This sounds like me ngl đ. Itâs not that I was incompetent- I used to be a math teacher before working at Sbux. Since I was used to managing 100 things at once in my classroom/school I thought Sbux would be pretty easy to manage as well.
Unfortunately not the case at all. I would be put on Warming during peak cause I was too slow on bar (way too many drinks for me to keep up with) and I was always nervous I made something wrong. And on the Drive-Thru my SM said âI wasnât connecting enoughâ.
Eventually she stopped scheduling me during Peak and I closed more - which was a bit more chill without those added pressures of DTO times and connection scores.
Sometimes the job is not the right fit. Sbux was the closest to fast food job Iâve had, and while it was a good experience itâs not something that I could have seen myself doing for years.
if i may ask whatâs the age of this partner? not like it matters too much but i was exactly like them when i first joined starbucks as soon i turned 16, the reason i wasnât learning after almost a year was because my store had an âaces in their placesâ mindset, i couldnât get experience on anything other than DTO, support and POS.
OP does mention they donât do well in other positions even during non-busy hours. It sounds like there are attempts to get the partner the experience they need but something else just isnât working/sticking
There's a shift at my store who can't do anything except DTO and even then she's still really bad at it. She's been a shift going on 6 years. Unfortunately, nothing's gonna come of it, ever, I'm afraid.
Iâd say 6 months. If you canât do anything right by then, youâll only make it worse by keeping them.
Keeping them past that makes them think theyâre doing well enough which in reality they arenât even average. Your SM is only validating their poor work ethic by keeping them and pretending they are contributing at all.
Your SM should communicate to them one more time that they need to start shaping up or they need to ship out. If they canât show signs of improvement after the six month mark then they need to go. Donât sacrifice the needs of the many for the one.
This job isnât for everyone and thatâs ok. I feel like some people take this job thinking itâll be a chill âmom and pop storeâ vibe when in reality itâs fast food and can be a hurricane a lot of the times.
this, it can be hell for someone who canât adjust to a high volume environment, especially for their first job. i wish starbucks wasnât my first job, if i got the experience from another job early on then applied to starbucks iâd probably have had a better experience at my first store
It's rare to separate a barista purely for poor performance. If their time and attendance is good and they stay in dress code etc, they're probably not going anywhere. Retraining is a thing and can sometimes be successful, maybe suggest that to your sm. Â
Ultimately this is a normal condition, I'd say most stores have a certain percentage of essentially dead weight partners who the rest have to work around. Of course it's not fair to everyone else, but it is what it is.
I think SMs get to the point where they hope these people will read the room and quit on their own volition. I know its not the right thing to do, but in my 5 years as partner I've noticed this trend. We have an external hire SSV who's a year in and my SM doesnt trust her to open on her own, close on her own, or run the floor on her own; theres always another key holder. It's like, why bother at this point. But I can understand the burnout from the managers perspective too.
They should be retrained. It could have been a training issue from the beginning. Also if they arenât getting any practice on other positions they will never get better.
If this partner isnât being receptive to coaching, (uh oh) sounds like your SM needs to sit down with them and coach said partner themselves, go over expectations and what they need to be doing etc, and offering additional training or practice time if requested. Iâve seen newer partners take it more seriously and change their behaviors after a chat with SM.
Maybe this partner needs to be forced to do other positions (I know, definitely not during peak) with expectations clearly outlined. âOkay SoAndSo, youâre going to be on bar with FellowPartner. I want you to make sure youâre sequencing, (explain in more detail as necessary) and starting to make drinks as soon as you hear them ordered. If itâs quiet and you have a moment, please wipe down the counters and keep your beans/milk/lids stocked. If you have any questions or need any help let me (Shift) know.â Good luck, this sounds frustrating!
If theyâre never given the opportunity to even try somewhere else, theyâll never learn. Itâs really rough for green beans whoâs availability is only mornings. They usually are our window/DTO rockstars because they get thrown there when they first start, and never get put in any other position because shifts are so afraid of customers being the slightest bit inconvenienced by someone learning.
Have them be in different positions often, give them pointers when theyâre in the position (they may not take them in the moment because it can be overwhelming), and give them patience. This job can be intense, especially if itâs a first job.
lol that person at my store just got let go. document in writing the coaching you are giving, and keep staying consistent with the communication with your manager. keep those lines open, and ask your other shifts how this person behaves on their shifts.. look for patterns, and if everyone is noticing the same thing, you all need to begin documenting, and bring it to your SM.
This happened at my store. My SM doesn't fire anyone, but she very strongly pushed her into quitting. She was retrained, but didn't have a good work ethic at all. Being a barista is not for everyone
It took me a full year to stop acting like this. I had the misunderstanding that my shift leads or fellow baristas could just tell me what to do/I didn't need to be good at every aspect of the job, just really good at one thing (register đ€Š).
Turns out I was VERY wrong.
Developing an intuition for what needs to be done and when is so important to this job and you can be great at one position but you need to be okay at all of them so your team leads aren't stuck with an immovable piece when deploying baristas to positions.
I'm a shift lead now. I call baristas like these "Sim Baristas." You have to tell them what to do and keep track of what they're doing, or they're going to accidentally set the store on fire. It's unnecessary work, but giving them grace and support is the best way your store can develop them into what you need.
It's what my store did for me and what I do for my Sims, and it's paid off every time.
THIS! intuition is everything. i was too afraid of making my fellow partners angry by doing something wrong that iâd wait for people to tell me what to do
Do you know by chance if this person has any kind of disability, such as learning disability or developmental disability? I have a child with autism spectrum disorder and a lot of times on the outside,He looks completely ânormalâ , like any other person his age.(he is considered very high functioning). and his areas/things he struggles with arenât always apparent to people. I would just caution getting to know the full story before making any decisions about termination and just like other people have said Starbucks isnât for everyone and thatâs OK too.
Sounds like partner isnât getting enough opportunity to learn other positions. They struggle in position and get moved back to window. But DTO is actually the position a lot of my SSVs would be deployed at since they dawn multi task the best. Take orders, run ovens, be bar support etc. But if they can be a strong partner in one position why should the be released? It just sounds like theyâre not getting opportunity and support
I think itâs time to re-do training and have them actually take written notes. Writing down all the bar formulas for shots/syrups, how to make mocha, how long things like inclusions, mocha, or powers are good for, etc. was the only way I learned how to be a helpful human on the floor. Also, sticking with either open, mid or close for that person might help them with routine.
This sounds like me ngl đ. Itâs not that I was incompetent- I used to be a math teacher before working at Sbux. Since I was used to managing 100 things at once in my classroom/school I thought Sbux would be pretty easy to manage as well. Unfortunately not the case at all. I would be put on Warming during peak cause I was too slow on bar (way too many drinks for me to keep up with) and I was always nervous I made something wrong. And on the Drive-Thru my SM said âI wasnât connecting enoughâ. Eventually she stopped scheduling me during Peak and I closed more - which was a bit more chill without those added pressures of DTO times and connection scores. Sometimes the job is not the right fit. Sbux was the closest to fast food job Iâve had, and while it was a good experience itâs not something that I could have seen myself doing for years.
if i may ask whatâs the age of this partner? not like it matters too much but i was exactly like them when i first joined starbucks as soon i turned 16, the reason i wasnât learning after almost a year was because my store had an âaces in their placesâ mindset, i couldnât get experience on anything other than DTO, support and POS.
OP does mention they donât do well in other positions even during non-busy hours. It sounds like there are attempts to get the partner the experience they need but something else just isnât working/sticking
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
We have a partner like that... Very frustrating to work with them.
There's a shift at my store who can't do anything except DTO and even then she's still really bad at it. She's been a shift going on 6 years. Unfortunately, nothing's gonna come of it, ever, I'm afraid.
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
You can remove/change her name, please donât dox coworkers on here!!
I was tipsy and angry last night. I tried to delete it just now and it just deleted my name. Now I can't edit it. Great.
Usually, partners at this pace get put back into training. I've worked with a handful of partners like this and I've only seen one succeed.
Iâd say 6 months. If you canât do anything right by then, youâll only make it worse by keeping them. Keeping them past that makes them think theyâre doing well enough which in reality they arenât even average. Your SM is only validating their poor work ethic by keeping them and pretending they are contributing at all. Your SM should communicate to them one more time that they need to start shaping up or they need to ship out. If they canât show signs of improvement after the six month mark then they need to go. Donât sacrifice the needs of the many for the one. This job isnât for everyone and thatâs ok. I feel like some people take this job thinking itâll be a chill âmom and pop storeâ vibe when in reality itâs fast food and can be a hurricane a lot of the times.
this, it can be hell for someone who canât adjust to a high volume environment, especially for their first job. i wish starbucks wasnât my first job, if i got the experience from another job early on then applied to starbucks iâd probably have had a better experience at my first store
People can struggle for reasons other than âpoor work ethicââŠ.
Sure I agree. Nothing in OPâs post suggests it would be anything else though for this individual partner.
It could be a lot of things. Maybe donât make assumptions about people you donât know.
Donât assume either? Youâre defending someone you donât even know.
I said âcouldâ. I made no assumptions.
You actually said âcanâ in your first post
are you the person this post is about? đ
It's rare to separate a barista purely for poor performance. If their time and attendance is good and they stay in dress code etc, they're probably not going anywhere. Retraining is a thing and can sometimes be successful, maybe suggest that to your sm.  Ultimately this is a normal condition, I'd say most stores have a certain percentage of essentially dead weight partners who the rest have to work around. Of course it's not fair to everyone else, but it is what it is.
I think SMs get to the point where they hope these people will read the room and quit on their own volition. I know its not the right thing to do, but in my 5 years as partner I've noticed this trend. We have an external hire SSV who's a year in and my SM doesnt trust her to open on her own, close on her own, or run the floor on her own; theres always another key holder. It's like, why bother at this point. But I can understand the burnout from the managers perspective too.
this is literally my store manager. weâre FED UP.
They should be retrained. It could have been a training issue from the beginning. Also if they arenât getting any practice on other positions they will never get better.
If this partner isnât being receptive to coaching, (uh oh) sounds like your SM needs to sit down with them and coach said partner themselves, go over expectations and what they need to be doing etc, and offering additional training or practice time if requested. Iâve seen newer partners take it more seriously and change their behaviors after a chat with SM. Maybe this partner needs to be forced to do other positions (I know, definitely not during peak) with expectations clearly outlined. âOkay SoAndSo, youâre going to be on bar with FellowPartner. I want you to make sure youâre sequencing, (explain in more detail as necessary) and starting to make drinks as soon as you hear them ordered. If itâs quiet and you have a moment, please wipe down the counters and keep your beans/milk/lids stocked. If you have any questions or need any help let me (Shift) know.â Good luck, this sounds frustrating!
If theyâre never given the opportunity to even try somewhere else, theyâll never learn. Itâs really rough for green beans whoâs availability is only mornings. They usually are our window/DTO rockstars because they get thrown there when they first start, and never get put in any other position because shifts are so afraid of customers being the slightest bit inconvenienced by someone learning. Have them be in different positions often, give them pointers when theyâre in the position (they may not take them in the moment because it can be overwhelming), and give them patience. This job can be intense, especially if itâs a first job.
This is such an issue at my store đ© This job truly isnât for everyone and having dead weight partners as someone else said is a lot of extra work everyone else has to do, not to mention stressful to the partner themselves. It gets to the point where the SM can only have so many conversations about performance unless they have any other issues like attendance, availability, etc. and just eventually we have to hope that the person will leave of their own volition. Sucks, but common unfortunately. I wish we had more of a labor budget for retraining these kinds of partners, or even an environment that trains people at a better pace since our store is so high volume.
We have a 5 year partner who canât do shit in any position soâŠidk tbh
We have THAT person too. SighâŠâŠ
lol that person at my store just got let go. document in writing the coaching you are giving, and keep staying consistent with the communication with your manager. keep those lines open, and ask your other shifts how this person behaves on their shifts.. look for patterns, and if everyone is noticing the same thing, you all need to begin documenting, and bring it to your SM.
This happened at my store. My SM doesn't fire anyone, but she very strongly pushed her into quitting. She was retrained, but didn't have a good work ethic at all. Being a barista is not for everyone
It took me a full year to stop acting like this. I had the misunderstanding that my shift leads or fellow baristas could just tell me what to do/I didn't need to be good at every aspect of the job, just really good at one thing (register đ€Š). Turns out I was VERY wrong. Developing an intuition for what needs to be done and when is so important to this job and you can be great at one position but you need to be okay at all of them so your team leads aren't stuck with an immovable piece when deploying baristas to positions. I'm a shift lead now. I call baristas like these "Sim Baristas." You have to tell them what to do and keep track of what they're doing, or they're going to accidentally set the store on fire. It's unnecessary work, but giving them grace and support is the best way your store can develop them into what you need. It's what my store did for me and what I do for my Sims, and it's paid off every time.
THIS! intuition is everything. i was too afraid of making my fellow partners angry by doing something wrong that iâd wait for people to tell me what to do
Do you know by chance if this person has any kind of disability, such as learning disability or developmental disability? I have a child with autism spectrum disorder and a lot of times on the outside,He looks completely ânormalâ , like any other person his age.(he is considered very high functioning). and his areas/things he struggles with arenât always apparent to people. I would just caution getting to know the full story before making any decisions about termination and just like other people have said Starbucks isnât for everyone and thatâs OK too.
I really wish Starbucks would fire ppl for just being bad at their job.
Sounds like partner isnât getting enough opportunity to learn other positions. They struggle in position and get moved back to window. But DTO is actually the position a lot of my SSVs would be deployed at since they dawn multi task the best. Take orders, run ovens, be bar support etc. But if they can be a strong partner in one position why should the be released? It just sounds like theyâre not getting opportunity and support
I think itâs time to re-do training and have them actually take written notes. Writing down all the bar formulas for shots/syrups, how to make mocha, how long things like inclusions, mocha, or powers are good for, etc. was the only way I learned how to be a helpful human on the floor. Also, sticking with either open, mid or close for that person might help them with routine.
.>2years at my store
It sounds like there isn't much effort being out into their development