Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sometimes.. You really make me upset. talk2hand

I'll tell you why I'm not telling you this; I believe in the fundamental potential in people. I don't want to say goodness because I don't like the idea of compartmentalizing behavior into "good" and "evil," but it's still pretty much taking a side in that old Enlightenment debate. We aren't born wrong, mean, evil, lazy or anything else. We do undeniably have predispositions and learned behaviours that come from any number of places. I think we generally spend too much time picking out the negative predispositions than we do celebrating and nurturing the positive ones, that and being negative and/or confrontational wears me down psychologically.

So I'm not going to tell you that you're doing terribly and that every time that you show promise in sloughing off your shitty habits and behaviours you turn around and do something even more vile than what you've ever done before. It's the epitome of taking two steps forward and one back. I'm sorry if you think that mentality makes it look like I won't be honest with you or that I'm hypocritical because I'll attempt to celebrate your successes in front of you and get frustrated and pissed off when you lapse, either when you're there or when I hear about it from someone else, but that's neither here nor there.

But hell let's talk about your reaction to my attitude, it should be good for a laugh. You tell me that the impression that you get of me being restless and eager to get to my new store to the point where it's a detriment to morale or that it seems like I'm disparaging the store. It's all well and good to address the idea and discuss it with me, but you really need to think harder about the source of it. Let's be honest here. You prefaced the entire conversation by telling me that whatever comes next, I have enormous passion for coffee, sharing my knowledge, and that I'll stand up for company standards as Leonidas to Xerxes.

So then let's really think about why my attitude is allegedly poor and I'm open about being enthusiastic regarding my transfer. If I'm so passionate about what I do, what would make me (again allegedly) so cynical? Maybe it's the opportunistic, callous, and inhumane management philosophy that you and he have been pursuing for the last eight months. Maybe you have to stop looking at the effect in a vacuum and start considering what the cause might be. Maybe you really have to open your eyes to what's been happening at the store, especially because from any sane perspective my passion and cynicism cannot be easily reconciled. Clearly, while you're showing signs of improvement, this kind of introspection is still beyond you.

Next let's go on to how you essentially accuse me, using neutral language but still essentially in an accusatory manner, of encouraging partners to quit from the store while the going is good. I must have a good poker face for you to not have seen how deeply offensive that is to me, and how entirely wrongheaded the concept is.

You don't even really understand why I was so upset that it scared you when I heard about how she was being treated and that she did in fact follow through and quit. I was shaking not because she's my friend. I was shaking because I invested weeks of effort in trying to curb her disillusion and alienation by making sure she understood just how much I appreciate having her on the floor with me and encouraging her to keep caring about the performance and state of the store in the face of ignorance and apathy because I would do my best to match her efforts and turn them into results, that I would support her and the other partners that showed initiative. I sat back and watched as the both of you pissed all that away over a ******** piercing. Neither of you would seriously consider going to bat for one of our most valuable partners over something as trivial as that. You wouldn't give serious thought to seeking an alternative or temporary means that would carry her through to when it was healed and she could take it out for extended periods of time.

The truth is that when partners approach me about leaving or considering leaving, I struggle to find reasons and encouragement to keep them here. I lend them support and make sure they understand why I think they're valuable to us as a team, but not once have I ever encouraged or suggested that anyone quit. At worst I've expressed empathy and told them that I wouldn't hold it against them if they left.

The truth is that I've struggled to stay positive and work against the crumbling morale of the store by using and referencing what I know to be the true, verbatim Starbucks policies and phiosophies that you disregard. I am a shift supervisor. The company tells me that they are my customers, they are my responsibility. My priorities are Partner, Customer, Business. Every decision I make on the floor is guided by that. My partners always come first. They are, if nothing more, the public face of the company, the customer's entry point. It behooves us to treat them with dignity, respect, and empathy if for no other reason that if we do not, it will inevitably affect their performance and will quickly erode our business. From a completely sterile business perspective, going the extra mile for our partners that we tell them to go to for our customers is good business. It nets us more productivity, better customer relations, and ultimately more money. This is why Seattle tells us Partner, Customer, Business. Because being good to them is good for the company.

I leverage their talent. I protect them. I let them vent to me in complete confidence.

When Brian came to me exasperated that he had spent three weeks on till and had not made a single drink, I didn't respond by badmouthing or deriding you. I responded by being productive and using every mechanism available to solve the problem. When a customer has a bad experience or gets a shitty drink, we employ service recovery techniques, we have to make our case for why they should ever deign to return to our store. This applies to when we fail our partners as well, again this is all in the training books, it's the first thing they teach you when you train for shift supervisor say nothing about ASM or SM.

I apologized, I responded to his passion in learning about the coffee side of things by encouraging him to pursue the Coffee Master program. I took till for two hours so he could spend that time with our strongest barista. No one applies to Starbucks because they want to hump a till for twenty hours a week. They come to us because they want to make the drinks, they want to learn the recipes and share in the craftsmanship. They come to us to have fun and find something that rewards their passion.

I am continually humbled by his gratitude to me. He goes out of his way to help our more bewildered Chinese customers by enquiring if they speak Cantonese (which if I understand correctly, can be a sensitive thing if you ask the wrong person), and if so explains things to them warmly. This is the epitomy of "Legendary Sevice," this is the kind of experience that we try to build our reputation on. While he is a bit on the unruly side, Brian has incredible passion, especially for his age. That needs to be leveraged and appreciated. When he thanks me profusely for doing things like putting him on that bar training or using the feedback cards to let him know he's doing well, it embarasses me because I truly feel that I'm not doing much more than the minimum according to what I understand Starbucks expects of me as a shift supervisor. It's sad to me that the kind of basic, ostensibly mandatory things that I do for him and show him seem like a step far above what he gets from the rest of the management team.

I don't tell partners to jump ship. I invest hours of time and energy into them and try to keep our store a fun and humane place to work. Why else would I tailor my availability in such a way to make sure that I get to work with specific people who rarely work? Why else would I make myself available for feedback and guidance outside of work? Why else would I counsel them in what their priveledges are in addition to their obligations, advise them of the proper channels for reporting behavior in contravention of standards, and try my utmost to follow up with them on their concerns?

My cynicism and frustration are the product of having to essentially work against the both of you to get my job done to an acceptable standard.

I would invite you to ask him about what exactly I wrote in the note to him explaining why I considered it to be a mistake to keep me for an extended amount of time following the opening of my new store (without approaching me for feedback or even communicating it to me other than a flippant comment and the posted schedual). I was generous in my wording. I explained that I felt that my frustration with what I perceive to be a systemic lack of support and communication were negatively impacting my performance and that I have faith that in his and my abscence you will have enough support to succeed without me just as much with me if not moreso. It isn't flat out lying, but it's omitting alot of course. However, the point is that I'm striving here to maintain a diplomatic demeanor about all this, even if it means having to use self deprecating language. Not that he ever acknowledged that I even wrote the note.

You brought up the concept of the possibility of my performance waning in indifference towards the fate of the store beyond my expiry date at this location. We both know who the elephants in that room are, but you won't acknowledge to yourself that he is in fact the biggest one. After all, he did schedual me in blatant violation of my availability which has been confirmed and in place for several months and waited until the dates were beyond his own expiry date to do it and did not apologize for it or attempt to find me hours elsewhere when I called him on it.

Or perhaps that vital information about my new location was being witheld from me and that you only gave it to me yourself when I mentioned that Shannon had invited me to stop by her store so that she could print it off there for me. Imagine that, an assistant store manager from a different location offering to go out of her way to give me vital information that neither of you could be bothered to provide me with. I would have missed our meeting tonight and I would have missed family and friends night tomorrow. Whether it's through sheer incompetance or malice makes little difference to me at this point bceause neither really reflects any better or worse on either of you.

When the shifts got together and quit to throw your gossip mongering and power grabbing back in your face they discussed who they believed should continue on at the store and not go with them. You privately accused them of abandoning the store and acted on what you should have known was bad information. They responded by taking me aside and insisting that I not quit with them. They told me that I had an immense amount of passion for the job and that I had not been told nearly enough how well I was doing. They told me about the new store, that back then was little more than a rumor, and they told me to fight to get there. They told me to chin up and stand up for myself, that even though they were leaving for other things, they believed in me and didn't want to see me leave before I got the chance to explore my interests and opportunities. They did it after they gave their notice.

I stayed. I fought. I yelled. I threatened to quit. I threatened to demote myself. I never compromised my principles. I strove to work hard on my many personality flaws, such as composure under stress. I strove to treat my baristas with compassion and empathy. I try my very best every shift to adhere to my goal of always being the hardest working partner on the floor and saving some of the hardest or dirtiest tasks for myself. I fought for it and I got ******** you. You come to me with the skulls of slain kings asking for an offering of earth and water. You threaten my people with slavery and death. Madness?

THIS
IS
STARBUCKS!

I wish you would either quit being sort of cold/mean to your boyfriend or just break up with him! It's sad to look at.

Okay, I just have this to say to you.

What the ******** is your problem? You act all nice with me and don't seem to have any problem with me, but then you talk to somebody that doesn't even work there and complain about me and say you don't know if I'll work there much longer?

When did I ever NOT leave on time when you asked, or refuse to make sandwiches? Hell, WHEN did you ever ask me either?

Whenever I'm working, nobody straight out says "Hey Alex, go make these sandwiches." Instead, they tell me to wrap and handle the register which I do easily enough. If you want me to make sandwiches and know how to do it, then ******** TRAIN me to do that part of the damn job instead of everybody taking over the damn make table and telling me to do something else. If you want me to leave in the middle of a rush of 20+ people in the store ordering sandwiches and the only people there are you and one other new person, fine. Next time there's a rush and it hits my end of hte shift, I'll stop whatever I'm doing and leave.

I work my ******** a** off whenever I'm there. Making salads, slicing things for the tables, wrapping sandwiches, making salads to go, filling up the tables, washing dishes; hell, I do more than most of the people that work there do. While I'm out there taking care of the slicing or cleaning up the store, everybody else is somewhere talking and eating chips instead. When I'm doing the dishes, it's the same thing. Nobody else seem to do their ******** job, so does that mean instead of doing something I should just sit back and relax like everyone else? Nobody else seems to want to slice anything, and when it's on the board I gladly take up the job when I'm asked. <********, the other new girl can't even slice and she gets more hours than I do. She's always there working when I'm only there a few days a week for a couple of hours. So sorry that I'm not 17 and some hot teenager for somebody to gossip and flirt with.

Maybe if I was underweight, had tons of piercings, and a bitchy attitude I would get more hours and wouldn't have complaints.

Don't worry, next time I work I'll do whatever you ask of me to do and I'll stand at the make table for my whole shift. If somebody asks me to move, I'll just tell them that I've had somebody complain about me making sandwiches and want to actually teach myself to make them so that I don't get fired for not being helpful. talk2hand

the butchering of it all makes me want to gouge my eyes out with my lover's/mother's brooch. mrgreen

Seperated, for enjoyment.

"Hey, cockbite. Stop the self-pity parade before you drown in your own b***h-a** tears. Life is hard, get used to it. You parade opinions and values and 'get used to it, this is life' like it's your banner, and then whine and cry when people splay theirs before you because it doesn't mirror your own.

You're lucky to be where you are, and you know what? You never thanked me for it. ******** you."

__

"k, you can stop checking out my best friend, who's taken, when I'm right next to you with open arms."

Why can't you pull your damn pants up? No one wants to see your boxers everytime you walk, no one wants to see the waist of your pants at your knees. gonk

Why do you have to think you're a gangster? Why can't you be a normal person? Why do you have to tick me off so god-damn much? Dx

Why can't you at least shut up if you aren't going to do your schoolwork? Why do you have to ruin it for those of us who /want/ to do our work? Dx

--
Why do you have to be so freak'n obsessed over any anime that comes on Cartoon Network? Don't you have a life outside of anime? wait, I take that back, do you even have a life?

--

Why do you have to smell so bad and sit next to me? crying I'm not trying to be mean to you, I'm trying to be nice to you, but just ugh! X-x

--

Why do I have to be so freak'n shy and afraid to share things I write? >w<

--

Why do you like rap so freak'n much? @_@ You make everything else sound bad just because you don't like it, can't you be open-minded about something for once~?

--

Why do you have to keep bothering me?! Can't you tell I'm trying to avoid you for a little bit, to get my thoughts together? ;3;

edit:

and why can't you stop asking me for the answers?! They're right there in front of you, stop being lazy I'm not your slave! DDx

[/end complaining about things that've been bugging Sila]

When people in my high school were making out, they were chased off by the nuns. Scary how those ladies always seemed to know when their students were being naughty... rofl