Starbucks says: “We don’t trust anyone over 30″

 Posted by on 19 May 2009  Modern Life
May 192009
 
(Barista image from Flickr user ericsiva)

(Barista image from Flickr user ericsiva)

Every now and then, I like to pop over to the blog Starbucks Gossip. Partly, I find it fascinating to see people kvetch endlessly about their serious love/hate relationship with the coffee retailer, but because it’s primarily employees, I also find it an interesting window into the corporate culture.

And sometimes I find out about new drinks or cool deals before anyone else.

Awesomely, though, sometimes I just get to listen on on wild rumours and unsubstantiated gossip. Like this recent gem, which reads like Abbie Hoffman peer Jack Weinberg mixed with ’90s corporate culture and post-millennial human rights-ism:

I’m a barista in San Francisco and our store recently got a new Store Manager (SM) who is 22. In the past few weeks, everyone in the store who is over 30 or has a disability has gotten an action plan or other disciplinary action (with the exception of the Assistant Manager) and all the new hires or store transfers are 20-somethings.  Our District Manager apparently does not want to hear about what’s happening in the store and completely supports the SM. After checking with baristas in a couple of other stores outside our district (including suburban stores), this seems to be happening throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Is it possible that Starbucks corporate has issued a TOFU (Too Old For Us) purge directive or is this an anomaly for our district/region? The San Francisco Human Rights Commission is keeping a quiet, watchful eye on this situation in my district.

The comments range from “You’re an idiot” to “Look around, man, it’s happening.” My personal take is that people will see patterns wherever they want to see patterns.

Grant Hamilton

  • Colin Corneau

    Young people tend to charge less, and also cost less in terms of benefits. Or is that too cynical of me?

    It seems Starbucks doesn’t mind the money of customers over 30…

  • Stumpy

    Another possibility is that the people who were disciplined actually deserve to be disciplined. I doubt the Bucks is allowing its younger employees to mess up their work, in the effort to discipline and force out the older employees.

  • http://www.absurdintellectual.com/ Grant Hamilton

    There was an interesting (related) conversation on CBC this afternoon, regarding how difficult workers are finding it, when they ask for career-specific training. Although I didn’t hear the whole program, it seemed to me that older workers who were denied opportunities tended to blame “ageism” (since they weren’t going to be around very long, to benefit the company), while younger workers who were denied similar opportunities tended to think they were being singled out for lack of loyalty.

    Young workers thought you had to be a member of the “old boys’ club” in order to get any recognition at their company, while old workers thought their company would always choose younger, cheaper workers over age and experience.

    I still lean towards the “people seeing patterns where they want to see patterns” explanation, but I could also be convinced that at different workplaces, there are different biases.

    As to Starbucks in particular, I would wager that there is no company-wide policy, but that some store or regional managers are making their personal biases felt.

  • http://www.absurdintellectual.com/ Grant Hamilton

    Also, some companies, like McDonalds, deliberately churns through workers as fast as they can, since it’s cheaper to train a new worker than it is to pay higher wages to someone who’s been there for years and years.

    For companies that are relentlessly focused on low prices to the exclusion of all else, I suspect this makes sense, but I long for a store that markets itself with a message like “We don’t have the lowest price, but we’re pretty close. And the difference is that we spend money on quality products, good customer service and doing right by the environment.” As long as they backed it up, I would shop there.

  • Stumpy

    I wouldn’t be surprised if McPoisen tried to save wage money by kicking some seasoned employees to the curb and keeping those who want to supervise/manage when they grow up. I would also add that the mind-numbing assembly work and dealing with cranky customers lends itself to high levels of turnover, which might explain why people tend to quickly move onto other work.

  • Colin Corneau

    I’d use a Starbucks job to finagle a posting to one of their stores overseas — a Shanghai steamer, or maybe a Moscow mocha, anyone?

    • http://www.absurdintellectual.com/ Grant Hamilton

      “Shanghai steamer” sounds more-than-vaguely pornographic.