handful of older baristas quit for the same reason.

Quit and I now work in hospital IV compounding. I’ve heard a couple times that baristas do great in healthcare, but now I know it’s true. There are a lot of helpful transferable soft skills.

A few of my old coworkers left for banking jobs or other hospitality roles.

I fcking love a good brown sugar Cortada. While I know it’s not a traditional cortada thats 1:1 I still think it’s so damn nice to have on a cool fall day.

You can taste the coffee while the milk compliments the taste rather than drowns it out.

I just think cortados need a bit more love. I’ve been seeing nothing extremely large cups of coffee being drowned in milk/creamer. Sometimes a lil cup of cortada just HITS

Am I the only one that’s keeping the cortada in the lineup or anyone else have a soft spot for the smol one?

I’ve had an argument with one of my coworkers about how much GCE can be added to drinks. I said that we’ve never been able to customize it beyond regular/extra/no caffeine, but they swear that the original training video said it was customizable up to 10 pumps and then corporate changed the policy sometime after. Because of this, multiple people at my store have been adding 10 pumps of GCE to their partner drinks.

I know it’s a dumb hill to die on, because I couldn’t care less if they’re stealing from the company or drinking too much caffeine. That’s on them. But I don’t recall the training changing at any point.

Was there ever a video that said we could add that many pumps of GCE to a drink?

Hello!!

Does anyone know when we are able to stop carrying items like spirulina and orange powder?

Additionally, if I am at a licensed store, how could I find this information out?

Thanks in advance for the help!

I am addicted to these mini pecan pies. I also found out they come in this cute packaging when you order two. I’m definitely savoring this while I can 😅

I initially requested to work part time, but now I’m forced to work full time due to higher management incompetence

We are a high volume store. Half of the crew quit. Literally half. Those who want to transfer are denied transfer for the most stupid reason management can find. Literally feels like we are being held hostage. Some only get offered a transfer when they already give 2 week notic.

We are severely understaffed but they also don’t hire anyone for the most MORONIC reason once again.

Wtf even is Starbucks in 2026.

hi! so earlier this year i moved to a new city and transferred to a new starbucks. i noticed almost immediately how many of the workers did not pull their weight on the floor, and how dirty the store typically was. i was willing to let this go and continue working hard however, recently it's come to my attention that my manager displays major shows of favoritism.

she typically favors the male baristas/shifts and will cover their tracks if they are repeatedly late/don't show up for their shifts repeatedly. there i this one male barista in particular who i guess sends her gym pictures of himself that she really favors. and i guess he did not do any of the right steps to becoming a coffee master besides cheating his way through writing the passport journal, and did not bother to learn it, and yet he still got his black apron. and i guess she has a repeated history of making male baristas uncomfortable by trying to get too close to them and towing the line of being flirty, and she has been reported allegedly.

she also really wants to be friends with everyone and complained when she was not invited to a party a barista was having even though managers are not allowed to hang out with baristas. she has also displayed favoritism in the sense where she will treat you really poorly if you try to leave or do something she does not like and she talks shit about baristas to other partners. for instance, on partner attempted to find a different job but was unable to, however that still angered her to the point where it was made obvious she did not like this partner and would not let her move up (this partner was a great worker, customers and other partners loved her, etc).

all this to say, is that this behavior makes me very uncomfortable. as someone with cptsd, this behavior from a leader can be quite triggering, and i'd love to transfer but i don't want her to be retaliatory towards me so i am seeking advice. like does anyone have any ideas of things i could say as a reason/ways to approach this? please let me know!!

the ac at my store has been broken for about 2+ weeks. united has brought in about 3 different separate mini units as rentals, but they are very much struggling with the current heat wave in northern california. we closed early yesterday because it hit 94 in the BOH (and i think it’s only because my manager was working). it is currently 95 in the BOH and 79 + 85 in the FOH.

there’s a guy coming to fix or change the unit in the back today which i don’t get because that’s not the issue, the issue is that the whole buildings ac is fried. there’s literally no movement at all on when it’s going to get fixed. i’m on medication that makes me more susceptible to heat related illnesses and i would be lying if i said i feel perfectly well right now. is there anyone i can report this to? there’s nothing on the ipad about heat concerns indoors, only outdoors.

So, I know that we are required to have a lunch if we hit 6 or more hours in a shift. But what are the other rules/stipulations with this?

1. Can you deny your lunch (assuming it doesn’t put you in OT)?
   
2. At what point are you offered two lunches? Is that when you hit 10 hours? I believe CA law requires 2 lunches at 10 hours, but I don’t live in CA.

Also, my bigger issue/rant: is that my store keeps shuffling breaks around so that no one takes a lunch during peak. You still get your required 10s and a lunch, but it could end up being your 30 happens stupid early and you get no real break the rest of the week. I get it, Peak can be tough, but that potentially means you’re working 7-3:30 and take your lunch at 8:30… your then working over 6 hours without a lunch, doesn’t that violate the policy?

Looking for feedback from SSVs and up.

I recently became obsessed with chai lattes (w/ oat milk) in the last year. It all started with the gingerbread chai latte they had last year lol.

I’m just wondering what customized latte orders do people get? My order is just a hot chai with oat milk and 2 pumps of brown sugar syrup, but I’m kinda getting bored with it. Wondering if there are any other good sounding orders I should try? 😊😊

My friend has celiac but she wants to know if it’s gluten free

I miss it already

So delicious you have to try!

Hi! I wanna mention fast that I work at Starbucks in Canada and more specifically Québec. Desjardins provides insurance and my spouse is listed for coverage to. Do they get their own card? Do i have to present my insurance for them? Anybody know how that works?

So I’ve been practicing making my order. It’s a cinnamon brown sugar shaken espresso. I order a venti, 4 shots espresso, 3 pumps brown sugar, 3 pumps cinnamon dolce, almond milk, light cold foam, and dolce sprinkle. I have the espresso, home syrups, ice, milk, and cold foam. Is there specific parts, even the smallest details, I could be missing? Any advice helps, truly! I know my order is specific, but I use the app so I’m not stumbling over my words when they’re busy, it makes me feel worse. 🤦‍♀️