Experiences at Starbucks

It was a promotion from a previous position, with more responsibility and skills to learn.

One long night, while I an and assistant manager were working the late shift, two girls came in and ordered drinks. They got their coffee, and one of the girls began adding cream and sugar. While she was doing this, the assistant manager had gotten lost in thought, not realizing his eyes were focused on her butt. However, her friend noticed and, teasingly, asked him to stop staring at her friends butt. His eyes suddenly snapped to attention, his face turned bright red, and began laughing uncontrollably. As did I....

I was incredibly fortunate. Every team I worked with was motivated, friendly, and knowledgable. Even when given an awful task like caring supplies from the street, down the steps, to the basement, they still tackled it head-on, with little complaint.

In my case, the owner of the Starbucks also owned a hotel I was Night Auditing at. He liked my performance as the night auditor so he promoted me to Starbucks store manager.

If you don't know something, ask or check the book. Never guess. And make yourself useful. If you see others standing around, keep working. Naturally, when you get brought into the fold, you'll chat more, but until then, don't be perceived as useless. That's how negative feelings will start.

My store was a different sort of animal. It was one of only two seasonal stores, it was on an island without automobiles, and the majority of the employees were summer college students. What I learned is that you need to be adaptable in the work place. We had to receive our orders via horse dray, we were limited in our milk orders, by the end of August, we were down to 5 employees, with only three by the end of September. Unfortunately, Starbucks protocal isn't designed for our situation. We worked hard to still achieve the goals of our district manager, but she never fully understood our situation, so we often had to find our own means and methods, or compromise on standards....

Working with great people, working within a well structured company committed to success, the opportunity to make a customers day.

The most challenging aspect are the employees. Getting people that clash to peacefully work together, adjusting for their illnesses or important engagements, addressing work related issues, and so on and so forth.

I was the Genereal Store Manager. Everything store related fell under my jurisdictian. I worked with customers, made drink, ordered inventory. etc.

Be excited to be there. If you exude possitive energy and a strong desire to work with the public, you're more likely to be perceived as a Starbucks cheerleader.