A Starbucks barista recently went viral after posting a video of themselves in tears due to the stress of their working hours.
In the video, the barista, who is also a student, expressed frustration with their workload, particularly their 25-hour week and 8-hour shifts on weekends.
The video, shared on X (formerly Twitter) by far-right Trump supporter Sebastian Gorka, highlighted the challenges they faced with scheduling and staffing issues.
“I’m a full-time student, I get scheduled for 25 hours a week. And then on weekends, they scheduled me the entire day, open to close, that one’s scheduled for eight and half hours, both Saturday and Sunday,” the barista said in the clip.
“I’m three and a half hours into my shift. There’s so many customers and we have four people on the floor all day. Only five people were put on schedule and somebody had to call out.”
The barista criticized the management for their lack of support, claiming that managers “don’t care about us” and refuse to assist. They also mentioned that a manager had removed himself from the shift, avoiding responsibility.
Furthermore, the barista – who is trans – described instances of mistreatment by customers, including being misgendered. “I don’t get accommodations for being neurodivergent, people get mad at me for having too much sick time. I don’t even know what to do anymore, I’m at my wits end with this job,” they concluded.
Given the high cost of education in the US, many students need to work part-time to finance their studies. Commenters sympathized with the barista, with one person writing: “Wow, you are so brave for bullying a young service worker [sic] A full time college student is expected to do 2-3 hours of homework per every class hour So if this kiddo is in class 15 hours a week, has 30 hours of homework, and then 25 hours of work that is a 70 hour week.”
“[They’re] crying about being understaffed and working two weekend days in a row, with a manager taking no responsibility for the understaffing, and not working with them on the floor. Common practice in coffee shops. One might see it as being exploitation to a degree,” remarked one Twitter user.
Another criticized those dismissing the barista’s concerns, highlighting the toxic work environment prevalent in many industries. They wrote: “People in the comments defending bad work environment and abuse because they were abused too.”
Criticism was also directed at older generations who downplay the struggles of younger workers. “This is why everyone hates the older generation because y’all will say you want the best for our generations and then when we want it to be better y’all whine about how you had it worse,” one commenter chimed in.
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