Pros
1. Generally speaking, management is wonderful. Some stores aren't that way, but you'd have to be pretty unlucky to end up at one of those. 2. Company values are some you can appreciate too. Starbucks has an open coaching policy. Anyone can coach anyone on anything, and it is used as a helpful maneuver to remind partners of standards, etc. Most companies will use it as punishment, but Starbucks coaching is meant to help you, not hurt you. 3. EVERY COMPANY SHOULD DO THIS: they train their management from the very bottom as a barista to the level they will be working. We trained our state-level regional manager at my store.
Cons
I'd like to point out initially that I work at a somewhat high volume store. Don't let these cons scare you away if you want to work at Starbucks - the overall environment is worth it if you can deal with the following: 1. Every store is incredibly inconsistent. As a barista/shift supervisor or anyone who directly deals with customers it is difficult to explain to some customers that the other store is supposed to be charging them for soy milk, or something of that sort. 2. Customers tend to expect you to work faster than some people's hands can move. Working here puts you under a lot of pressure and you have to work very well with people staring you down. 3. Most stores I've encountered aren't up to current standards. A huge factor is they are constantly changing. This is not a bad thing necessarily, but with so many stores not keeping every partner up to date or are just not well-informed, it rounds back to the inconsistency.