Fuck You, Starbucks

[Corvidia]

I really, really hate Starbucks, and not just because my manager is awful (that's a whole 'nother rant) but because of shit like this.

About a year ago, on an industry gossip site I ran across an article detailing Starbucks's attempts to prevent employee unionization.

The pinnacle of the events in question came when Starbucks managers read through the discussion boards on Cornell Organization for Labor Action's website in order to identify job applicants and current employees that were labor activists.
In a series of e-mails uncovered by The Wall Street Journal, Starbucks managers pulled names from the discussion board and then cross-referenced them with an employee database. They found that three employees were members of the University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations and active union supporters, and asked executives if they could inform local managers of the workers' identities.

This lead to those three employees being fired.

And then, while reading the article Suu posted about washing machines Lilithizing women, I saw this article and redlined.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Starbucks, Costco Wholesale Corp and Whole Foods Market are joining forces to propose alternatives to a bill that makes it easier for workers to unionize but is strongly opposed by U.S. corporations.
The three retail giants said on Saturday they sought a "third way" as big business and labor unions face off over the Employee Free Choice Act, backed by President Barack Obama.
...
Starbucks, Costco and Whole Foods, which invited other corporations, unions and public interest groups to join them, proposed instead that unions be given more access to meet with workers, stricter penalties for labor violations and a guaranteed right to request secret ballots in all circumstances.

Arggh, there's so much OTHER complete bullshit the world at large (Forbes, the average sheep on the street) thinks about working here!

From the first article:

Forbes Magazine ranked Starbucks as the number two "best company to work for" in the large company category. It claims that the average hourly worker nets $35,294 a year.

Ooooh, how I laughed when I read that! $35k? At a job like mine? I fucking WISH! They must have been counting the CEOs, VPs, regional managers, district managers, store managers, the ASMs AND the lowly cogs like myself. Christ.

Second article:

The SWU has been trying to organize Starbucks baristas since 2004. The movement stems from some workers' claims that Starbucks does not treat its employees in a fair manner by paying low wages and not providing enough hours to work. These two factors can make it very difficult for someone to support themselves, according to the Starbucks Union website.

More like the truth.

[Thurnez Isa]

you know if you don't like working at starbucks you ever think of just looking for a new job and quitting
or failing that just do a really piss poor job

[Corvidia]

I have a second interview with another employer in the near future. I'm getting OUT, come hell or high water. And I have this thing about doing a piss-poor job for people that are paying me--it's called professionalism. Though goodness knows it's wearing thin.

[Thurnez Isa]

well if your getting out have some fun at least

they don't need to know you caused any mayhem

[Corvidia]

I'm aware of that. Hence why there's a thread in the Mind Fuck called, "Starbucks MF Opportunity." Professionalism is, at best, a facade. I won't tear it down because it's useful, but I'll certainly use it as a disguise.

[OPTIMUS PINECONE]

     I buy ALL of my music at STARBUCKS.

[Corvidia]

The Contemporary Grind series is good, as are some of the other ones. Most of the CDs are tolerable. There's a few (usually just specific songs) that grate on my nerves and I go skip.

[Cain]

I can safely say I have never been inside a Starbucks.  I am more a Cafe Nerro/Costa man.

However, it does sound like Starbucks has taken the Wal-Mart approach to worker-management relations, which is "people at the bottom are scum.  Use as you see fit, but remember to remind them of their place in the grand scheme of things as often as possible".  Was it Starbucks who introduced the electronic scheme where they can electronically monitor how much work you do at any given time, so they can more efficiently manage you (ie send you home if you start flagging)?  Or was that someone else?  I know one major chain brought it in.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I can safely say I have never been inside a Starbucks. 

Starbucks is a necessary evil.  It is used by society to contain all the Ayn Rand fans, so that they don't hector passers-by in the streets.  They just sit around in Starbucks, making sure that everyone sees their copy of The Fountainhead, and wondering where all the girls went.

[AFK]

I had Starbucks this morning.  Does this mean I fail.   

[Thurnez Isa]

This university is probably the only one I know that has a Starbucks, but you can't find it if your life depended on it... All this time I've been here and I still don't know where it is

[Cramulus]

I can safely say I have never been inside a Starbucks. 

Starbucks is a necessary evil.  It is used by society to contain all the Ayn Rand fans, so that they don't hector passers-by in the streets.  They just sit around in Starbucks, making sure that everyone sees their copy of The Fountainhead, and wondering where all the girls went.

Starbucks : Gaia Online :: Ayn Rand : Anything they talk about at Gaia Online

[Jenne]

Starbucks, from what I hear (my sil used to work for them til last year) is a bitch to work for, and very tough to move up in.  You need the ruthless abilities of most second-rate businesses to get ahead, and that usually entails the usual turning on your colleagues, tattleing, etc.  I know that if your drawer is not 100% perfect 100% of the time, you face firing or some such shit like that.  A lot of pressure on the drawer being in tact, from what I gather.

Costco is just shit altogether to work for, so if they dump their union, damn, I just don't know how anyone will ever be able to work witih them for very long.

[AFK]

Retail and Food Service suck in general.  Speaking as someone who slogged his way through both.  BTW, never eat at Pizza Hut and nevar shop at Brookstone. 

[Jenne]

Done and done.  Yeah, they all pretty much suck, but some unions help them suck LESS.  My cousin (I've shared she works at Costco before) is the union rep for her site, and she tells me that she's basically most of the workers' insurance against instant-firing in a lot of grievance cases.