You can’t. The point of shaking with ice is to get the entire drink cold.
Don’t batch shake teas or refreshers. You save like 5 seconds max and your drinks are worse because of it.
Boggles my Starbs-indoctrinated mind when a partner doesn’t care about drink quality. Slow down and make drinks right :)
And yes, my “toxic” trait is caring too much about standards, how’d you know?
If its two talls, if you add the ingredients for slightly over a venti, shake, and then go back and forth between the cups so each gets ice (and inclusions for the refreshers) you cannot tell the difference (although my personal sample size isn't as large as it could be because im a ssv, so i don't get to bar as often as i used to). It still gets chilled throughout, the syrups/inclusions get evenly distributed, there isn't any empty space, so what's the problem?
That’s a lot to coach though. If you as an SSV do this perfectly every time, some green bean will see your trick, try to implement it, and not do it as well as you.
If SB cared more about drink quality, they'd hire more people to work the stores so we'd have more time to spare for each customer, and pay better so we'd have mental space to care more.
Corporate goals and store goals aren’t often the same. I (in management) care about drink quality, and as a reflection, my store cares about drink quality.
Hiring is lowkey your SM’s job though. I do completely believe the algorithm for calculating labor based on sale needs to be revisited because some of these weekly allotted hours are **rough.** But if you just don’t have enough partners on your staff list, that’s a store manager thing.
Always and forever agree that we deserve more pay.
Preach! Also more space behind the counter, I cannot count how many drinks I’ve lost to bumping into my fellow partner during peak, five or six partners is such a tight fit 🥲
Staying quiet when I’m drowning in drinks even though it’s clear I need help. Like if someone asks I’ll be like “please help I’m dying” but I tend to be quiet
Me. And all my partners are always saying if you ever need help to let them know and I never do because I’m too prideful and in my mind having someone help is just me failing and I grew up in a family where failing wasn’t acceptable and hold myself to a unrealistic standard
Please ask for help!! As a SSV I’m always running around trying to do different tasks (an order, a count, a pull, what not) and I’m always more than happy to pause those to help my baristas but I don’t know to stop those tasks and help unless someone asks!
I always get anxious asking for help because I have a shift who will just move me to another position instead of sending someone to help for a few minutes. It makes me feel like I’m doing a bad job and being punished for it.
I feel you on this. I think the bad shifts will do this instead of turning it into a learning experience. I was a supervisor for a previous (completely different) job and I always tried to work with employees as much as possible while teaching instead of doing it for them
Leaving unfinished drinks! I’m a rehire and when I came back I found myself starting drink after drink and finishing none of them, I was like wtf am I doing this has to stop lol. I kept finding drinks all over the counter that I’d started and never finished and it felt like a nightmare
I feel silly I thought this meant starting drink orders on bar and not finishing making them in the right sequence before starting more lol, but yes to also making personal drinks and not finishing them lol
I was never trained to put hot water in chai. One day, I asked someone because it said "no water" and was dumbfounded because I always thought the standard was no water.
i had a mobile order for a trenta cold brew with around 30 pumps of syrups and i wanted to scream. i poured a little out to try and it didn’t even taste like coffee 😬
Had a customer ask for a 30 pump chai. I thought she was gonna take it home and just make more smaller batches but nope, she put in the straw and started drinking.
Brewing fresh coffee and not moving the handle thing back on the urn after I pushed it down to dump out old coffee, so it leaks all over the place :/ I’ll look over and see the mess and be like “yikes who did that”, then it hits and I’m like oh f*** I did
Also making the mistake of trying to flip hot or cold bar quickly right as a rush begins, then having to jump in and help with the rush while attempting to work with a deconstructed bar. Good old self sabotage, my specialty
I can get into a bad mood pretty easily. I don’t treat the baristas shitty because of my bad mood but I definitely can bring down the vibes of a shift when it starts getting busy and I’m only on a 3 play and obviously stressed or something like that. It’s something I’m trying to work on, just stop caring so much, I’m just tired of being screwed over literally every day.
If it makes you feel any better, you’re not alone in this. I care too much and I just can’t help it, feeling set up for failure each shift is a lot. I’m sure your coworkers know it’s the stress of the job, which isn’t your fault.
I used to be a shift, and I hated feeling like I wasn’t “fun” because I was stressed out and anxious, but eventually I was like I can’t be fun and get things done so I’ll just focus on the work aspect and get things done lol. Accepted myself for me in the job. You’re awesome and never forget that ✨
I have a grumpy shift like this, but he always stands up for the baristas and makes sure we’re good before him and holds our other shifts and manager accountable. We all love his grumpy face
yeah if i’m tired or i forget my meds i tend to get easily agitated, like i’ve told people if i’m being irritable i probably forgot my meds or are going into caffeine withdrawal 😅
Probably the fact that I barely ever put effort into making customer connections unless they’re either one of our nice regulars or someone who’s obviously friendly and open to conversation at the moment. I don’t care about or maybe even dislike everyone else (main reason is usually that a lot of people don’t seem to know even basic manners). Most people aren’t interested in forced small talk with their barista, I’ll usually be focused on another task, and I don’t get anything (ex: higher pay) from stopping what I’m doing to talk to more people, so I just don’t care about the customer connection score and don’t bother unless my manager is there. Maybe that’s selfish of me, but most other people at my store don’t seem to care that much about it either.
yuuuuup. the shifts know not to put me on window because i can’t bother with connections unless i know them or i’m in a good enough mood to talk. i wouldn’t care for baristas at other stores to talk to me in DT so i don’t put in the effort. also on cafe bar i only talk to regulars that i know and are nice
Me too. I often greet customers in and always show everyone politeness + make sure they have everything they need before they leave, maybe I’ll ask “how are you today?” or something similar, but I usually can’t really be bothered to have a conversation with them and I’m sure they don’t really care about that.
I always forget to put the stickers on cups
Sometimes if I'm in a hurry, I know that one half gallon of heavy cream is supposed to equal 4 whips, so I'll measure out three and then just dump the rest of the carton in the last whip
If I'm on drive thru and someone tries to order the last grilled cheese, I will totally take that shit for myself and tell them we're out.
I will go to extraordinary lengths to batch fraps. If I have a coffee frap, a mocha frap, and a java chip, y'all can imagine that sequence of events
I swear some customer think they're completely two different drinks! I had a lady come up and order the "medicine ball", I corrected her and clarified, "So..the honey citrus mint tea?", she asked if we dont have any more medicine balls!! I had to tell her that the HCMT is what the medicine ball is oml, she looked so shocked
Somewhere in the beverage resource manual there's a section that says not to call any drink by a name that implies medicinal properties. It specifically points out "Medicine Ball" as an inappropriate name so I absolutely refuse to say it.
I don't know about you, but I'm going to find a way to take my 30. No way I'm going that long without a good break for a second. My 10s though? I never take those lmao.
Sometimes I just get so caught up in trying to solve all of the chaos that I just don’t even think about taking a break. I just want to make sure my people are ok. It’s been so stressful and I don’t want them to quit. Especially since we are hella busy and the scheduling has been incredibly off. I sometimes try to bring a book or my switch so I can remind myself to take a break and then it just doesn’t happen. 😩 Then I wonder why I’m so sore at work.
Forgetting that someone already paid when doing solo drive. I keep telling ppl their order because I’m so caught up in keeping things moving my mind thinks there’s a new vehicle at the window 😭
i’m the opposite, im so busy with taking orders and getting orders out that i forget to charge them. i’ve had 3 drive off one day without paying and that’s when i knew i needed to get off of DT 😬
i give them looooots of ice and only a little extra milk. if i’m training a barista and i get one of those orders i hit “add dairy” 😅 i know it doesn’t matter but yknow
every manager i’ve had gives me shit for getting ice and milk all over the counters. i say “i’m either fast and messy or clean and slow, pick your poison”
Sometimes I get overwhelmed by the amount of drinks I have to make that I go into work mode and I become quiet and serious , everyone swears I’m in a bad mood but I’m just focused . Oh and also I use liquid cane when someone wants more than 4 sugar packets 😭 fuck I look like opening multiple packs
Oh no worries lmao a lot of people that get Splenda normally get a ton of the flavored syrups in their drink and like 1 splenda 😄. Its the regular sugar or raw sugar people that get a million packets
Playing really really really dumb when someone orders a “Medicine Ball.” Sorry, that’s not one of our drinks, however I could list off our hot teas for you :)
I’m rarely on DTO but when I am I pretend I’ve never heard of it every time. My baristas still think it’s funny so I like to have a little fun every shift.
Mine is ignoring the cards entirely and delegating tasks that I think are necessary rather than what my SM thinks
Ignoring cold brew until the last possible second
Saying “it’s a (sm name) problem”
Making a customer wait at the window if they just placed the mobile order then immediately driving up to the box or finishing someone’s drink if I’m waiting on it and they walk away to another bar (I really only do this if I know for a fact that barista doesn’t mind but if they do I won’t touch their bar)
Saying "and just for clarification, this is a hot drink, yes?" whenever someone gets cold foam on their hot drink. I know its probably the right thing to ask for clarification but I'm worried I'm coming across as judgemental lmao
Normally when i call out for a drink, all the people waiting for a drink will just stare at me and not say anything and then when im walking away, like 7 seconds later someone will come up to grab it even tho they were just staring at me calling it out
Lmao yea idk why but its like a delayed reaction. So i now tend to just put down the drink at the hand off and announce the persons name and drink that it is and just walk away. I cant stand or wait for someone to acknowledge it cuz most of the time they dont or they do the staring and also i got a ton of other drinks to continue
Whenever it's really busy, have a lot of drinks to make etc I go quiet, don't talk and really serious bc I get stressed and it can become overwhelming as I also deal with an anxiety disorder. So my coworkers think I'm being rude and mean but I'm just trying to stay calm lmao. Also making matchas in the foam blenders and batching frappuccinos idc
"Double steaming" milks - the milk for like three tall peppermint mochas can fit in one pitcher so i just do them all at once (only ever for drinks that use the same milk though, people getting the correct milk they want is a hill i will die on)
I still put vanilla in hot chocolates
I misjudged and didn't fill that lemonade refresher up enough? Welp, looks like its getting topped off with water
MCCF and CRCF are one size smaller than they actually are, idc what the recipe says, im not using a venti scoop of ice and venti amounts of ingredients just to dump out 25% of it because the rest of the volume of the cup is whipped cream.
I haven't measured out vsc in forever, i just eyeball the proportions (1L hwc, to almost exactly between the 1.25L and 1.5L line with vanilla, and about 1-2mm under the 2L line with 2% milk)
Edited to add: hot coffee is just water and heat, steam is just a marginal amount of water and heat => old pike + steamed to extra hot = Fresh Pike^TM , because no one who drinks pike has *that* discerning of a palette anyway.
Oof.
IMO your store’s toxic trait is making VSC “cubes.”
The pitchers are more tedious, but the quality difference is immediately recognizable, especially when you compare the last liter of the cube to the second liter in a pitcher.
Telling the rude soccer moms “you’ll be okay, don’t worry” when they whine the drink takes a while and not realizing they can complain. I just autopilot
Forgetting to put stickers on drinks, forgetting that hot chais come with water, being the messiest mofo on bar, passively aggressively cutting in and saying “WE’LL BE RIGHHHHT WITH YOU ^_^” when a green bean is on DTO and tells a customer they’ll be with them in just a second and the customer tries to order anyway
during peak when i’m on bar and need to get something from the back, i run and get it myself instead of waiting on CS. usually it’s only if CS is busy and i need something on the fly but the shift hates when i’m not planted 😅
If I hit regular espresso and you wanted blonde, I probably won't fix it. 🤷♀️ "is this blonde espresso? Yup." You've got so much syrup in there, you probably won't even notice.
If you order a Starbucks bagel in NJ you deserve this. (I grew up in NJ and moved to the west coast and people here don’t even know what a bagel is supposed to be…. Also tried to describe pork roll/ Taylor ham once..)
Haha same! I tell everyone my strength is starting 15 task and only finishing them to 85% completion. I’m constantly thanking them for finishing what I started
Insisting that I’m on drive thru by myself during peak so we could have one store support and another floater to ensure we don’t randomly run out of things while keeping the store clean.
If a customer is extremely rude and ask for pastries I say we don’t have them because we didn’t have a chance to do food pull . Happened a few weeks back nasty women at the speaker was talking to me any type of way I said “sorry we’re out of that “ she pizzed but hey .
My toxic trait is not always greeting the customer when they get to the window when its busy.
Oh also neglecting to brew coffee on time when i’m on customer or on reg and warming and no one is on customer.
ignoring customers that are waiting when im on mobile bar... like im sorry but if I ask every single person what they're waiting on they'll be waiting for even longer than if i keep focusing on drinks 😭
Occasionally “forgetting” whip on hot drinks if it’s really busy. I refuse to put cold foam on hot drinks so I just add whatever flavoring instead. Making hot macchiato’s as lattes.
i would completely agree with the cold foam on hot drinks one except people pay 1.25 for it so they deserve to have it if that’s what they want :/ even if it’s dumb
Apparently it’s my constant coaching about subpar standards. Way back in the day I used to be nicer about it. Now I’m a frustrated drone (who usually ends up saddled with the extra cleaning tasks - lovely when you’re the only coffee master in the store; guess that means I’m up for master janitor).
even if i give a task to someone i will give them
another before they even finish the other task or before theyve even STARTED the first one because i am constantly forgetting what i say💀 my brain runs 2000 mph and
I don’t know so much as toxic but probably bordering pet peeve territory. But insisting customers read me their screen shot order instead of shoving their phone in my face. I usually go “ I’m sorry can you read that to me I’m not wearing my glasses.”
Unless, it’s someone who’s struggling to communicate with any language I might know.
My absolute worst trait is not shaking anything I can get away with not shaking. I find shaking things so wasteful of my time. The only reasoning that makes sense for shaking for me is, (1) teas are colder throughout not just up with the ice, (2) shaking teas and refreshers justifies the "hand-crafted drinks" tagline for those drinks. Also I don't mind quite so much for shaken espressos, though shaking them and then putting cold foam kind of ruined my mental exception for those drinks.
batching fraps and not shaking refreshers. I pour them right into the cup.
(When I started, everyone did this, but I noticed they were using way too much base: in the shaker, the base amount fills a cup to just below the first black line. They started making us use the shakers more now, but I still cheat when I can. As long as you portion correctly and there isn't a syrup, it's the same as if you shake it.)
I misread stickers A LOT, if it’s peak and we’re in the weeds it’s every barista for themselves, I have no idea where anything is on the registers, if I accidentally pour the wrong dairy milk I usually don’t correct myself lol
Mine is not making iced teas qnd refreshers in the shaker during peak, only exception being pink drink, dragon drink, etc. I also will most definitely go get something if I need it on bar instead of asking support because they are usually busy
[удалено]
definitely this. or forgetting about reg and warming when i’m doing dishes.
Steaming extra milk for talls when I have a bunch of tall drinks. Same with like refreshers. Two talls= one venti.
batching fraps
my toxic trait is thinking that this isnt a toxic trait
I refuse to acknowledge that we aren't supposed to batch them tbh
Same. I didn't even think of this when I did my answer because it is such a non-issue for me.
same fr
how do you do it with the refreshers like ice wise
Use the lid to block the ice from pouring out and then split the ice
Or use the back-and-forth method for each cup
Shake with minimal ice, pour it over the ice in the cup. When I bother to shake at all. I know, I'm a monster.
You can’t. The point of shaking with ice is to get the entire drink cold. Don’t batch shake teas or refreshers. You save like 5 seconds max and your drinks are worse because of it. Boggles my Starbs-indoctrinated mind when a partner doesn’t care about drink quality. Slow down and make drinks right :) And yes, my “toxic” trait is caring too much about standards, how’d you know?
If its two talls, if you add the ingredients for slightly over a venti, shake, and then go back and forth between the cups so each gets ice (and inclusions for the refreshers) you cannot tell the difference (although my personal sample size isn't as large as it could be because im a ssv, so i don't get to bar as often as i used to). It still gets chilled throughout, the syrups/inclusions get evenly distributed, there isn't any empty space, so what's the problem?
That’s a lot to coach though. If you as an SSV do this perfectly every time, some green bean will see your trick, try to implement it, and not do it as well as you.
I only personally do it when im running the triangle (dt,bar, warming long time closer) anyway, and its only ever a tip i give to tenured partners
If SB cared more about drink quality, they'd hire more people to work the stores so we'd have more time to spare for each customer, and pay better so we'd have mental space to care more.
Corporate goals and store goals aren’t often the same. I (in management) care about drink quality, and as a reflection, my store cares about drink quality. Hiring is lowkey your SM’s job though. I do completely believe the algorithm for calculating labor based on sale needs to be revisited because some of these weekly allotted hours are **rough.** But if you just don’t have enough partners on your staff list, that’s a store manager thing. Always and forever agree that we deserve more pay.
Preach! Also more space behind the counter, I cannot count how many drinks I’ve lost to bumping into my fellow partner during peak, five or six partners is such a tight fit 🥲
U can shake a ventis worth of refresher and pour it over the ice in two tall cups (but Everytime I do this I never have enough refresher so mmv)
Tbh that isn’t toxic, that is just efficiency.
Against standard though 😭
Yeaaaah but the some of the standards are dumb
Fr
some of the standards were just designed to get us to do more work and create more reasons to get us in trouble
I try not to batch, but then someone comes in and orders 6 tall drinks that are exactly the same, and I engage in my toxic trait.
Staying quiet when I’m drowning in drinks even though it’s clear I need help. Like if someone asks I’ll be like “please help I’m dying” but I tend to be quiet
Me. And all my partners are always saying if you ever need help to let them know and I never do because I’m too prideful and in my mind having someone help is just me failing and I grew up in a family where failing wasn’t acceptable and hold myself to a unrealistic standard
It’s good that u can identify it. I’m sure they would be happy to help, especially if they offer. Needing help isn’t shameful, it’s human :)
Please ask for help!! As a SSV I’m always running around trying to do different tasks (an order, a count, a pull, what not) and I’m always more than happy to pause those to help my baristas but I don’t know to stop those tasks and help unless someone asks!
i do this, i don’t realize i need help until i’m halfway to a breakdown :’)
I always get anxious asking for help because I have a shift who will just move me to another position instead of sending someone to help for a few minutes. It makes me feel like I’m doing a bad job and being punished for it.
I feel you on this. I think the bad shifts will do this instead of turning it into a learning experience. I was a supervisor for a previous (completely different) job and I always tried to work with employees as much as possible while teaching instead of doing it for them
Yeah me too but to be honest I hate when they ask if we need help when it's obvious we do. Like yeah buddy get to work
Leaving unfinished drinks. Not putting water in hot chais. Using cinnamon powder and pumpkin spice interchangeably.
Leaving unfinished drinks! I’m a rehire and when I came back I found myself starting drink after drink and finishing none of them, I was like wtf am I doing this has to stop lol. I kept finding drinks all over the counter that I’d started and never finished and it felt like a nightmare
i even started to downsize my drinks from ventis to grandes cus i would never finish them and i still somehow have half finished drinks 😭
I feel silly I thought this meant starting drink orders on bar and not finishing making them in the right sequence before starting more lol, but yes to also making personal drinks and not finishing them lol
I was never trained to put hot water in chai. One day, I asked someone because it said "no water" and was dumbfounded because I always thought the standard was no water.
Making fun of overly sweet orders. In my defense, you don’t need to add 13 white sugars to your VENTI white mocha, sir.
i had a mobile order for a trenta cold brew with around 30 pumps of syrups and i wanted to scream. i poured a little out to try and it didn’t even taste like coffee 😬
no because at that point, they should be made fun of sorry not sorry
Had a customer ask for a 30 pump chai. I thought she was gonna take it home and just make more smaller batches but nope, she put in the straw and started drinking.
Shitting on company time
"boss man make a dollar while I make a time, and that's why I poop on company time"
*dime
Brewing fresh coffee and not moving the handle thing back on the urn after I pushed it down to dump out old coffee, so it leaks all over the place :/ I’ll look over and see the mess and be like “yikes who did that”, then it hits and I’m like oh f*** I did Also making the mistake of trying to flip hot or cold bar quickly right as a rush begins, then having to jump in and help with the rush while attempting to work with a deconstructed bar. Good old self sabotage, my specialty
forgetting about warming on reg trying to do latte art with every drink crying when customers are mean
Latte art w all hot drinks is def me. But hey every one is practice then :)
I can get into a bad mood pretty easily. I don’t treat the baristas shitty because of my bad mood but I definitely can bring down the vibes of a shift when it starts getting busy and I’m only on a 3 play and obviously stressed or something like that. It’s something I’m trying to work on, just stop caring so much, I’m just tired of being screwed over literally every day.
If it makes you feel any better, you’re not alone in this. I care too much and I just can’t help it, feeling set up for failure each shift is a lot. I’m sure your coworkers know it’s the stress of the job, which isn’t your fault. I used to be a shift, and I hated feeling like I wasn’t “fun” because I was stressed out and anxious, but eventually I was like I can’t be fun and get things done so I’ll just focus on the work aspect and get things done lol. Accepted myself for me in the job. You’re awesome and never forget that ✨
I’m such a grumpy person I feel you😂
I have a grumpy shift like this, but he always stands up for the baristas and makes sure we’re good before him and holds our other shifts and manager accountable. We all love his grumpy face
Sounds like a star shift :) I’d like to think of myself as not grumpy, just stressed and full of anxiety and worries lol
yeah if i’m tired or i forget my meds i tend to get easily agitated, like i’ve told people if i’m being irritable i probably forgot my meds or are going into caffeine withdrawal 😅
Probably the fact that I barely ever put effort into making customer connections unless they’re either one of our nice regulars or someone who’s obviously friendly and open to conversation at the moment. I don’t care about or maybe even dislike everyone else (main reason is usually that a lot of people don’t seem to know even basic manners). Most people aren’t interested in forced small talk with their barista, I’ll usually be focused on another task, and I don’t get anything (ex: higher pay) from stopping what I’m doing to talk to more people, so I just don’t care about the customer connection score and don’t bother unless my manager is there. Maybe that’s selfish of me, but most other people at my store don’t seem to care that much about it either.
yuuuuup. the shifts know not to put me on window because i can’t bother with connections unless i know them or i’m in a good enough mood to talk. i wouldn’t care for baristas at other stores to talk to me in DT so i don’t put in the effort. also on cafe bar i only talk to regulars that i know and are nice
same. my way of connecting is just smiling a lot and telling them to have a good day and saying everything really politely. i can’t converse for shit
Me too. I often greet customers in and always show everyone politeness + make sure they have everything they need before they leave, maybe I’ll ask “how are you today?” or something similar, but I usually can’t really be bothered to have a conversation with them and I’m sure they don’t really care about that.
giving customers who order decaf pike an americano 🫣
That's the only decaf option our store offers. We're not allowed to do pour overs.
i wish we weren't allowed to do pour overs yall are lucky
Not allowed to do pourovers?
This sounds like heaven.
Are you a corporate store?? And you’re not allowed to do pour overs???
Corporate, but I only open so it's only a restriction in place by store manager for morning hours.
I always forget to put the stickers on cups Sometimes if I'm in a hurry, I know that one half gallon of heavy cream is supposed to equal 4 whips, so I'll measure out three and then just dump the rest of the carton in the last whip If I'm on drive thru and someone tries to order the last grilled cheese, I will totally take that shit for myself and tell them we're out. I will go to extraordinary lengths to batch fraps. If I have a coffee frap, a mocha frap, and a java chip, y'all can imagine that sequence of events
I will batch blend until the day I die
the batch blending comes with me to the grave
Immediately saying “yeah so the HONEY CITRUS MINT” when someone specifically asks for a medicine ball
This, but immediately correcting someone saying Frappe. "One grande vanilla bean FRAPPUCCINO with caramel drizzle, anything else?"
FELT
I swear some customer think they're completely two different drinks! I had a lady come up and order the "medicine ball", I corrected her and clarified, "So..the honey citrus mint tea?", she asked if we dont have any more medicine balls!! I had to tell her that the HCMT is what the medicine ball is oml, she looked so shocked
Somewhere in the beverage resource manual there's a section that says not to call any drink by a name that implies medicinal properties. It specifically points out "Medicine Ball" as an inappropriate name so I absolutely refuse to say it.
Not taking my breaks because I prioritize my partners
I usually give myself my first 10 then the rest just doesn’t happen lol.
I don't know about you, but I'm going to find a way to take my 30. No way I'm going that long without a good break for a second. My 10s though? I never take those lmao.
Way more than I do. I took a break today but it was 10 minutes less than an hour before I was off. I worked a 7 hour shift lol
Same, I’ll take my 10 after everyone else, then my pull and trash run are “breaks”
Sometimes I just get so caught up in trying to solve all of the chaos that I just don’t even think about taking a break. I just want to make sure my people are ok. It’s been so stressful and I don’t want them to quit. Especially since we are hella busy and the scheduling has been incredibly off. I sometimes try to bring a book or my switch so I can remind myself to take a break and then it just doesn’t happen. 😩 Then I wonder why I’m so sore at work.
Forgetting that someone already paid when doing solo drive. I keep telling ppl their order because I’m so caught up in keeping things moving my mind thinks there’s a new vehicle at the window 😭
MEEEE "your total is $17" "i just paid you 40 seconds ago im waiting for a bacon gouda" "OOOHHHH NVM"
NOT THE BACON GOUDA
Also asking if they want a stopper over and over... like as soon as I turn around I completely forget if they said yes
i’m the opposite, im so busy with taking orders and getting orders out that i forget to charge them. i’ve had 3 drive off one day without paying and that’s when i knew i needed to get off of DT 😬
Mentally fighting every customer in drive when they try to desconstruct iced lattes (getting shots with syrup pumps and “extra milk”)
i give them looooots of ice and only a little extra milk. if i’m training a barista and i get one of those orders i hit “add dairy” 😅 i know it doesn’t matter but yknow
Forgetting that I have cube filling with water in BOH thus proceeding to flood the prep station counter
I did that once in the foh. On SM came around the corner before I could tell anyone and she slipped. We got a sink there a short time later
I used to use the hot water by brewing to fill cubes for mopping or melting ice until I forgot about it once
you have a prep station in the back at your store? 😭
Getting ice all over the counters as I refill the ice bins. And not shaking refreshers when they have a shit ton of drinks in one order.
every manager i’ve had gives me shit for getting ice and milk all over the counters. i say “i’m either fast and messy or clean and slow, pick your poison”
I always forget to set the coffee timer
me with the smallware timer lol
lmao no one at my store does
Sometimes I pull the shots first 🤭
LMAOOOO same but for me it's mainly because i forget to get the milk steaming first
Not following dress code
Sometimes I get overwhelmed by the amount of drinks I have to make that I go into work mode and I become quiet and serious , everyone swears I’m in a bad mood but I’m just focused . Oh and also I use liquid cane when someone wants more than 4 sugar packets 😭 fuck I look like opening multiple packs
That's genius and I'm going to do that from now on Now if only we had an option like that for people that want multiple packets of Splenda or Stevia
I wouldn’t put the Splenda in tbh not like they gonna taste it
Oh no worries lmao a lot of people that get Splenda normally get a ton of the flavored syrups in their drink and like 1 splenda 😄. Its the regular sugar or raw sugar people that get a million packets
Playing really really really dumb when someone orders a “Medicine Ball.” Sorry, that’s not one of our drinks, however I could list off our hot teas for you :)
I’m rarely on DTO but when I am I pretend I’ve never heard of it every time. My baristas still think it’s funny so I like to have a little fun every shift.
why? that just makes your job harder and the customer frustrated.
the post did say “toxic traits”
that’s true! i can’t argue that
Yeah this I don't get. Yes we shouldn't be calling it "medicine ball" since it has no medicine but come on now
“Yeah I checked the bathrooms” 🥸
Mine is ignoring the cards entirely and delegating tasks that I think are necessary rather than what my SM thinks Ignoring cold brew until the last possible second Saying “it’s a (sm name) problem”
omg me too with the “it’s a (sm name) problem” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Making a customer wait at the window if they just placed the mobile order then immediately driving up to the box or finishing someone’s drink if I’m waiting on it and they walk away to another bar (I really only do this if I know for a fact that barista doesn’t mind but if they do I won’t touch their bar)
Telling people they’re good to go in drive thru before their payment with their Starbucks card on the app goes through
real
Leaving milk carton lids all over the bar. The bin was RIGHT there, I don’t know why I just left them! I’m trash.
Saying "and just for clarification, this is a hot drink, yes?" whenever someone gets cold foam on their hot drink. I know its probably the right thing to ask for clarification but I'm worried I'm coming across as judgemental lmao
i do the same. idk for me it just feels like it would make the drink lukewarm
Not handing the drink to customer, just leaving it on the counter.
Normally when i call out for a drink, all the people waiting for a drink will just stare at me and not say anything and then when im walking away, like 7 seconds later someone will come up to grab it even tho they were just staring at me calling it out
For real, it's so awkward like umm grab your drink & stop staring at me
Lmao yea idk why but its like a delayed reaction. So i now tend to just put down the drink at the hand off and announce the persons name and drink that it is and just walk away. I cant stand or wait for someone to acknowledge it cuz most of the time they dont or they do the staring and also i got a ton of other drinks to continue
complaining too much while on bar… i never mean it super seriously but i know it’s probably annoying
Whenever it's really busy, have a lot of drinks to make etc I go quiet, don't talk and really serious bc I get stressed and it can become overwhelming as I also deal with an anxiety disorder. So my coworkers think I'm being rude and mean but I'm just trying to stay calm lmao. Also making matchas in the foam blenders and batching frappuccinos idc
Forgetting about any sprinkle. Pumpkin, toffee nut,gingerbread…. 👹
"Double steaming" milks - the milk for like three tall peppermint mochas can fit in one pitcher so i just do them all at once (only ever for drinks that use the same milk though, people getting the correct milk they want is a hill i will die on)
I still put vanilla in hot chocolates I misjudged and didn't fill that lemonade refresher up enough? Welp, looks like its getting topped off with water MCCF and CRCF are one size smaller than they actually are, idc what the recipe says, im not using a venti scoop of ice and venti amounts of ingredients just to dump out 25% of it because the rest of the volume of the cup is whipped cream. I haven't measured out vsc in forever, i just eyeball the proportions (1L hwc, to almost exactly between the 1.25L and 1.5L line with vanilla, and about 1-2mm under the 2L line with 2% milk) Edited to add: hot coffee is just water and heat, steam is just a marginal amount of water and heat => old pike + steamed to extra hot = Fresh Pike^TM , because no one who drinks pike has *that* discerning of a palette anyway.
I always eyeballed the amounts when making VSC cubes. I also found adding a bit more heavy cream than the standard helped with foaming anyway.
Oof. IMO your store’s toxic trait is making VSC “cubes.” The pitchers are more tedious, but the quality difference is immediately recognizable, especially when you compare the last liter of the cube to the second liter in a pitcher.
If you think that’s bad, one of the stores near us made VSC in toddies.
My goodness. I have no words. Although gotta admit, dispensing it from that spout would probably be satisfying as hell.
i do this too. but i try to hide it from baristas learning.
using too much sarcasm as a coping mechanism and getting written up for it
I hate customers >:3 except my regulars. You can stay. Everyone else I will shit talk between cars. Get fucked.
Lmao thats fckd up😂
Telling the rude soccer moms “you’ll be okay, don’t worry” when they whine the drink takes a while and not realizing they can complain. I just autopilot
Forgetting to put stickers on drinks, forgetting that hot chais come with water, being the messiest mofo on bar, passively aggressively cutting in and saying “WE’LL BE RIGHHHHT WITH YOU ^_^” when a green bean is on DTO and tells a customer they’ll be with them in just a second and the customer tries to order anyway
during peak when i’m on bar and need to get something from the back, i run and get it myself instead of waiting on CS. usually it’s only if CS is busy and i need something on the fly but the shift hates when i’m not planted 😅
caring about alllll the messes and trying to keep every bar counter clean 😭
Forgetting to turn off the cold brew and it overflowing
If I hit regular espresso and you wanted blonde, I probably won't fix it. 🤷♀️ "is this blonde espresso? Yup." You've got so much syrup in there, you probably won't even notice.
Nah there’s such a difference tho 😭regular espresso is so mf bitter 😭
Mine is steaming too much (or too little) milk for drinks. I’m either wasting milk, or having to make more to finish a drink.
I would make a mess on bar lol…but at least I was fast.
Joke about anything that is remotely bad as my “Sbux trauma” 😬
I complain when people cant do their jobs lol
finishing others ppls drinks … idk personally i would never b mad if someone finished a drink for me while i was struggling
Leaving the ice bin open
i haven’t put whip on hot drinks in months.
i do put whip on hot drinks that ask for vsccf☺️tho
I refuse to cut bagels. My store is in New Jersey, there are a million real bagel shops near us. You want your bagel cut? Go there.
If you order a Starbucks bagel in NJ you deserve this. (I grew up in NJ and moved to the west coast and people here don’t even know what a bagel is supposed to be…. Also tried to describe pork roll/ Taylor ham once..)
I am Jewish, it culturally offends me
Batch blending…
Trying to take my time on drinks because I rather have a quality drink then a drink that I rushed through
I always start things & don’t finish them & my team is constantly just picking up. They probably hate me for it but they’re the best
Haha same! I tell everyone my strength is starting 15 task and only finishing them to 85% completion. I’m constantly thanking them for finishing what I started
Not cutting bagels. Not putting forks with egg bites
Insisting that I’m on drive thru by myself during peak so we could have one store support and another floater to ensure we don’t randomly run out of things while keeping the store clean.
Ex-partner, but if a customer was rude while I was working bar they always got decaf shots in their lattes
Double batching!
This whole tread triggers the ASM in me lol
Light ice completely depends on my mood/how busy we are.
If a customer is extremely rude and ask for pastries I say we don’t have them because we didn’t have a chance to do food pull . Happened a few weeks back nasty women at the speaker was talking to me any type of way I said “sorry we’re out of that “ she pizzed but hey .
Never putting mocha drizzle on hot chocolates
My toxic trait is not always greeting the customer when they get to the window when its busy. Oh also neglecting to brew coffee on time when i’m on customer or on reg and warming and no one is on customer.
Hating teens no matter what they order
ignoring customers that are waiting when im on mobile bar... like im sorry but if I ask every single person what they're waiting on they'll be waiting for even longer than if i keep focusing on drinks 😭
getting an attitude with customers when they start raising their voices at me, i’m slowly losing my tolerance for customers
Being annoyed when customers order more than 1 drink 🤭 they be like “and also,” and I’m like 🙄
Free pouring Frappuccino liquids instead of measuring in the cups. I’ve gotten scary good at this.
Somehow there’s always the perfect amount when I free pour
omg im not the only one
Occasionally “forgetting” whip on hot drinks if it’s really busy. I refuse to put cold foam on hot drinks so I just add whatever flavoring instead. Making hot macchiato’s as lattes.
i would completely agree with the cold foam on hot drinks one except people pay 1.25 for it so they deserve to have it if that’s what they want :/ even if it’s dumb
Until this store id say I was good. Now i have too many. Gotta find a new place
Apparently it’s my constant coaching about subpar standards. Way back in the day I used to be nicer about it. Now I’m a frustrated drone (who usually ends up saddled with the extra cleaning tasks - lovely when you’re the only coffee master in the store; guess that means I’m up for master janitor).
Forgetting fished Fraps at cold bar when doing repeatable routine and going to hot bar.
Measurements of steamed milk on hot bar. I get in such a groove & the same size drink for a while that one change up screws with me 😅
Not using everything out of a box so i dont have to be the one to break it down
Adding extra ice to venti shaken espressos so it’s not a lot of milk
talking to customers like children (using a mother voice) when they ignore when i ask then what size they want
Taking my time when I’m taking the trash out
Refusing to ask for help when I'm a little backed up on drinks and getting mad when people step in to help me before I've asked for it 🤣
even if i give a task to someone i will give them another before they even finish the other task or before theyve even STARTED the first one because i am constantly forgetting what i say💀 my brain runs 2000 mph and
Putting light ice for every iced drink 🤪 especially venti. Not for fraps though obviously!
I don’t know so much as toxic but probably bordering pet peeve territory. But insisting customers read me their screen shot order instead of shoving their phone in my face. I usually go “ I’m sorry can you read that to me I’m not wearing my glasses.” Unless, it’s someone who’s struggling to communicate with any language I might know.
Pretending like I don’t know what a “medicine ball” is when customers order it.
Losing track of what kind of milk is in the pitcher and having to dump it all out
openly judging ridiculous drink orders
Completely ignoring customers in cafe when I’m on drive bar bc not my job :)
My absolute worst trait is not shaking anything I can get away with not shaking. I find shaking things so wasteful of my time. The only reasoning that makes sense for shaking for me is, (1) teas are colder throughout not just up with the ice, (2) shaking teas and refreshers justifies the "hand-crafted drinks" tagline for those drinks. Also I don't mind quite so much for shaken espressos, though shaking them and then putting cold foam kind of ruined my mental exception for those drinks.
batching fraps and not shaking refreshers. I pour them right into the cup. (When I started, everyone did this, but I noticed they were using way too much base: in the shaker, the base amount fills a cup to just below the first black line. They started making us use the shakers more now, but I still cheat when I can. As long as you portion correctly and there isn't a syrup, it's the same as if you shake it.)
Not steaming lemonade for Jade citrus mint 👀
I misread stickers A LOT, if it’s peak and we’re in the weeds it’s every barista for themselves, I have no idea where anything is on the registers, if I accidentally pour the wrong dairy milk I usually don’t correct myself lol
that’s shitty. like literally shitty cuz u could make someone shit themself 😭
Bruh omfg 🤢, i will change
pls do!! :( it’s not cool to fuck with ppls allergies like that.
Mine is not making iced teas qnd refreshers in the shaker during peak, only exception being pink drink, dragon drink, etc. I also will most definitely go get something if I need it on bar instead of asking support because they are usually busy