Recently a Starbucks barista tearfully shared their poor working conditions and long working hours schedule, and people on the internet have mixed opinions on her now-viral video.
The clip initially shared on Twitter showed the employee crying while they described the long, excruciating work hours, working conditions, and rude customers.
The video clip was shared on Twitter by far-right Donald Trump supporter Sebastian Gorka, and it has received a massive response from netizens ever since.
In the video, the coffeehouse Company worker explained that they were scheduled at work for 25 hours during the week and 8 hours on the weekends while being a full-time student.
“People wonder why we need a union at Starbucks,” the trans barista said in the viral video clip.
“I am literally about to quit. Like, I don’t know if I’m going to do it. But like I really want to, I almost walked out today. And I’m crying in the back room right now, I almost cried on the floor.”
The worker explained that they were a full-time student and had been working seven days a week and how it almost became impossible for them to manage everything due to the heavy workload.
“I’m a full-time student, I get scheduled for 25 hours a week. And then on weekends, they scheduled me the entire day, open to close, that one’s scheduled for eight and half hours, both Saturday and Sunday.”
They added, “I’m three and a half hours into my shift. There’s so many customers and we have four people on the floor all day. Only five people were put on schedule and somebody had to call out.”
The young employee further added that their manager was not very cooperative and took himself off the shift because he didn’t want to work.
“They are literally four people running the store. There’s so many customers and they have scheduled five people. We only have 13 people employed at this store and we don’t have fair scheduling. The managers don’t care about us.”
The barista again stressed the importance of having a union at work and said that their managers need to hold themselves accountable for helping the workers at the company.
“They refuse to turn mobile orders off. We need the liberty to be able to do that because there’s so many mobile orders and I need to get through all of them.”
Speaking of the customer’s rude behavior, the poor barista said they didn’t know what to do, and a customer tried to misgender them and called them incompetent.
“I have a mustache and a beard, what the f***?” they said. “I don’t get accommodations for being neurodivergent, people get mad at me for having too much sick time. I don’t even know what to do anymore, I’m at my wits end with this job.”
Many people in the comment section empathized with the worker and said that being a student with such long working hours is insane. One person even pointed out that the barista had been working 70 hours a week, which is not fair.
“Wow, you are so brave for bullying a young service worker… A full-time college student is expected to do 2-3 hours of homework per every class hour So if this kiddo is in class 15 hours a week, has 30 hours of homework, and then 25 hours of work that is a 70 hour week,” the Twitter user commented while criticizing Gorka.
“This is why everyone hates the older generation because y’all will say you want the best for our generations, and then when we want it to be better y’all whine about how you had it worse and essentially say we deserve the same. I will never understand why you wouldn’t want better,” another said.
Meanwhile, the critics maintained that the barista was a softie who should realize by now that life is hard and people need to work hard and do multiple jobs while being a student to make ends meet.
“Yes, its isn’t worth crying like a baby in the back room over. It isn’t worth a sympathy video begging for attention. And my job is far more difficult. He’s weak because he’s never had to face real problems. Most people deal with more shit daily. He isn’t special, he’s pathetic,” one wrote.
“Do I have any sympathy for this young spoiled kid? No. At 17 I was overseas with an M-16. 12 hour days OR around the clock. Bad food, bad weather, dangerous conditions, etc. some of the best times I can remember & friendships that have lasted a lifetime. Grow up, kid.” Wrote another.
“I don’t feel sorry for you. You chose this job. You can quit at any time if its too much. I understand school and work is a lot, but no one told you you had to work while in school. You could have saved up money while in high school unless you did not work then,” someone else commented.
What are your thoughts on this barista’s story? Let us know in the comment section.
Source: Twitter
I think the snowflakiness of this younger generation is what it going to sink us. I worked 12 hour days in the summer at 16 and since the managers at that Stuckeys/DQ were embezzling money, they refused to raise my $5.25 wage when summer hit and I went from 18 hours a school week to the 40+ hours my newly turned 16 year old self was allowed to pull. I was the only employee on the DQ side who worked 8 hours a day or more. Even the kitchen supervisor cut her hours after I took over the 10am to close and was barely pulling 30 hours. I knew this would get in the way of school and the scant pay was bs so guess what I did…while not crying about my choice to work there in the first place, I made the choice to quit. Guess what? It worked! I soon found better employ which paid $8/hr…unheard of pay for kids at that time, but much more worth the work I felt I did in trade.
The Starbucks managers definitely do have a problem in that location, it’s in their hiring! This person like so many wants a check but not a job. Like we all tend to do at that age they think that the “older generation” is harsh, opinionated and out of touch with the hurdles in their life. We think we have all the answers at that age. Soon, as always, life will teach them how mistaken they are. How their elders were correct over 80% of the time. That just maybe the group of people that already jumped all those hurdles had insight that they should have listened too. I wish someone would interview him a decade or two down the road after actual adulthood shows him life has zero concerns about his emotions and cares only about his efforts. Then, like the VAST majority of us this time spent in school with a part time job will be seen as the most carefree time of his life and he misses it! Unless of course he chooses to take the easy way getting a degree in something like Art History which offers so very little in employment opportunities then self justifing riding the system and living off the backs of that same “older Generation” that works their butts off and pays the taxes that allow such people to have a roof over their head and food to eat while they sit around contemplating how they FEEL the world should be
This is what you get when parents want to be their child’s best friend instead of being a parent and teaching them the life lessons they need to survive in the real world. If I was that manager and I saw that video, that employee would have all the time they would ever want because they wouldn’t be working for me.
Well, I am surprised that they will give anyone an 8-hour shift knowing that he is a working student. When will he have a chance to study, much less go to his classes? This is face to face customer service and while I never had that experience, I know how awful customers could be and it would have been a living hell for me too. Anyway, I sympathize with him and I hope that Starbucks would just hire more people so people who do not want to work for such a long time will not have to undergo such an ordeal. If he was being paid by the hour, then that is fine but if he was paid a fixed amount regardless of how long he works, then no that’s abuse.
Thank you for being the only nice person on the comments
Do I think he’s soft yup sure do. Do I think the girl who said this is why y’all hate the older generation hurt my feelings nope. I had a job starting at 14. Then at 15 worked after school from 3-9 and 8 hour weekends Saturday and Sunday while going to school maintaining a 3.75 GPA and taking 5 dance classes. I don’t feel bad for this cat I think they need a wake up call. Life is tough you want stuff you’ve gotta work for it. You’ve gotta put in sacrifice. No I don’t feel bad for you and if you were my employee you’d be fired. My hard constant work ethic got my through college and now running my own business. If this is what the younger generation is about I feel bad for the world. My grandfather built my childhood home and his own home. Everyone from the generation before mine worked harder than my generation. However my generation still worked. If this is the new generation y’all are soft and I pray for y’all when you hit real world problems. #isaidwhatisaid
Take fewer hours of college or find another job. Stop crying like a baby. You and others like you are so weak. No wonder many welcome the Socialists promises ( which turn to lies) of government taking care of you. I did actual manual labor, 25+ hours a week while a full time student (planting trees and shrubs). No sissy “what kind of coffee do you want” job. What the crap is a neurodivergent person? A new stupid denial of what you really are. A woose. Look between your legs, you’re either a man or a woman. There are no other choices. Either way your weak.
And you obviously skipped all of your biology science classes.
I just finished my BA in May 2021 at 40 years old. Full time online student, single mother, and part time employee at 35 hrs a week at the time, some call that full time but I beg to differ! Life takes grit and commitment and desire to take yourself further if that’s where you want to go! If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen! Building something takes extreme amounts of work! If you can’t do that then do less and be less for a bit, it’s not a race!
Agree!
I dislike it when journalists create an article that clearly picks a side instead of just providing a factual base that people can come to their own conclusions about, but thats just me.
With that being said, I don’t glamorize being the hard worker, over achiever. With years of doing that and being in management I learned the hard way that 1. They don’t care about you and 2. Self care is just as important. Our jobs are meant to support our lifestyles and not be our lifestyles. I honestly hope they quit their job if they can’t strike the right balance they need in life. Some people can pull of the full time work and school gig. If you’re not that person it’s ok, it might take you longer to get where you need to go, but it’s your journey so take it how you want to.
He says “I have a mustache and a beard, what the f***?” they said. “I don’t get accommodations for being neurodivergent, people get mad at me for having too much sick time. ”
He’s saying he has an ADA disability and that requires accommodations. The most common accommodation is being flexible in scheduling someone with a disability. Read more. Judge loess.
I was there for the DNA class.