Judge refuses to dismiss Starbucks tips lawsuit

The ruling by a San Diego Superior Court judge clears the way for a trial next May on whether as many as 100,000 Starbucks baristas were shortchanged on tips because they were forced to share them with shift supervisors. The suit was filed in October 2004 by Jou Chou, a former Starbucks barista. Although the class action paints shift supervisors as part of the Starbucks' management team, Starbucks contends that they are not part of management and perform essentially the same jobs as baristas. (Read the story at San Diego Union-Tribune)

Comments

[deusx]

As a shift supervisor my day was as follows.

Come in, run open store procedures, count tills.
While a barista set up the bar for open I would set up the pastry case, brew our two coffees, make whip creams and ice teas. Then I would run a till while my opener ran bar for about an hour, during this time I would recieve the pastry order. Then we would switch. After three hours, my second barista came in. At that time I would send the opener on a fifteen and run bar. An hour later the third barista would come in and by that time we would be full swing. I would spend most my time hopping between bar and tills and/or floating and doing cafe sweeps to clean and restock. We would rotate who was on bar. T

Things would slow down around 11. I would split my time between doing any counts for orders that might need doing, assign cleaning lists (which included tasks for me) and rotate people out for lunch. At 1 a second shift (or manager) would come in and we would do a change over. I would spend the last hour of my shift doing some prep or cleaning.

All in all I did everything a barista did, I made drinks, I stocked, I cleaned, I ran a till, I poured coffee and I assisted customers with retail. On TOP of that, I placed orders, did counts, counted tills, assigned tasks and handled customer issues.

As a shift supervisor, I had as much labor and face time as any other employee. I contributed as significantly to the customer experience as any other barista...yet this son of a bitch Jou Chou (sorry, this guy needs an ass kicking) says that I'm stealing from him? My base rate of pay is a freakin DOLLAR more than a barista, I do their job PLUS part of a manager's job.

This shit is going to backfire spectacularly. Any tipped person who does stuff to draw attention of the goverment to their tips is a blooming idiot.

Jou Chou is a moron. His name is now plastered all over the world in association with this.... Good luck to him ever advancing at *$'s

[barista chica]

very good description deusx. shifts do all of the work of baristas as well as half of the managers work. at my store, shifts also do deposits (however, our asm does the ordering). i'm not a shift yet (still kinda new...and a little scared of all the pressure) but i plan on it - shifts deserve tips!

I can't belive that Starbucks contends that shifts perform essentially the same jobs as baristas. Yes, and everything the manager does except hire/fire partners, reviews, schedules and payroll. Without the shifts some stores would fall apart.

[deusx]

You misunderstand what they are saying. California law, which is stupidly worded by the way, says that anyone responsible for training or supervision is management(abridged obviously). The lawsuit tries to paint shifts as mini managers with little to do with the day to day labor of the store. What Starbucks is saying is that Shifts do everything a barista does, not Shifts only do what a barista does.

if i was still a shift i'd be pissed @ joe chou for drawing the attention of the government to my tips, cuz you can bet that he didn't report all of his tips as taxable income and the IRS is gonna be all over him and all the rest of you baristas as a result of that.

sorry joe ruined it for all of you!

[joe r]

To begin with, none of these slackers should even receive tips. I wouldn't tip the slobs at any other fast food joint, why should we throw money at the starbucks crew? It's not like they don't get a salary. For Christ's sake, if they don't earn enough that they have to live off my tips, then perhaps Starbucks should raise their prices and pay their employees better.

[barista to the wasps]

Joe- We DON'T get salaries. We get payed a crappy wage barely above minimum wage. If you want to bitch about tipping, post on the tipping debate. Our job is not easy, I would love to see you try and do it sometime.

Starbucks is a wierd organization when it comes to store operations in the fact that managers are supposed to be on the floor as well. Granted, each store will be different as to how many hours they will be on the floor, but in my store, and in fact in all three of the stores I have worked in, our manager and assistant managers spend more time on the floor than in the back doing payroll, schedules, ordering, etc. Managers get bonus, not tips, is how I was told the difference as to why we don't get tips, and if shifts share in that bonus, then no, they shouldn't get tips, but as far as I know, shifts get no bonus.

[deusx]

Managers should be roughly 40% on the floor, 60% admin. Shifts should be roughly 75% on the floor and 25% admin. Baristas do what the hell they're told. ;)

[CB]

Our baristas get so upset sometimes because our SM has scheduled himself 40 hours a week of noncoverage time. But at the same time The SM does all the ordering, scheduling, payroll, and all the tasks an ASM would do because at the moment we don't have one. On top of that the baristas hate when the shifts aren't on the floor either. Tell me I'm a manager, that's bull, I do all the same jobs as a barista plus making sure everyone does what they're supposed to. So what if I have to tell the baristas how to keep deployment and have to keep the shift running smoothly, I'm side by side with them all day. If I didn't keep things running smoothly there'd be chaos.

[mgr]

I have this funky idea and its not thought out all the way but here it goes..... The position of shift supervisor should be eliminated and there should be two positions created in its place. one position (just after barista) would be someone who runs the floors and gives out breaks and basically just focuses on the front of the house stuff. They wouldn't get paid much more then a barista but it would be a step up from barista. They would still get tips because they are basically a barista. The second position (just below ASM) would be a cash controler. they would handle all the money and deposit and such. They would also specialize in training, ordering and other back of the house activities. This position wouldn't get tips but would get paid more then a traditional supervisor does now. So to put this idea into an example - If your store currently has a SM, ASM, 4 SS and 15 Baristas. You would now have an SM, ASM, 3 Cash Controlers/Orderers/Trainers and 3 Floor Runners - You could assume that you have a new supervisor that would be a better floor runner then cash controler and you would have a few baristas who would be a good floor runners. Anyway I just thought of this right now and I'm pulling most of these ideas right out of thin air. Let me know what you guys think.

[ExSFBarista]

Managers = salary, bonus, no tips.

Shifts = hourly, no bonus, tips.

Seems reasonably fair to me.

[CINDYLOU]

MGR-

The idea sounds fair, but that puts more bodies on staff then there were originally (that is if I am doing my math right) which means that the company is putting out more money then by having shifts do the work of two people for less money....although it sounds good to those of us that do the labor, those that work the numbers would look at that idea and cringe :(

[MGR]

It would be the same number of people that a store has now but it would just change the rolls around a little. A high performing barista or a new supervisor could become a "floor runner" and a high-perfoming supervisor could become a "Trainer/Cash Controler/Orderer" I'm not sure that money would change all that much because if you had 5 supervisors making $10 an hour (approx) you would now have 3 "Trainer/Cash Controler/Orderer" making $11.50 an hour and 3 baristas making $9.50 an hour. I think it would work out.... Maybe I should suggest this to my RDO....

MGR-That's still an extra 13$/hr. I think it's a great idea.. but the pennypushers will think it's a horrible one.

[jabanga]

"Managers should be roughly 40% on the floor, 60% admin. Shifts should be roughly 75% on the floor and 25% admin. Baristas do what the hell they're told. ;)"

-DEUXS

we have had this debate before deuxs but this post of yours really proves my point that you will say anything to prove your point. where in the hell in als or any other stabucks policy or procedure do you find the labor for managers to be off the floor 60% of the time? you gave me that whole rap about planning and executing using your admin and your non-cov but any manager who cares about supporting his partners is still going to wind up spending at least 30 hours on the floor in an average week (obviously store volume and staffing can vary this number some...). 60% admin? give me a break. and shifts doing 25% admin? what world do you live in? and baristas "do what they're told" ? even with a smiley face with a wink that is not a very respectful way to refer to your partners. oh, that's right, you've got to "keep them from polisihing the stainless with their butts"...

[jabanga]

now on the subject of the tipping lawsuit i would say that everyone needs to realize that the law isn't always about right or wrong or fair or foul but about the law as it exists and how it is interpreted. i would assume some lawyers who know the laws in california regarding tipping and management felt this case was a winner and found a former partner willing to be the plaintiff. technically, with keys and codes, training responsibilities and a supervisory role shifts definitely could be considered management so perhaps california law forbids them from taking a share in the tips. i am not a lawyer or a judge but apparently a lawyer and a judge feel this case has enough merit to proceed. does it open a whole can of worms? yes. is it fair? no. obviously shifts work just as hard if not harder than non-shift baristas and serve just as many customers.

if the law is written a certain way and this case does turn out to have merit starbucks will have to alter its policies to meet the letter of the law. like it or not the laws of the land override a corporation's policies and procedures.

What a mess. Complicated too, because, as a barista, I am one of my store's primary learning coaches. That means I train just about every new partner we hire. Does that make me ineligible for tips??

If this results in a ruling barring shifts from tips Starbucks is going to be in some trouble. When I was a shift, I earned $1 more an hour than a barista. Our weekly tip earnings were often $2 or more per hour. And with fewer partners tipping out, that would only go up. So without a change in pay rates, promoting to SS would mean a significant CUT in pay. That's not gonna fly. The bux would have to increase SS pay rates by quite a bit, and that would get QUITE expensive given how many supervisors there are per store...

[deusx]

Jobongo,

You are taking administration as Starbucks talks about it. This isn't a starbucks meeting,most of these people don't work for Starbucks. I'm talking about administration in the actual meaning of the word. Admin just means they arent fucking scrubbing floors and making drinks. Admin is deployment, admin is training, admin is handling orders, admin is doing whatever you do that isn't basic brute labor.

And I didn't give you that rap, my S/O did. She in the past five years has taken three established stores and doubled their comps. I take her word over yours as she is obviously a far more successful and happier manager than you.

As for joking about baristas..get the fucking stick out of your ass, christ it was a freakin joke. Jokes aren't RESPECTFUL, how in the hell could you even make a respectful joke?

[Lynda K.]

Greetings,
I just discovered your blog and am now addicted. We wrote a quickie review at delightfulblogs.com and if you have time I'd love to have you submit it to the directory.

best,
Lynda

What's an S/O ?

[Lauren]

Problem is:

This issue isn't about whether or not Shifts deserve tips. This question is about whether or not California law is/should be written as such. I could see WHY they worded it that way, though in all honesty the study of law teaches you that law is the application and interpretation of the law. I think there is plenty of testimonial (here and elsewhere, hell at any store) that says Shifts are Baristas with keys and a few more duties (and trust with responsibilities).

Yes I'm a coffee master, but that was my choice (and Baristas can be them too). Yes I'm a Learning Coach (again, Baristas can do that). I've let my Baristas do an on hand count (my job) and I've closed down bars for them ("their" job). But really it's "our" job. And to take something from us that we rightly earned (Kevin, a regular, puts $100 in our christmas tip jar for the service WE give him. I drop samples off at his house, know his daughter's name and have been his friend for years).

Look, all I'm saying is the law is what it is and any good Law & Order addict (this is a joke before anyone goes rant-posting) will know that the must be upheld even if unjust.

S/O=Significant other. ie. boyfriend, girlfriend, life partner, husband, wife, etc etc.

[jabanga]

ok now you are really confusing me about the discussions i've had with you because they were in your name...are you now telling me you are not in fact a manager?

i stand by completely that in my 7 years as a manager on any given week i spent an average of 30+ hours on the service floor making drinks and serving customers and if i had not then my partners would have felt the pain of being short-staffed, my customers would have gotten poorer service and my business would have suffered. if you follow that 40% floor coverage 60% admin that you came up with from god knows where i would have been working 75 hour weeks to keep that ratio. i am glad your S/O is a successful manager and i can assure you i was one too.

the reason i took you to task about your joke about baristas was because i thought you were a store manager and as a store manager and a partner i always held my baristas in high regard and tried in earnest to treat them as partners and teammates.

Ok lets get real,the SBUX system of who does what is screwed up royally. I haven't worked at the BUX in awhile but we still discuss how screwed up it is on a regular basis because we're all in food service here. The root cause of all the trouble is that there are no GM's in SBUX world. Think about it. All of the back of the house tasks could be easily( and correctly I might add) completed if the Mananger could actually be a Manager and not the highest paid barista. When I became a Mgr. I was told I shouldn't work more than 45 h. a week. How could all the hiring, deposits, scheduling, ordering, training, and quality checks get done when I was on the floor everyday for 7h.with 30m for lunch? I had to be on the floor so that my store would operate within the alloted labor percentage. The bottom line is with all the responsibilities that a shift has they should get a bonus and it should be an entry level mgmt. position but salaried s/s with bonus would eat into the PROFIT MARGIN!!!!!! You see SBUX likes to report to the media how much money over the projected budget they made in the course of the year so there will never be GM's or salaried, bonused s/s's because they wouldn't make enough money and this is where they pull us suckers in. They spend all this time talking to us about respect and dignity and the third place and volunteering to save the environment that we forget that they are still there to make money no matter who's back gets broken along the way just like evey other profit making corporation in the world.

[deusx]

I was, I "retired" to take care of my kids. I got the coverage concepts from Starbucks themselves. The post clearly said who was speaking, I made certain when she stepped in that she identified herself.

The concept of spending only a certain percentage of your time making drinks, ringing up customers etc. as a manager was discussed when the job descriptions were updated. The suggested amount of "barista" time a manager should spend in a 40 hour work week was around 16 hours I believe. I'm fairly certain we have it in writing somewhere, I will check and relay where to find it.

I'm definitely sure there is a disconnect in your coverage if you are spending 90% of your week doing the job of a barista. That number just blows my mind.

[deusx]

Says another shill for the wobblies. Any one with any skill in developing staff, hiring and time management can easily fulfill and thrive at the tasks required of you in 45 hours or less generally.

Also, anonymous poster, you are on the cheapest crack imaginable. General Managers (im assuming you are talking about the restaraunt/food service type) spend MOST of their time on the floor running food, helping out the servers, jumping on the grill, doing expo, etc. I left that world to come to Starbucks and it was like a vacation compared to Roadhouse Grill.

[justanotherfriggincustomer]

So let's say that Starbucks removes all the tip jars from California stores. Who wins and who loses?

As a manager I should be a manager NOT a barista ... the reality is there are no managers at Starbucks, there are high paid 40 hour a week baristas who do "manager type stuff" ... its realy the DM that manages 8-10 stores ... we are window dressing /// our alloted time of 8 hours plus 15% of labor is not enough time to hire/firer/train/order/schedule/payroll/put out firers.........
I have been a manager at other retail stores and you are not a cashier / stock guy ... you are a manager
Salaried, huh...clocking in and out is not salaried..its hourly.

[Lizzy]

Dear Deusx,
The bottom line is this- While you were on the floor doing the work an hourly employee should have been doing who was managing your Roadhouse Grill- I too have managed food service and retail and I am standing by my opinion that 99% of the shit that goes down in SBUX is because there is no true GM- In other establishments that I have worked in of course I was on the floor to help out during the rush and ensure quality service but I was not scheduled as an employee on that shift because I also had BOH responsibilities that would need to be attended to. The employees did not expect me to ring their register so they could take lunch. There was another hourly employee utilized to do that.The smoothest running operations allow everyone to do their part. My roomate mananges a restaurant. Of course he helps out when its busy-of course he pitches in if someone gets sick- but he doesn't schedule himself bartend or flip burgers because he's the MANAGER and his job is different.

[jabanga]

so why did your S/O post under your name at all? there is no registration required here. find me a document that says a manager should spend 16 hours a week as a barista. i'd love to see it. its a pipe dream if it exists. then find me where i said i spent 90% of my time on the floor: i quite clearly said 30+ hours that would only be 90% if i worked about a 33.33 hour work week. it is, however, closer to 90% than the 40% you pulled out of god knows where. as for my knowledge of als standards and practices i was an als faciltator and an als specialist for many years and i know how to maximize als. i have achieved 90% efficiency for a full quarter and 87% for a full fiscal year. i know my stuff. do not assume that just because my opinion and experience of how stores run differs from you and your S/O i do not. while it does vary depending on volume and sales mix in general als standards require managers to be on the floor 30+ hours per week to serve customers. if the manager is not on the floor to serve customers the store will be short-staffed. if they try to schedule more hourly partners to fill that staffing gap they will not meet labor standards and will be promptly reprimanded by their district manager for coming in over labor. you call the "anonymous poster" a "shill for the wobblies" his post is a hell of alot closer to reality than any post i've seen from you. oh well, at least you stopped swearing.

[cmezoom]

I want to post my 2 cents on this topic for whatever its worth =). This is coming from a current store partner who has been a manager for 8+ years at sbux, which means I go back to before non-coverage even existed.

First of all, I think it's important to note that CA has labor laws are tougher than most, and in some cases, go beyond what the federal guidelines require. About 5-6 years ago, a lawsuit pertaining to OT came about where (Starbucks settled the case), in large part due to the exempt and non exempt status of their store managers, and whether they can be classified to be salaried partners. This lawsuit contended that store managers do less than the required percentage of work to be classified as exempt/salaried managers and should be eligible for OT in CA. Apparently, somewhere in the labor code there is a percentage tied into what a persons work should be to make them exempt or non-exempt as manager(Not 100% sure on that, but I'm sure some legal minds can shed some light). Well, sbux settled the lawsuit, paid everyone off and made SMs in CA exempt partners eligible for overtime. While they admitted to no wrongdoing, you have to wonder why they would take those steps, and then come out with re-defined job debsciptions....

What does this have to do with this case? Easy, Jou whatever makes the case for starbucks, seeing that store managers in CA don't do enough admin tasks as managers(or rather the job description) to fall under exempt status in CA. If that's the case, then you could assume neither do SS as it pertains to CA law. Back in the "olden" days, SS were expected to provide corrective action, help in placing orders, train, interview, etc. The current job descriptions is vague in where a SS is required to do duties that is classified as being able to be performed by a store manager only.

With admin time being taken away from ALS, and noncoverage increasing( depending on volume from store to store. My store currently allows 8.7% of my labor to be non-coverage assuming I come in net-net zero variance.) the days of SMs working 25-30 hrs a week doing the jobs of baristas are soon disappearing. Rather, they will/should have the time to do exactly what they were hired to do....manage small business, with all that it entails.

Lastly:

"our alloted time of 8 hours plus 15% of labor is not enough time to hire/firer/train/order/schedule/payroll/put out firers........."

No offense, but those things you spoke can be done if you're planning ahead, and appropriately managing the business. It sounds like maybe you need to take a class on priority management, as I can't find anything that Starbucks requires me to do to take more than 8-10 hrs a week to do. If you're letting go of that many people weekly where you're constantly doing hiring, training, firing, and "putting out fires" then you're doing something wrong.

[Raj]

And CMEZOM if you are spending most of your time being a barista then you are not a manager.

[Nickie]

We are always hiring, we interview and hire people every week .. the nature of retail is first level employees is six weeks hold, if you have people staying longer than that you are not only lucky but.....?
Managers should be doing the scheduling, payroll, training, interviewing, hiring/firing if needed, ordering, it should not fall to barista or SS to be dong these things. The managr should be the overseer of the store of the not primary worker bee.
I think the other poster is right on when they said that it really is the DM that manages 8-10 stores and the managers are just high paid baristas who get 40 hours a week.
As far as "fires", you mean you are such a good manager that there are never issues from customers / partners, paleezzze.
What is the volume of your store 10K a week that you have it so easy ... we are doing 35K and it is tuff going.....
My cousin manages a 24 hour store and she still is supposed to have only these 10+ hours to do her management stuff ... they have got to be kidding.

[JustABarista]

I wonder what they would say about the high performing baristas that "run the floor" while the shift is on break, doing the deposit, doing an order, etc.

[MGR]

"As a manager I should be a manager NOT a barista ... the reality is there are no managers at Starbucks, there are high paid 40 hour a week baristas who do "manager type stuff" ... its realy the DM that manages 8-10 stores ... we are window dressing /// our alloted time of 8 hours plus 15% of labor is not enough time to hire/firer/train/order/schedule/payroll/put out firers.........
I have been a manager at other retail stores and you are not a cashier / stock guy ... you are a manager
Salaried, huh...clocking in and out is not salaried..its hourly." -Anon Poster

Dude - Its called delegation. You get the most work done not by doing it yourself but by teaching and enabling others to do the job. If you are doing all the "hire/firer/train/order/schedule/payroll/put out firers" then you arn't delegating to your ASMs and SSs. And as for the DM really being the store manager? Thats utter CRAP! The DM being in your store once a month to do an MBDD and a meeting him a couple times a month at a district meeting is not enough for him to "manage" 8-10 stores. He does it though delegation by having one manager in charge of Frappuccino tracking, one manager in charge of Promos, and so on. The DM is just verifying that all things that are supposed to be done in a store are done. He works THROUGH the store manager just like a store manager works THROUGH the Shift Supervisors. In a store of 25-30 people the store manager can't possibly coach and train every single partner on each new promo drink. He has to coach the shifts and the shifts coach the baristas.

[jabanga]

in answer to CMEZOOM it is 50%. the standard of the fair labor standards act is that a manager's primary duties should be management tasks and they should spend at least 50% of their time managing.

[jabanga]

and 8.7% non-cov? must be nice!

Jabanga,

Most stores get around 7.5%, including a full 8 hour noncoverage day on Monday, which is plenty of time to get anything done you need to if you plan approriately. What you do with the rest of it is up to you. I used to work on the floor at least 30 hours a week, but it was always with a purpose -- one day coaching on speed of service, one day keeping an eye on beverage quality.

Quite frankly I'd be bored to tears if I had to do all the orders and set-ups and other noncoverage tasks, rather than dealing with customers.

I've known many managers in my time who tried to be GMs and all of them are no longer here.

[deusx]

Jabanaga,

I'm sorry Jabanga, to be mathematically precise, 30 hours out of 40 hours is 86% percent of your time, not 90% you sure got me there. Perhaps it is incredible skill with detail that allows you to be the overworked and resentful manager you are?

Btw, slower stores would be the ones where the manager actually works the most labor. Say you are pulling in 9 grand a week (SLOW) with a 12 hour a day store, you can only budget two shifts and three baristas a day maximum, which leaves you the manager to float and fill in where needed. In that low volume of a store, that will only be during peak times and during unexpected staff losses. In that schedule, at the most a manager would need to cover bar or till a total of two hours out of a day.
In a higher volume store, you get more labor and after a point it doesn't matter what your volume is as you have hourly employees at every station and post. A high volume store should also have an assistant manager, which further takes basic labor burdens off the manager. Realistically, the only time a manager in that situation need step in is during unusually peak periods of business and/or because of unexpected staff loss.

30 out of 40 is 75%

I agree, 30 out of 40 is 75%.

Deusx is impressing me more and more with all of his posts....

if SS aren't allowed to get tips then they should be a part of the bonus program pure and simple.

[deusx]

Hmmm, this is what I get for using one of those internet calculator things. Fine, it's 75%, even sticking with 90% thats only a 15% difference. This means you are spending 3/4 of every day doing nothing but barista work instead of roughly 4/5. Thats not the way it's supposed to be.

Also, my original 40% was spot on, as this time I did the math myself instead of being lazy and 16 hours out of forty is indeed 40%. SO by god, I can do math!

[Lauren]

Obviously it was a mistake (I mean christ, you can fault people for drunk driving but can you for tired calculator use?). Attacking someone for one small misstep is ridiculous.

And that goes for both sides.

We see things differently some feel a manager should be on the floor, others don't. I have my own opinions on them -- and you guys have a lot of energy behind how you FEEL things should be run. But that's how you feel...

I suggest that we get our opinions out there, take count of what others' are, and if there need be change -- contact the right people.

Don't attack one another for figures or beliefs, do your best to change that which is CAUSING the argument. Don't waste your energy trying to change the opinion of someone who won't change theirs.

[jabanga]

deuxs is completely 100% full of it. he has absolutely no idea what he is talking about. you are right lauren. there is no point trying to change his mind because it is lost in la-la land.

i don't think that fair or accurate; nor does it contain any type of respect or dignity (which you were flaggin on him for lacking in your first post)

there are different types of managers, and different types of stores.

if you're spending more than 30 hours a week deployed, then you may not be maximixing your team.

if duesx' SO is able to spend 16 hours a week on floor, she is obviously doing something great, and probably in a high volume store that allows them the opportunity to do so.

i've been a manager for a number of years, with working anywhere between an 80 hour week (bad store, new me/manager) to a 45 hr week (great store, totally staffed, fully trainned, experienced manager)

currently i'm in the middle.

i know my week is longer becuase i am not able to do what i need to do (invest a lot of inital time to get long term payout/less working for me). i do schdueling and payroll. all else i DELEGATE to others.

i do corrective action (mixed with my ASM- need to develop them). and i hire and set up training. i could delegate the training schdules, but i'm too much of a control freak.

i also MCM on the side, and that adds a little time...although also a little to the pay roll, as well as reducing my labour costs by about 20 hours a week over 8 weeks...

so it's a balance.

you need to tighten up your game.
dusex needs to understand not everyone is as experienced or suavve as his SO.

and you both need tp remember respect, and maintaining self esteems.

idiots.
(LOL)

:)

[deusx]

Luckily, Im retired, so I know longer have to play the touchy feeling game. Starbucks may be a pretty great place to work, but the jingoistic rhetoric makes me want to scream from time to time. "Live the way of being?" Garbled nonsense.

Currently my S/O is rehabbing a "failed store". She walked into a 7500 dollar store last year with it maybe doing 5 percent comps. The store is still only doing about 11 grand now a week with 20% comps. So it isn't really a high volume store either. Even without an ASM, she spends a max of 20 hours doing things a barista can do. Yet she and most other managers I've known in Seattle and here manage to bonus on their controllable comps every quarter.

Anonymous you missed where all this got started in another topic that I don't remember. Jabango was unhappy with labor issues and if I remember, turn over issues. They described situations that often occur when there are time management problems, training issues and deployment problems. The number they gave were fairly unusual as well.
This was brought by Jabanga to this topic and the rest as they say, was history.