Hello! I am a employee of a non corporate Starbucks that is inside a Target shopping center. So I technically work for target and get Target benefits. However a bunch of things have been happening since I was hired 11 months ago.
So my main team lead for Starbucks (we can call her bossy), doesn’t know how to do her job. That’s right, she has worked at the SAME position for 25+ years and doesn’t know how to do her job (that’s not even the worse part). Just today she clocked out of her shift 20 mins early without telling ANYONE! Then she went to sit with her friends as I am now by myself struggling to make and take orders with a long line with about a 20 min wait time. Bossy and her friends just WATCHED me struggle with the orders. She never told me why she clocked out early even, she was NO WHERE NEAR overtime for the week. Besides that, she left us alone off and on four times for a total of 3ish hours. Didn’t have a reason but “emails”. My other team leads said it only takes 20 mins PER WEEK to work on emails, she takes 2+ hours PER DAY, and she won’t say when she is leaving to do it. If I ask where she was, she just says emails and not to worry.
She also doesn’t give us barista’s free drinks or food, yet claims to her Starbucks bosses that she does. Since I’ve been hired, I’ve never gotten a free drink from her, she is supposed to be doing it more often, but doesn’t. Even worse though, us baristas are NOT allowed to have water on hand. By state law we are supposed to have a designated area for water to go. We do not have one, we brought this up to her and Bossy ignored us. So we are LUCKY if we get to drink ANYTHING between breaks (about 4 hours), and our Target isn’t cooling off fast enough to beat the heat, so it’s humid and hot inside the store. We brought this up to a higher team lead and they also ignored us. Hell, even HR ignored me!
Now the team lead above bossy and is the front of the store team lead who is responsible for scheduling (let’s call him EL for entitled leader), has refused me to be trained in other parts of the store. I’ve been BEGGING for 2 months to be trained in ANY position and no longer work Starbucks, and that I don’t care where and I won’t complain. Plus we are in dire need of staff however the store refuses to hire new people and instead burns out it’s own employees. He moved me to lanes 2 times, other then that I’ve only been in Starbucks. I tried asking again and he ignored me. There is 3 team lead positions opening up within the next 2 weeks and I feel like if I ask they won’t allow me to apply just because. ALSO EL hates giving vacation time or days of, even though your not available that day for whatever reason, he will still put you on the schedule. I requested a weekend off 2 months in advance, and he kept denying it for no reason.
I wish there were other jobs near by that paid as much or better then Target, but none of them come close, and as a person finishing high school, I prefer a higher paying job. However the management at Target, in the part of the store where I work, is so bad I want to quit.
ALSO!!!! Almost all of the baristas are DRAMA! And I’ve been so mistreated over my mental and physical health that I can’t take it. As a person who gets triggered and can easily get panic attacks I did warn them that if I run to the back randomly I just need a min. One time I did that after a miserable week, I ran to the back struggling to breathe. One barista that was about to clock out for lunch turned around, looked at me, and said, “What the f*ck is wrong with you?!” I slowly said panic attack through gasps and shaking and all she said was “Well get back to work then, it’s not that bad.” HUH!? I’m barely able to stand in front of you, wdym?
There is another barista that makes fun of me because I can’t spell names for the life of me. So I often ask customers to spell it for me and I always hear behind me, then spelling it super slow interrupting the customer as they are making drinks.
Now, is this normal and I’m frustrated over nothing, or are my feelings accurate. Cause to me it’s EXTREMELY infuriating.