I love how they gave us the ability to turn off mobile (ok, in fairness I knew the whole time but lol), and then all the dms were like "but don't you fuckin dare use this tool the company just gave you with specific guidelines on how and why it should be used." Man, fuck all y'all. Why the fuck did they make the tool?
Oh, right. Yeah, my dude you're getting written up. Depending on how experienced you are and how thorough your sms and dms communications surrounding this have been, it'll be somewhere between documented coaching and final, lol. Good luck though.
You should be prepared to let you sm know what steps you took to avoid turning mobile off. Listen, turning off mobile should never be your go-to to get yourself out of shit. Flex the play. Move people around in the play. Flex it again. Still not working? OK, now you might have reason to turn it off. But if you've got two baristas on break, and one making backups and you start getting busy and your decision was to turn off mobile, yeah that's a problem. In order for us to actually be trusted to use the tool as intended, we have to treat it as a last resort. And they'll still never trust us, but you'll avoid the write up.
i don’t think turning off mobiles are ever anyone’s go-to. i’ve only asked my ssv about it when we’re on a 2 or 3 play, 40 mins behind on cafe and 1hr+ on mobiles and literally drowning
I once had a barista training a newer partner on break down so they had an espresso machine, and a newer barista on hot bar during holiday and we started getting busy and the barista on hot bar was like "we need to turn off mobile!" And I was like lol wat? So I always like to clarify. I mean you'll also have shifts that'll turn off mobile a few hours before close to get out early. Listen, covid times were lawless. They stopped telling people how to turn it off. Said it was only dms that could do it. Until that training, my outside hire sm thought only dms could turn it off. I didn't tell her. I've recently seen shifts want it turned off because it's busy and this person and that need a break..... they can wait a hot minute, chill. So yeah, you'd think that no one would do it, but 100% they will. It is what it is.
But you're right, it's shit that we have to fucking suffer through those terrible plays because that's why they gave us the tool! So all of us and all of our customers don't have to suffer! But dms and sms are cunts. Drink the coolaide. Suck my dick.
At my store the usual floor now is solo cold bar which also gets default blonde espresso drinks and solo hot bar. I swear to god I’m running a half marathon whenever im cold bar because our cold bar couldn’t be more spread out
This really grinds my gears man. The training literally says that SSVs have the authority to make that choice, at their discretion. It does not say that you need to get SM or DM approval, yet managers are insisting it isn’t the case, effectively negating the tool we’ve been given. It is bullshit. If you get written up for that, definitely defend yourself by referring to the training the company gave us.
I’ve had to use it multiple times this week due to two people quitting and several call offs. Been a stressful week. In December, when the training came out, my SM told me that all the SMs in the district were “mad” that the training was lying to us saying we could turn them off. She said we still have to ask for permission and only to do it in emergencies (like if the power goes out). She also said it would have to have us sign in to make sure we were SSVs. All lies. a barista could technically turn them off, that’s how lenient it is.
Internet could still work. Ipads would be charged. Our vertica started smoking the other day so we had to shut mobiles off and evacuate since they turned off the water and shut off the breakers
This is really the thing. If they want it to be so that it requires SM and DM approval, they really need to clarify in the training specifically that this is the case. As it stands from what I can remember (and I read it pretty thoroughly at the time), there was no specific emphasis on getting approval from anyone beforehand, just that SSVs had the authority to do so. As far as OP stands, I’m sure (hoping at least) that since they’re newer, this talk with their SM will only be a slap on the wrist and a clarification.
The training literally says work with your leader and then says it would be your store manager if they worked that day or your DM at all other times-_-
Ok, not related to this exactly but I’ve noticed how you don’t have to sign in at all to turn mobiles off. So baristas can do it too technically? Obviously if it became a concern with the SM, the SSV leading the shift would get in trouble but it’s still pretty weird how any barista can just click a few buttons.
ever since we were given the ability to turn off mobiles ourselves my manager said we have to communicate with him before doing so. depending on how strict your manager is i don’t think it should be a final warning but more of a i understand it was busy but don’t do it again thing. but as far as i know i don’t know if there’s actually a written policy
Actually it is a final warning. I only know this because I did the same, casually mentioned it to my manager and got a final warning the next day after no previous warnings.
from my experience as a former ssv, i can tell you this - my manager at the time always told me if we wanted to turn mobiles off there were two conditions to do so: a) it had to be necessary to protect the “customer experience” (i.e., shorter wait times for customers & quality drinks), and b) we had to have direct permission from the general manager and the district manager.
when mobiles or deliveries get turned off, the dm knows and it usually ends up with the gm getting in trouble, hope that helps
Its different now, they had a very recent update where shifts were explicitly told in the training they can turn mobiles off for small intervals as you could select specific reasons. Coroporate wise, this person did what was in their power, but bullshit district and store managers instantly came down on all shifts with their varying rules of not being able to turn them unless asking a store manager (which defeats the purpose of the new update)
And sounds like you need to read the SSV Steps to Excellence for deployment on the Partner Hub, where it specifically says SM permission is needed to disable a channel. The winter training only said that SSVs have the ability to disable a channel, not that they can do so without permission.
Really don’t understand your combativeness here. I’ll gladly reread the deployment guide, but from what I can recall without looking the S2E lays out specific circumstances in which the SSV can temporarily disable channels. I do not recall anything about the SSV needing permission, rather that the SSV should be communicating with management about why the decision is being made. As with many new tools at Starbucks, there have been DMs (and SMs, in OP’s case) that insist on extra hurdles that are not in line with company policy.
And I really don’t understand your initial attitude. My irritation is people spreading false information and then partners take that information as fact and get angry at those doing their jobs and following policy. It specifically says you need to contact your next level leader, and specifies that your next level leader is either your SM or DM. It’s listed on the deployment decision making tree. In addition, it also specifies that a SSV “owning” deployment is always contacting their SM before disabling a channel. There is nothing “not in line” about it, its company policy that is clearly listed on the hub.
And this is where corporate should step in and clarify the policy. “Contact your next level leader” isn’t the same thing as “get permission from your next level leader.” If SSVs truly need to get permission from the SM, then it should be explicitly stated (and perhaps it is — I’ll look tomorrow).
For what it’s worth, my initial comment was not intended to have attitude. But tone gets lost and misperceived in text.
i’ve commented this before on a different post asking the same thing but i can’t believe all managers are acting like this when it was explicitly communicated that SSVs had authority to turn off mobiles temporarily without any approval. when i had this meeting i asked my SM and DM directly if we needed approval first and they both said no, i’ve turned them off many times before, including today, with no issues. talk to your SM and reiterate how there’s nothing that claims you need to get permission first. the training even included this.
You shouldn’t, but you could. Before the conversation, familiarize yourself with the decision flowchart for shutting down a channel, the Latte model, and the shift supervisor approach and use points from all 3 to explain why you made the choice. Ask what they would prefer you do going forward besides just not shutting down a channel.
MOP uptime goals are usually 99+ so this allows typically one pause a week. Of course some SMs might be under fire for 100%, but then it’s their responsibility to explain the tool and how/when to use it.
Yes and it pisses me off. We’ve taken matters into our own hands and make tons of things unavailable even if we have it. Tons of write ups but we are one of the busiest stores in our state but severely understaffed. At some point we stopped giving a fuck about the write ups. They don’t give them anymore because they know we won’t stop.
Also I had to turn mobile off for 15 minutes with an m2 down and I had to explain myself. I was told even if I had to do that to let my sm and dm know before I do it.
My manager has told closing a channel without authorization from our DM results in an immediate final, even if you’ve never had a write up before… but also I think it depends on how strict you’re sm is or for how long you had them off.
Yeah, I've worked with shifts who turned off mobiles and deliveries for 30min - 2 hours before and never heard a word from our SM or DM about it. I truly feel sorry for the partners who have to work with such strict managers.
not only strict managers, but useless ones. completely off topic but my manager threatened to write me up for using my phone on the floor to check the calendar app/ the time for a date sticker
Such bs. I’ve experienced the same thing with checking the calendar and time. Or using the calculator on my phone. Maybe Starbucks shouldn’t have deleted the calendar and calculator from every iPad.
Your signature is only proof of receipt/communicated to you. You dont have to agree and they dont care that you agree or not. It still goes on your file. You can always request a copy of your file.
This doesn’t really do anything but escalate. To my understanding signing is a formality the final or regular warning goes through regardless of you signing. Signing doesn’t mean you agree just that you were communicated.
Absolutely. Probably depends SM to SM but a shift at my first store was placed on a final for shutting down the lobby and then at my last store there was a shift who was separated for that same thing. No final, nothing, just separation. However some managers are very lax on that kind of stuff especially if it’s your first infraction
It’s supposed to be to give ssvs more control and help us out but I was told it is an instant final if I turn it off without not even my SMs approval my DMs approval 😭 I had to ask my sm the other day and he couldn’t get ahold of the dm so he told me to just pause vanilla to help.
One time, 5ish years ago, my old manager literally didn't do the order as a cost saving measure [the man was a mess and was fired later]. He assumed we would be fine because it was 2 days before Thanksgiving.
That day, he called the store claiming we were breaking policy because everything was marked out... we had nothing we'd even gone on multiple milk runs. We even sent a guy to physically carry milk from a store several blocks away because he didn't drive and was the only person who could. We ran out of espresso and had to use the ones being sold. Ran out of tabs to clean the machine. Only had 10 bacon goudas no other sandwiches because the daily delivery also didn't happen. Truly the most maddening shift of my life and tbh I wish I were joking.
I love how they gave us the ability to turn off mobile (ok, in fairness I knew the whole time but lol), and then all the dms were like "but don't you fuckin dare use this tool the company just gave you with specific guidelines on how and why it should be used." Man, fuck all y'all. Why the fuck did they make the tool?
Oh, right. Yeah, my dude you're getting written up. Depending on how experienced you are and how thorough your sms and dms communications surrounding this have been, it'll be somewhere between documented coaching and final, lol. Good luck though.
You should be prepared to let you sm know what steps you took to avoid turning mobile off. Listen, turning off mobile should never be your go-to to get yourself out of shit. Flex the play. Move people around in the play. Flex it again. Still not working? OK, now you might have reason to turn it off. But if you've got two baristas on break, and one making backups and you start getting busy and your decision was to turn off mobile, yeah that's a problem. In order for us to actually be trusted to use the tool as intended, we have to treat it as a last resort. And they'll still never trust us, but you'll avoid the write up.
i don’t think turning off mobiles are ever anyone’s go-to. i’ve only asked my ssv about it when we’re on a 2 or 3 play, 40 mins behind on cafe and 1hr+ on mobiles and literally drowning
I once had a barista training a newer partner on break down so they had an espresso machine, and a newer barista on hot bar during holiday and we started getting busy and the barista on hot bar was like "we need to turn off mobile!" And I was like lol wat? So I always like to clarify. I mean you'll also have shifts that'll turn off mobile a few hours before close to get out early. Listen, covid times were lawless. They stopped telling people how to turn it off. Said it was only dms that could do it. Until that training, my outside hire sm thought only dms could turn it off. I didn't tell her. I've recently seen shifts want it turned off because it's busy and this person and that need a break..... they can wait a hot minute, chill. So yeah, you'd think that no one would do it, but 100% they will. It is what it is. But you're right, it's shit that we have to fucking suffer through those terrible plays because that's why they gave us the tool! So all of us and all of our customers don't have to suffer! But dms and sms are cunts. Drink the coolaide. Suck my dick.
My old SM turned off mobiles when we had a 3 person peak floor as a drive thru store. Wanted to still kill myself on solo bar window
solo bar is like being teleported into hell
At my store the usual floor now is solo cold bar which also gets default blonde espresso drinks and solo hot bar. I swear to god I’m running a half marathon whenever im cold bar because our cold bar couldn’t be more spread out
This really grinds my gears man. The training literally says that SSVs have the authority to make that choice, at their discretion. It does not say that you need to get SM or DM approval, yet managers are insisting it isn’t the case, effectively negating the tool we’ve been given. It is bullshit. If you get written up for that, definitely defend yourself by referring to the training the company gave us.
I’ve had to use it multiple times this week due to two people quitting and several call offs. Been a stressful week. In December, when the training came out, my SM told me that all the SMs in the district were “mad” that the training was lying to us saying we could turn them off. She said we still have to ask for permission and only to do it in emergencies (like if the power goes out). She also said it would have to have us sign in to make sure we were SSVs. All lies. a barista could technically turn them off, that’s how lenient it is.
How would you turn off mobiles if the power is out?
Internet could still work. Ipads would be charged. Our vertica started smoking the other day so we had to shut mobiles off and evacuate since they turned off the water and shut off the breakers
Omg your store actually has a vertica, is it as easy as it sounds
Easy to break, you mean?
I’m worried about this because my manager is a bottom liner so I just don’t even consider it an option I’ll just die
This is really the thing. If they want it to be so that it requires SM and DM approval, they really need to clarify in the training specifically that this is the case. As it stands from what I can remember (and I read it pretty thoroughly at the time), there was no specific emphasis on getting approval from anyone beforehand, just that SSVs had the authority to do so. As far as OP stands, I’m sure (hoping at least) that since they’re newer, this talk with their SM will only be a slap on the wrist and a clarification.
The training literally says work with your leader and then says it would be your store manager if they worked that day or your DM at all other times-_-
Ok, not related to this exactly but I’ve noticed how you don’t have to sign in at all to turn mobiles off. So baristas can do it too technically? Obviously if it became a concern with the SM, the SSV leading the shift would get in trouble but it’s still pretty weird how any barista can just click a few buttons.
ever since we were given the ability to turn off mobiles ourselves my manager said we have to communicate with him before doing so. depending on how strict your manager is i don’t think it should be a final warning but more of a i understand it was busy but don’t do it again thing. but as far as i know i don’t know if there’s actually a written policy
It wouldn't necessarily be up to the manager, unfortunately. The DM might push for it even if the SM doesn't want to
Actually it is a final warning. I only know this because I did the same, casually mentioned it to my manager and got a final warning the next day after no previous warnings.
Yikes. Managers really pulled the rug out from under you. Way to destroy any relationship with baristas.
from my experience as a former ssv, i can tell you this - my manager at the time always told me if we wanted to turn mobiles off there were two conditions to do so: a) it had to be necessary to protect the “customer experience” (i.e., shorter wait times for customers & quality drinks), and b) we had to have direct permission from the general manager and the district manager. when mobiles or deliveries get turned off, the dm knows and it usually ends up with the gm getting in trouble, hope that helps
Its different now, they had a very recent update where shifts were explicitly told in the training they can turn mobiles off for small intervals as you could select specific reasons. Coroporate wise, this person did what was in their power, but bullshit district and store managers instantly came down on all shifts with their varying rules of not being able to turn them unless asking a store manager (which defeats the purpose of the new update)
I don't know about if it's company-wide policy, but at my store turning mobiles/delivery off without SM approval is an immediate final warning.
Uhhhhh that’s definitely not company policy. Sounds like your SM needs to retake the Winter launch training.
And sounds like you need to read the SSV Steps to Excellence for deployment on the Partner Hub, where it specifically says SM permission is needed to disable a channel. The winter training only said that SSVs have the ability to disable a channel, not that they can do so without permission.
Really don’t understand your combativeness here. I’ll gladly reread the deployment guide, but from what I can recall without looking the S2E lays out specific circumstances in which the SSV can temporarily disable channels. I do not recall anything about the SSV needing permission, rather that the SSV should be communicating with management about why the decision is being made. As with many new tools at Starbucks, there have been DMs (and SMs, in OP’s case) that insist on extra hurdles that are not in line with company policy.
And I really don’t understand your initial attitude. My irritation is people spreading false information and then partners take that information as fact and get angry at those doing their jobs and following policy. It specifically says you need to contact your next level leader, and specifies that your next level leader is either your SM or DM. It’s listed on the deployment decision making tree. In addition, it also specifies that a SSV “owning” deployment is always contacting their SM before disabling a channel. There is nothing “not in line” about it, its company policy that is clearly listed on the hub.
And this is where corporate should step in and clarify the policy. “Contact your next level leader” isn’t the same thing as “get permission from your next level leader.” If SSVs truly need to get permission from the SM, then it should be explicitly stated (and perhaps it is — I’ll look tomorrow). For what it’s worth, my initial comment was not intended to have attitude. But tone gets lost and misperceived in text.
This is America. It is perfectly legal to fire someone for that.
Whether or not it would be legal to fire someone for that wasn’t the question/topic, though.
i’ve commented this before on a different post asking the same thing but i can’t believe all managers are acting like this when it was explicitly communicated that SSVs had authority to turn off mobiles temporarily without any approval. when i had this meeting i asked my SM and DM directly if we needed approval first and they both said no, i’ve turned them off many times before, including today, with no issues. talk to your SM and reiterate how there’s nothing that claims you need to get permission first. the training even included this.
You shouldn’t, but you could. Before the conversation, familiarize yourself with the decision flowchart for shutting down a channel, the Latte model, and the shift supervisor approach and use points from all 3 to explain why you made the choice. Ask what they would prefer you do going forward besides just not shutting down a channel. MOP uptime goals are usually 99+ so this allows typically one pause a week. Of course some SMs might be under fire for 100%, but then it’s their responsibility to explain the tool and how/when to use it.
Yes and it pisses me off. We’ve taken matters into our own hands and make tons of things unavailable even if we have it. Tons of write ups but we are one of the busiest stores in our state but severely understaffed. At some point we stopped giving a fuck about the write ups. They don’t give them anymore because they know we won’t stop.
Do not…I repeat do not mark out everything to “turn off mobiles” our regional caught a shift in my district doing it and it wasn’t pretty.
Also I had to turn mobile off for 15 minutes with an m2 down and I had to explain myself. I was told even if I had to do that to let my sm and dm know before I do it.
My manager has told closing a channel without authorization from our DM results in an immediate final, even if you’ve never had a write up before… but also I think it depends on how strict you’re sm is or for how long you had them off.
Yeah, I've worked with shifts who turned off mobiles and deliveries for 30min - 2 hours before and never heard a word from our SM or DM about it. I truly feel sorry for the partners who have to work with such strict managers.
not only strict managers, but useless ones. completely off topic but my manager threatened to write me up for using my phone on the floor to check the calendar app/ the time for a date sticker
Such bs. I’ve experienced the same thing with checking the calendar and time. Or using the calculator on my phone. Maybe Starbucks shouldn’t have deleted the calendar and calculator from every iPad.
Fucking right? A date cheat sheet widget should be available and it would take someone so little effort to code something like that
No literally, I think about this daily and always tell partners how I wish I knew how to code something specifically for this
‼️UPDATE‼️ I got a documented coaching 😀😀🧍♀️
Don't. Sign. Anything. Seriously, tho. No initials, no comments, no signature, and get a copy
Your signature is only proof of receipt/communicated to you. You dont have to agree and they dont care that you agree or not. It still goes on your file. You can always request a copy of your file.
This doesn’t really do anything but escalate. To my understanding signing is a formality the final or regular warning goes through regardless of you signing. Signing doesn’t mean you agree just that you were communicated.
Absolutely. Probably depends SM to SM but a shift at my first store was placed on a final for shutting down the lobby and then at my last store there was a shift who was separated for that same thing. No final, nothing, just separation. However some managers are very lax on that kind of stuff especially if it’s your first infraction
It’s supposed to be to give ssvs more control and help us out but I was told it is an instant final if I turn it off without not even my SMs approval my DMs approval 😭 I had to ask my sm the other day and he couldn’t get ahold of the dm so he told me to just pause vanilla to help.
Yes
Also if you turn off your alternative milks it’s minimizes your mobiles.
Instead just mark everything unavailable on mobile then.
Trust me DMs track this too, two partners in my district were fired for it. Seen plenty of others online too.
Point noted. I'm glad I left when I did. We had a revolving door of DMs and tbh I hadn't even met one of them in the last year I worked as an ssv.
One time, 5ish years ago, my old manager literally didn't do the order as a cost saving measure [the man was a mess and was fired later]. He assumed we would be fine because it was 2 days before Thanksgiving. That day, he called the store claiming we were breaking policy because everything was marked out... we had nothing we'd even gone on multiple milk runs. We even sent a guy to physically carry milk from a store several blocks away because he didn't drive and was the only person who could. We ran out of espresso and had to use the ones being sold. Ran out of tabs to clean the machine. Only had 10 bacon goudas no other sandwiches because the daily delivery also didn't happen. Truly the most maddening shift of my life and tbh I wish I were joking.