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(deep breath). Okay.
I've worked for Starbucks (Sbux) on 4 occasions (shudder) for about 16 months over the last 3 years. I hate them and have vowed never to pay for one of their coffees ever again, or work for them.
They are evil, about on the same par as any lousy underpaid coffee monkey/service industry job. Although it being Starbucks you get the extra 'working here is morally wrong' feeling, which I think you should get a wage bonus for. I'll try and keep this to specific reasons they're evil, and not rant about why serving coffee can be hell...
When you join Sbux, they send you to Coffee School for 8 hours. This involves watching videos sent from Seattle about the Sbux Story and the Stock Options, how to Make Conversation(!) with Customers in order to sell them Golf Themed Mugs(?!) and other creepy topics. I find it really creepy that they tried to teach us to get to know the customers for the sole purpose of learning how to push merchandise on them.
The Sbux Story: Sbux was started by a couple of hippies in Seattle in 1971. For the next 16 years, they sold coffee from 2 or 3 stores in Seattle. One of their marketing guys, Mr. Shultz, went to Italy on a trip in the mid-80s and came up with the idea of having an 'Italian' coffee shop in the US. He returned to Seattle, and bought Starbucks from the hippies.
In 1987, Howard Shultz turned it into a corporation and started expanding. They now have over 4,000 stores and are opening 3 a day for the next 5 years or so, aiming to hit 10,000 as soon as they can. They are now in (partial list) Austria, Germany, UK, USA, Canada, Netherlands, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Philipines, and even have an outlet in The Forbidden City in Beijing. That is sick. They are moving into Spain and Italy in the next year. I hope they die in Italy. I can't see Italians going to an American knock-off for crap espresso from an automatic machine.
The spread of them in such a short time is probably the biggest reason people have for hating them. In Vancouver, there were 97. In Toronto, there are about 130 now, up from 4 in 1997.
According to No Logo, they will only move into an area when they can move in full force. When they first opened up in the UK, they opened 85 at once. Thankfully due to this policy, they can't be found outside of a few major cities in Canada.
Also according to the same book, they have a policy of buying out the lease from a local popular cafe in the area when moving in, so they have the location that people already frequent. This may explain why The Sanctuary goth club no longer exists in Toronto. 
A similar chain in Canada is Second Cup. In Toronto, you will be hard pressed to find a Second Cup that hasn't had a Starbucks open up across the street. One of the first Sbuxes of course, was opened up diagonal from the most popular Second Cup shop at Queen and John in Toronto.
Sbux seems to work according to local labour laws, in the way that workers in Canada are better off in some ways, but worse off in others. There is no philosphy of the same conditions world wide. Examples:
In Canada/US, the schedules are done automatically by the computers. So instead of working, say 7am-3pm or 9-5, etc. You can end up working shifts from 645am-1045am or 4pm-8pm, depending on when the customers come in. In Can/US, you can work between 12 and 40 hours a week, depending on what the computer comes up with. And the days you work change every week, thereby preventing you to have plans and set days off. Why do they do this? Apparently because they can. In the UK, where labour regulations differ,
the Sbux workers at least get contracted hours and a week paid holiday every 3 months. The UK as well has more designated 'full time' employees, unlike back home where everyone pretty much except the manager is 'part time', equalling less pay. In the UK, you start at £4.50. After you finish the training (about 2 months) you get £5.30. No matter how long you work there, you never get another raise. Canadian workers start at $8.20 and move up $.20 every 6 months to a maximum of $10 I believe.
Sbux seems to follow McDonalds in the union front. When their Vancouver distribution centre unionised a few years back, they shut it down and moved it to Washington. Also, during the opening of the 97 stores in Vancouver, they actually reduced everyone's wages from $8 to $7.50 (source:No Logo)
And their 'Fair Trade' Coffee? Is only one of the 20 or so kinds they sell. And, it's only available in North America.
A lot of the evil depends on the manager. When I've had managers that didn't care, such as my manager in London, the store was less evil. WHen you have managers who enforce every directive sent down from Seattle, the store can be quite evil. Example: Employees being sacked for giving away expired pastries to the homeless instead of throwing them away, employees being disciplined for saying 'Grande' as 'grande'(silent e) and not 'grand-e'.
The markups on their products is insane as well. A plain bagel, no cream cheese, will cost you £1.40 in London. The acutal cost to Sbux? £.05. This may not be specific, but usually food prices are based on a cost of 30%, not 3%. I would never charge people full price if I could, just because you really shouldn't sell a drink that costs the company about £.20 to make for £3.50.
The second time I worked there, there was a contest on for which outlet could sell the most Frappicinos. Our store won! The prize? Our Manager got a cruise, the assistant manager got $100, the supervisors got $50, and we, the peons who actually sold the damn things and dealt with the customers? We got squat.
Sbux is evil because they pretend that coffee is more than coffee. If only they would stop pretending that it's NOT a new age philosophy that guides them. At least it seems that people in the UK don't buy in to it. Back home, you'll have customer that will actually talk to you about the different blends of coffee and who will actually only drink Starbucks and buy into the 'it's more than coffee'. These people scare me. The people who won't get a coffee some days because "it's not Sumatra." and look forward to new merchandise lines.
And now, the creepy bit, as this is now being carried out:
In the UK, every employee has to write a multiple choice test about coffee. Those who get 23/25, become a Coffee Expert and get a certificate and a fun pin to wear that says 'Coffee Expert'.
All the Coffee Experts in the store then write a test. The winner of this test becomes the Store Coffee Master. They get a Coffee Grinder, and get to wear A Black Apron while at work!!
All the Store Coffee Masters in the district then get together and write another test. The winner become the District Coffee Master. More prizes are won.
All the District Coffee Masters then get together and write ONE LAST TEST. The winner becomes the UK Coffee Ambassador. Their job will be to go to different countries and open Sbuxes.
Moominstoat said this sounded too much like the Masons or something. Especially with the aprons. I almost got sacked for getting caught wearing the Black Apron by the District Supervisor.
Okay, I just spent an hour thinking all this up. I think that's most of the specific reasons they're evil, apart from the general service industry hell reasons.
Whew. I feel much better now. Oh, and please avoid Sbux when possible. They don't need the business or the encouragement to destroy all other sources of coffee.
Please especially avoid the one at 22 Princes St, London, UK. The only supervisor left there is a complete bastard who has led most of the store to seek employment elsewhere in just the last month. |
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