Let them hang themselves
I never realized just how “privileged” I might have been growing up. Despite my family’s multitude of problems (don’t we all have them, lol) and our not-so-wealthy background, we found our home on the better side of Winston-Salem.
When I moved to Charlotte, I got a culture shock real fast. I was finally on my own.
One of the first indicators that living on my own was going to be tougher: The dire lack of Starbucks anywhere near my house.
Living with my parents there were at least three Starbucks within a max radius of 2 miles. Hell, increase the radius to 4 or 5, and you could double the number of available Starbucks. In Charlotte? I have to drive 15-20 minutes to find one.
That led me to create the “Starbucks Test.” Well, I’m sure I wasn’t smart enough to think of it first, but it’s “mine” anyway. Here’s how it goes: As the number of Starbucks locations within a smaller radius increases, the average socioeconomic class of an area also increases.
My point: I loooved Starbucks (and, like every good Winston-Salemite, Krispy Kreme). Part of the whole atmosphere in Winston-Salem was what seemed like the vibrancy of it all. Young folks same age as you working behind the counter, many of them from your same school.
But, it looks like my love for Starbucks is waning. As the company slowly commits their own auto-asphyxiation, we might have to make a new version of the “Starbucks Test” and apply it to something like the number of really cool, fancy looking street signs or something.
New employee regulations will likely cut off the company’s brightest, most talented and coolest employees:
This new “philosophy” is called “Optimal Scheduling,” and it requires that “partners” (Starbucks-speak for employees) must dramatically increase their own flexibility. If they’d like to work full time, they must be available to work 70 percent of open store hours. (For a Starbucks open 16 hours a day, as is typical, this means 80.5 hours per week.)
[..snip..]
Being available 80.5 hours a week, Forman points out, will also be hard on “a student, a mother, or anyone who does anything besides working.” Workers who can’t make themselves available for the required number of hours will, within six months, lose their jobs. “It’s another way for [Starbucks] to thin the herd,” says Locke, “to have layoffs without calling them layoffs.”
And, I haven’t even begun to talk about the horridness of the whole deal. The Workers’ Union is, for sure, ticked off. They should be. Mr. Corporate Starbucks Man has absolutely no idea what life is like outside is plush, coffee-bean-counting office.
It’s okay. I’ve switched to Caribou Coffee here in Charlotte. There’s more of those here, and it doesn’t hurt that the one over on East Blvd. has the hottest I mean, friendliest staff ever.
About the Author: Matt
2 Responses to “Let them hang themselves”
I think you sell Starbucks a little too short. They have fantastic benefits for part- and full-time employees, they are the largest single purchaser/roaster of Fair Trade coffee in North America and soon will be in the world. And they have a special division, CAFE Practices, which works with a third-party organization to work with all farmers who aren’t certified through Fair Trade to make sure they have ethical conditions (and to improve the ones that don’t).
My housemate Matt manages a Starbucks and is constantly frustrated by his partners who want many hours but don’t have much flexibility. If all the partners want to work the same time and only that time, something has to give. Being available is not the same as being on-call and schedules are still made in advance so plans can be made. And of course, there’s the option of working part-time (and still racking in great benefit).
I used to be a big Starbucks hater but in taking time to evaluate all the good they do both for their partners and communities around the world, I’m managing to see their inevitable faults with compassion.
By Brian on Nov 2, 2008
Matt, I came from Seattle, where the first Starbucks opened, and I am amazed at all the coffee pop-up stores everywhere. While Starbucks may be the biggest, I also go to Seattle’s Best Coffee as well as Tulley’s. Here in DC, I go to both Starbucks and Caribou. I support coffee shops everywhere, even in places where they don’t have Starbucks (like Gettysburg, PA, where national brand shops are not to be found). Muah!
By juanito on Nov 3, 2008