Coming into Starbucks to be a Shift Manager (known as Shift Supervisor everywhere but in MA), as an outside hire with tons of general business, customer service and management experience, but no barista or food experience, has been very challenging. First, the baristas resent having to help train someone who they know is just going to turn around and start telling them what to do when they finish the training. And second, your fellow (homegrown) Shift Managers resent you landing the same job as them without "paying your dues" as a barista for a few years. This adds up to a pretty challenging and frustrating environment. You may even find yourself being trained by a barista who applied for and was rejected for the Shift Manager position that YOU got. Needless to say, that creates tension.
It's also tough on older employees (definitely for anyone over 40, maybe for those over 30 as well). The large majority of the people you'll be managing are between 20 and 25 years old, and for many of them the only job they've ever had is as a Starbucks barista. This means that, in a lot of cases, employees who have no idea how to act in a professional environment. I guess that every generation thinks that the 'young kids' are rude, but it many cases the culture gap is HUGE. I don't know why it is, but Starbucks seems to be stocked with young employees displaying the sarcastic, in-your-face, snarky, in-my-opinion rude attitude that seems pervasive in today's young people. Obviously, this creates a big challenge in the areas of customer service and relations between colleagues.
None of these issues should necessarily keep you from accepting a job at The Bux, but they are issues that both older potential hires and outside hires should be aware of and consider carefully.
