Although working at Starbucks is a dream of mine, reality is cruel and the job isn’t all that glamorous or fun most of the time.
A job, is a job.
To people who wants to be a barista thinking it is a cool job for students, yeah, it’s cool. But only on the surface.💁
I wouldn’t say too much about my job, but I always wanted to work at Starbucks for their training.
I love doing latte art and I joined Cedele to train myself in latte art. Although I didn’t receive any formal training but I manage to learn a little by myself from watching Youtube videos.
I thought Starbucks would teach me but the latte art training is just… HAHAHA😅
I’m thankful I can do a little already. I see many long time partners still practising on their own during free time.
Good coffee? Making one is actually really easy (for me).
But the thing about Starbucks is that they are too rigid for me. They have sequences and routines that you MUST follow or you’ll get scolded by senior partners. Which is really really really annoying because
1. I already have habits from my time at Cedele and I cannot just break my habit suddenly.
2. Some of their routines and sequencing makes no logical sense. 😒
3. I have to memorise their routines and sequences on top of the 1001 things they taught me.
Wouldn’t a comfortable barista work better and faster than a barista going by book? Flexibility is a good trait (but not at Starbucks unless you are waiting to get scolded).
This is why I enjoy working with people around my age more. Less rigid and more flexibility.
OMG everytime someone tells me to put x before y when I did it opposite, my brain just think “Does it fucking matters?”
Maybe it does.
But will people taste the difference? I really don’t think so.
*I’ll try and post soon… HAHAHA
Plus, there is no fixed trainer. So if A teach me this way and B sees it, B will say is wrong and teach me a new way. Then C will come by, say is wrong and teach me C’s way. Then I’ll use C’s way and A will pop by and say “is this how I taught you?”.
Sigh pie😥 Memorising so many things is bad enough, memorising how to please different seniors is harder.
I still like my job though. Coffee making is my hobby.
I see many people raving about Starbucks and their comprehensive training for new partners. But to me the training is largely useless.
They give you so much background about the company which NO customers would probably ask.
The training is actually quite slow. I never took so long to adapt to a new job before.
Back then in Cedele it took me about 2 weeks to familarise with everything and even did cash registering on my first day.
At KFC I was on my own by day 3.
Meanwhile I had been in Starbucks for 3 weeks and still struggling with POS, their unpopular drinks and recognition of food.
Being a rookie for so long is very annoying. It is not even because I slow… It is because I learn best when it is busy.
Back in Cedele and KFC I remember being thrown to counter during peak hour. After one peak session I’m familiar with most duties because you keep repeating it.
But at Starbucks, rookies will just clean tables and dishes during peak hour.
How can I learn fast that way, especially when my store is usually low customer volume type?
At Starbucks, they sell service.
I’m not good in remembering faces… My manager wants me to remember the faces of the regulars. BUT I CAN’T!
It is too difficult for me. If you want me to memorise their names and what is their favourite drink, yes I can do it.
But recognise them? Nope, I can’t do that.
Not like I don’t want, but more of I cannot. Especially caucasian faces, I always have trouble with it because they look the same to me?
I’m not a visual person… Haish
Also on the point that Starbucks sell service, I always get scolded/blamed by customers.
Even if it is not my fault. Just because I’m the nearest staff to them.
Like once a food item was sold out, and a customer is still waiting for it. But I was doing beverages so I have no fucking idea what is she waiting for. Like, I cleared so many drinks that I know she definitely isn’t waiting for one so I POLITELY asked if she is waiting for a drink (in case cashier forgot to write).
Mind you, it was peak hour and I had many drinks to do. That woman angrily 😡 said she is waiting for x item so I say I will check for her. So I asked.
The people doing food said there is no more x item in stock. And didn’t inform the customer also. So I told the customer lo. X item is sold out, sorry bla bla bla. You want to change it to something else.
Holy shit. This is the time she flare up at ME. Like fuck? What did I do?! I delayed my drinks to help you check the status of your food?!
And all I got was a scolding.
That’s not the end. I see her waiting quite some time after the scolding. So I asked if she changed her food item with the staffs there.
Holy. Second scolding. WTF. I then chased the people to quickly give her her food. No thanks. Just black face. WTF. 好心没好报。
That was the worse experience la. The other bad ones are like customers saying they want 2 but after getting orders they say ‘I only ordered 1…’
My habit is to repeat if they order multiple same items, so please tell me I heard it wrongly TWICE. Wow.
Or customers wanting to change their order AFTER I finish transaction.
I hate those.
But of course got good customers la😊
Once a customer praised me that although I’m new my skills are good. Made me so happy because I was praised for my skills.😁
And customers thanking me, appreciating me and making me laugh. You guys are the best.😉
Ohoh! And once a nice customer told manager there is a bee in the store. I was at the back washing dishes (peak hour… And I was the newest rookie).
Manager threw me out to catch the bee. With nothing but sanitiser?!
Well, what else can I do. I just spray the bee with sanitiser lorh.😭
The bee🐝 is really big. About a new big eraser size. And alive.
After spraying it, it doesn’t look like it will die. How can I catch a bee, behind a sofa, alive?!
Mr nice customer helped me killed it with a newspaper and even dispose the bee for me.
Thanks! You deserve a free drink!☕
I’m still shock how my manager can send me out to catch a bee?! I like my manager but that was the most ridiculous thing she ever asked me to do. How would I know how to catch one… With sanitiser😥
Working at Starbucks have good points too la, like meeting many young people from different branch. I get excited everytime there is attachment partners because they are usually my age and we have fun during shift.
And they usually don’t follow routine too, like me. So it is comfortable doing drinks.
We chat about many different things too. To all the nice attachment partners I met so far, ILYG.
Like after working some time now, I always study the schedule to see who I am working with. So that I can anticipate what kind of work atmosphere it will be that day.
While everyone at both my workplace are nice, some are just stricter and rigid than the rest and me being me, hate rigid… So ya, even if you are nice, I might not click with you because I hate routine, I hate going by book.
I’ll probably write more in future but now I gotta prepare to go work at KFC. I’ll probably write about working at KFC too. It is really different at KFC and Starbucks. Geez…
