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What responsibilities are appropriate for a barista/keyholder?

I work at a small cafe that has a long history of the owners expecting way too much of its staff for way too little pay. My current manager worked tirelessly as a barista and keyholder for 3 years before they even gave her a raise (she was making minimum wage to start with). Now that manager is leaving, because they treated her even worse as a manager than they did as a barista. She put in her 2 weeks today and the owners are scrambling to find a new manager. idk if they’ll find one in time, and even if they do it’ll take a while to train them. So naturally, as the most experienced barista (as in, I’ve been working there for 4 months) and the only other keyholder, they’re gonna expect me to pick up a lot of slack and add to my current duties. Currently I…


I work at a small cafe that has a long history of the owners expecting way too much of its staff for way too little pay. My current manager worked tirelessly as a barista and keyholder for 3 years before they even gave her a raise (she was making minimum wage to start with).

Now that manager is leaving, because they treated her even worse as a manager than they did as a barista. She put in her 2 weeks today and the owners are scrambling to find a new manager. idk if they’ll find one in time, and even if they do it’ll take a while to train them. So naturally, as the most experienced barista (as in, I’ve been working there for 4 months) and the only other keyholder, they’re gonna expect me to pick up a lot of slack and add to my current duties.

Currently I make $15.75 (which I already really had to fight for, minimum wage is $15) with no benefits, and i work 9.5 hour shifts with no overtime or paid breaks.

I wish I had an official list of job expectation to refer to, but I don’t. My current duties I think are pretty average for most cafes. They basically go as followed:

-open the cafe by myself and work alone from 6:30-9

-work (and continue to help train) a newer barista from 9-1:30 (they used to work longer, but their hours got cut bc the owners are cheap asses)

-be in charge of ensuring food safety is up to par. (My food safety certification from a previous job expired a few months ago. Currently no one at the cafe has a food safety certification, which it i think is illegal lol. They said they were gonna pay for my recertification but they haven’t yet. The expectation I think was basically that I would just do it and they would reimburse me, so I guess it’s not their fault that it hasn’t happened yet)

-put away any orders received and organize/rearrange everything bc we don’t have space for shit

-box up bags of beans that local grocery stores order from us

-be self-led in terms of improving my drink making skills (I’m expected to teach myself latte art and I’m struggling lol)

-work alone from 1:30-4 and do all of the cleaning tasks to close the cafe

My current manager said that next shift she’ll teach me how to order supplies and do tips, but she’ll understand if I tell her I won’t do it, or at least not without a raise. Who knows what other duties the owners will ask (or rather just tell) me to pick up.

In theory I would pick up more duties if it came with a raise, but I think I would rather not. I might change my mind on that though. What other duties are reasonable for them to expect me to pick up with/without a raise?

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