I have a problem called My Attitude.
But first: some background. When I was hired as a Starbucks Barista, my co-workers were a diverse group of males and females, about 2/3 of them in their twenties working part-time (haha! 37 hours.) and perusing degrees. Personality flowed, along with our over-roasted coffee, the only drama in the store was "lol. we're out of vanilla again!" and it was... fun. Hectic, crazy, and splattered in spoiled milk, my store didn't necessarily go smoothly 24/7, but we liked each other and we enjoyed many of our customers. Then we got a new manager (there was no manager when I was hired).
She brought our CV up to a 97%, we passed Ecosure with flying colors, we made it to Top Lists in the REGION (yay!) and, from a corporate standpoint, she's awesome. The thing is, the partners are all miserable. She got rid of the old crew, hired some old ladies that don't speak English and some high-schoolers whose job descriptions are, apparently, to text, gossip, and pour an occasional cup of coffee, and gets loud rather than actually coaches. The store is still hectic, but it is no longer fun. All every one does is talk smack and slack off, while maybe three of the remaining Old Crew and I are left to pick it up.
I won't go into too much detail about what a week at my store looks like, but I KNOW that the environment in which I spend 42.5 hours should NOT be this bad. (Again, no details. My store is... unique. Like, an assault, a death, and a mass power outage within three days unique.) Unfortunately, these conditions are starting to show in my attitude, not just toward customers, but partners as well. How do you guys manage wring out that extra sarcasm that comes along with working with half-witted slackers?
Silence that Sass!
(17 posts) (8 voices)-
Posted 10 months ago #
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haha pursuing***
Posted 10 months ago # -
I just try to tell myself every day that it's not worth losing my temper over. Stay detached, dispassionate and professional. It's rough, and it'll give you ulcers, but ya know. I also say TRANSFER ABANDON SHIP!
Posted 10 months ago # -
I'm in a similar situation. Most of the original partners I started with have left leaving me and a couple of others with all newbies. I used to love my job. I didn't always like the customers, but I could get through an entire day without snapping or getting upset. I went to work happy and I left work happy and I was constantly joking and laughing in between. Now, people are hard pressed to get much out of me and I am sarcastic often and I'm not the only one of my old partners to be like that. The way that I get through the day without going off on people is just to keep my mouth shut. I focus on my job and giving people what they ask for and just look forward to my next break. I have panic attacks frequently but at least I don't snap on people. My advice: transfer. You're never going to be happy in a store once you've been miserable. There's always going to be those feelings of resentment for all the times that you worked your butt off and everyone else slacked off.
Posted 10 months ago # -
(first time poster and recently promoted to SM as of May 15, 2012)
How have the conversations about your store's condition/morale gone over with your manager? Was he/she receptive to your feedback and respectful in responding?
How have your conversations gone with your partners? Have you addressed their behaviors and let them know that you need more from them as partners?
I know you're not the manager and are not u l t i m a t e l y responsible for the success or failure of your store, for correcting inappropriate behaviors of coworkers, and the like...but it i s your responsibility to openly, honestly, respectfully, and directly address your concerns with the person(s) involved.
If your SM doesn't take your needs seriously, go to your DM.
If your DM isn't receptive, follow the link under the sticky on the homepage for the PCC...
It sounds cheesy, but it's how I try to run my store: turn to the person next to you and ask them "What can I do right now to set you up for success?"
That is to say, take ownership of the situation and lead by example...set the tone on your shifts (even if you aren't the shift).
Use your tenure and your experience and influence to set an example for positive behaviors and hopefully others will follow.
If all else fails, maybe a transfer is in order.
Posted 10 months ago # -
When I talked to one of my partners (15 minutes late every single day, so I calmly offered to call her every morning when I got in to wake her up, told her about the CUP fund / other important resources she could use, and explained that she was scheduled at her time for a reason, and that reason was that she was indispensable and we needed her in on time for everything to run smoothly) she started crying and told me that it was all "too much".
I asked another co-worker if she could help out (morning shift, trying to complete opening tasks) and she laughed at me, leaned on the door to the back room, and continued chatting with the shift, thereby completely ignoring me. This co-worker is one I repeatedly have issues with (I trained her, so I KNOW she should understand her sh.it) and she just does not get it.
I have even called shifts out for slacking, and after so many people doing so many things incorrectly, I get sick of being the nag. Yes, I can address the issues with my partners, but there isn't much I can do if they choose to ignore me other than deal with the fact that I'm now seen as the store stick-in-the-mud. Not to mention the fact that I DON'T GET PAID to babysit. (And I have before, for twice what I make at Bux, so why am I having to combine two jobs?)
As for my store manager, I have gone to her multiple times. I've gone to express concern about a few of my partners and about the general morale of the store. I've also addressed the fact that my SM often makes us feel pretty low, despite our numbers being higher than ever. She comes into the store, and the mood darkens, we stress out, she yells (on the floor, in the middle of black out, right in front of customers) which brings us down even more.
People dread going in to work at our store, we rejoice when one of us gets to cover a shift somewhere else (two tens? we're allowed TWO tens?!?!!?) and so work just drags on by. We no longer take pride in our store, each other, or Starbucks. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that no one works.Posted 10 months ago # -
EcoUnsure, it's time for a new job. I can sense that much.
Posted 10 months ago # -
I'm looking. The job market sucks when you're an undergrad.
Posted 10 months ago # -
maybe see if you can transfer- I'm in a similar situation, except my SM isn't awesome in any way, shape or form. She hasn't done any of the good things for the store that yours has, she just... is not a good manager. I've been lucky up till now, my first manager was awesome, as was my second, so I thought I had avoided the crap managers you all complain about on here... but unfortunately this last one... well, I'm looking into a transfer soon, because I just can't do it anymore. I completely understand just trying to keep your own attitude good but sometimes it's just all you can do to not snap on people. I have huge anxiety issues like someone else mentioned above as well so that just makes it all worse, because I know that on a lot of my work days I'm going to go in and end up being belittled for my whole shift- for things that aren't even an issue, things I am not even doing wrong. Keep your head up and mouth shut- that's my policy lol.
Posted 10 months ago # -
To provide some perspective, SMs are under a huge amount of pressure to drive results in the store and ultimately something is going to give. I don't offer that as an excuse to anything, but just as perspective. We're in a scramble as a company and we're throwing everything and a kitchen sink at this "problem with sales" but it is really an attempt to appease the wall street goons.
Truth be told, SMs have gotten to the point that partner satisfaction and enjoyment comes last to delivering a number on a computer screen. The DMs don't care whatsoever and our only focused on that number. Sadly, SMs will spin your performance management to suit their own job security and quickly sacrifice yours to the DM gods so that "Driving Results" is seen in it's purest form. The irony is that we're rated on employee retention.
What you're seeing is a paradigm shift and it's consequences. This company is nothing like it was two years ago. :(
Posted 10 months ago # -
@VentingSM: I actually do thank you for your perspective, and I think I was hired right after the tipping point. One of my partners, a former ASM, admitted that he was disgusted by the company. Starbucks used to be about the customer, about those wonderful moments written all over our cups and doors and merchandise (and the first four modules of training) and now it's about driving sales, cutting hours, and scre.wing partners in order to jack up profit. I get that business is business, but for a company that boasts happiness and partnership, Starbucks is going back on its own mission and driving itself into the ground. This is the exact same thing that happened to Borders Books. The company started to sink, it tried to save itself by scre.wing the crew, then it just hit the bottom. Like Borders, Starbucks has gotten too big for itself.
Posted 10 months ago # -
VentingSM, you're right. This company really is nothing like it was two years ago. Sad.
Posted 10 months ago # -
lol, I actually witnessed that with Borders first hand, EcoUnsure. It was sooo bad!
Posted 10 months ago # -
Hahah I worked there.
...Oh man, the memories.
We practically paid the customers in those last months.Posted 10 months ago # -
Every year this company gets gnarlier and gnarlier. It used to be so much easier to just ignore it while on the clock, though, since it's just more .. glaring and obvious than in the last five years.
Posted 10 months ago # -
Wow, I actually felt like we were robbing the customers. :| Pushing memberships when they knew it was over, pushing memberships on people who wouldn't use them, telling them all these benefits and then not honoring them. I got reprimanded for letting a customer know that their book was discounted with their membership... if they didn't know, I was supposed to charge them full price!
Posted 10 months ago # -
TRUE THAT. Those memberships were TERRIBLE. I had my job threatened because cafe' membership numbers were only at 57%. Because, yeah, even though Borders' "thing" has always been a free membership, let's add $20 to a $2 coffee order for a Plus Membership that will expire when we go bankrupt in two months!
But not taking the membership discount off automatically is pretty shady. Shame on Borders and shame on management. They could have chilled out a little bit and instead they imploded.Posted 10 months ago #
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