At what point do you call for backup ?

[Nauzhror]

Really? You should see how some of that zone and push gets done when my ETL gets desperate gives in and schedules a cashier or cart attendant to help in GM. It's normally not very pretty. Not that I think Starbucks should back up or anything, but making a latte is like anything else: anyone can do it once they've been taught how. It's not rocket science or more difficult than setting an endcap.

I disagree. Learning to make 'one' drink might be simple, but there's definitely more things to memorize at the starbucks than for working GM IMO.

The major point though is that everyone in the store should know how to zone, whereas there's zero expectation of everyone learning to make drinks at Starbucks.

 

[IWishIKnew]

when everyone is on register except tech. Lod must watch the lanes & do MCO at the same time.

We've been in this situation once, kind of, that I've been a part of (night before Valentine's day last year). We didn't have an MCO up at that point, but literally everyone was on a lane and my ETL, who generally tries to stay in stealth mode on Wednesday nights to get schedule done, but was frantically pulling the remaining Valentine's day stuff, got the call from the TLOD that she (the TLOD) was watching the lanes, everyone else was on a register and she (the ETL) had the rest of the store.

It was nuts. I've never seen anything like it. My ETL had me pushing everything out as fast as I could (there might have been one other person working GM that night or it may have just been me) and people were practically pulling stuff out of my hands.

 

[redeye58]

Really? You should see how some of that zone and push gets done when my ETL gets desperate gives in and schedules a cashier or cart attendant to help in GM. It's normally not very pretty. Not that I think Starbucks should back up or anything, but making a latte is like anything else: anyone can do it once they've been taught how. It's not rocket science or more difficult than setting an endcap.

We're supposed to have two baristas scheduled during peak times yet SO many times one is pulled out to help with other depts or to cover breaks from areas they worked in during the shutdown (all FA/SB peeps were sent to other areas during the shelter-in-place last spring).
We only get them back when someone is about to hit compliance for lunch after getting their ass kicked during a non-stop rush & those hours come from OUR budget!

 

[DBZ]

Really? You should see how some of that zone and push gets done when my ETL gets desperate gives in and schedules a cashier or cart attendant to help in GM. It's normally not very pretty. Not that I think Starbucks should back up or anything, but making a latte is like anything else: anyone can do it once they've been taught how. It's not rocket science or more difficult than setting an endcap.

Once you are taught how to read the location of things, you should be able to zone and push. I know GM is more than that, but people are able to zone and push on day 1 at target, right? Day one at sbux, they can work the register and make a refresher. As far as the cashiers, they get sent out to zone with 5 minutes of training. I remember that day. I knew I needed to count over 7 sections from the race track, but I thought all the aisles were called racetracks. Now I zone just as good as anyone else who doesn't work the department they are pushing in.

 

[DBZ]

I remember one time, there was no one to work starbucks. I have no idea why, I was kinda new, but we are contractually obligated to have starbucks open and operating, so someone had to be over there serving coffee and tea. That's all they could do. Needless to say, the ETL eventually got good enough to be a barista and one of the SETLs could make a few more things.

 

[IWishIKnew]

Barista training is two weeks (unless it's changed--I asked once). Zone/push takes a shift. Maybe two, if you're slow. It's a no-brainer that Sbux stay where they are and if cross-training is needed it's in other parts of the store. "Starbucks certified" TMs are a much bigger investment than any other TM in the store, so it makes zero sense to pull them for backup unless there really are more of them scheduled than needed.

If Sbux requires allocating x hours, which translates to 2 TMs at all times (for example, not saying this is reality) but your location's traffic is down a lot, so only one barista is needed, then I can't really blame Target for taking advantage of the "free" hours.

But I don't know how often this happens or if it is a reality. Your store sounds like kind of a clusterfuck, DBZ. At my store we have the official baristas, and all grocery TLs and ETLs are certified and can backup Sbux if needed. We had one GM TL that was, as well, but she left.

 

[sunnydays]

We're supposed to have two baristas scheduled during peak times yet SO many times one is pulled out to help with other depts or to cover breaks from areas they worked in during the shutdown (all FA/SB peeps were sent to other areas during the shelter-in-place last spring).
We only get them back when someone is about to hit compliance for lunch after getting their ass kicked during a non-stop rush & those hours come from OUR budget!

what the fuck

 

[Poofresh]

You funny.
Any time we DON'T have guests is spent restocking, replenishing & cleaning up after the hordes.

All u do is fill cups and wipe droplets. LOL. When we get 3 baristas or 2 food Ave. , they stand around, and talk stories. Our store manager caught them one time and he decided to close down food Ave and sent all of them to do go backs and help hardlines.

 

[redeye58]

All u do is fill cups and wipe droplets.

Your store, maybe.
Our counter is busy even when the store isn't.
Because of social distancing the max number of baristas behind the counter is two & we never have enough overlap to have TWO FATMs.
Sounds like *your* store needs to follow up with their SBTL.

 

[Fluttervale]

All u do is fill cups and wipe droplets. LOL. When we get 3 baristas or 2 food Ave. , they stand around, and talk stories. Our store manager caught them one time and he decided to close down food Ave and sent all of them to do go backs and help hardlines.

I can't even schedule 3 baristas due to social distancing guidelines. We have to send new hires out for training.

 

[IWishIKnew]

How often do your stores call for backup? Particularly interested in those who work closing shifts--5 to 10 or so.

 

[happygoth]

How often do your stores call for backup? Particularly interested in those who work closing shifts--5 to 10 or so.

Maybe once or twice during the week after five, three or four times on weekends. During holidays and other crazy times it could be as much as five or six depending on callouts.

 

[Yetive]

If everyone shows up as scheduled, not very often.

 

[Nauzhror]

Pretty much never after 5-6 PM, if we have backup at all past that it's usually at closing to get the last few guests out quicker.

 

[greatteam]

Currently bc of Covid, we can only use every other register. We also cannot pull Starbucks or Food Ave because of potential cross contamination/our food safety inspector does not allow it.

If every other lane is full, people just have to wait. We use the mycheckout, but we also can’t direct the line while doing it so it’s basically just a clusterfuck.