Starbucks sells around 4 million cups of coffee daily across the country. But a Starbucks employee has revealed what it’s like to work when almost all staff calls out on a busy Saturday.
In a clip posted to TikTok, the employee at the store—who identifies as Enn (@ennachx)— expresses how her store’s Saturday descended into mayhem after nearly every employee calls out of work on a busy shift.
She also says that their manager resigned immediately afterward.
The five-second clip has since garnered around 30K views, and some viewers commented on the "stressful" atmosphere at Starbucks at the moment.
“When the whole morning team and closing shift calls off on a Saturday and my store manager immediately resigned afterwards,” Enn writes in the clip’s text overlay
She lip-synchs the lyrics to Lana Del Rey’s “Mariners Apartment Complex.”
Manager quits after whole team did not show up for a busy shift
Many empathized with Enn noting the stressful conditions due to understaffing. Several comments stated that the same thing happens at their own locations.
One person said they had at her own store: “Nobody works Sunday (only like 4 out of 10 people will come in) at our store & our manager just got fired,” they commented. Another said, “My store last week,” While another person chimed in: “Literally us 3 weeks ago.”
However, a few people sympathised with the manager.
"Why would the manger stick around if their whole team ditched them?" one commenter said.
Staff shortages are still a challenge in the service industry
Working in the service industry has its challenges. In particular, staff shortages.
According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce:
"During the pandemic reshuffling, jobs that require in-person attendance and traditionally have lower wages, have had a more difficult time retaining workers. For example, the leisure and hospitality industry has had the highest quit rate since July 2021, consistently above 5.4 percent."
Still, many Starbucks' workers take pride in providing excellent customer service and keeping their stores running efficiently.
The lack of sufficient staffing and unionizing at Starbucks has been long discussed among workers over 2021 and 2022.
The website Unionelections.org states that 266 Starbucks stores are unionized. That’s 3268 employees out of 6938 employees in 266 stores across the country.
However, in all fairness, it is unlikely this was an organized job action by Starbucks workers.
As one person who works at a nursing home kitchen said: “I get it. I work at a nursing home kitchen, and 2 of the 3 people that feed the 150 residents called out on me. I am one of the 3. I cried.”
As of December 5, 2022, there were over 15,000 Starbucks stores in the U.S. California has the most locations, followed by Texas and Florida.
Final thoughts
When it comes to highly-trafficked chains that are fast-paced and, presumably, in higher-stress environments - many would say Starbucks hovers at the top of that list on a busy weekend shift.
Whatever the full story here is, it’s definitely safe to say that this is a cautionary tale of what happens when staff are frustrated and overworked.
What do you think about this?
What do you think? Was she right to feel exasperated, or were the employees right to call out?
Let us know in the comments, and feel free to share with friends and family if you like.
Disclaimer: This article is only for educational and informational purposes.
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