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Starbucks Company-Wide Training is a Pretty Cool Thing
By Marc | February 27, 2008
Yesterday every U.S. Starbucks location closed its doors for company-wide training for 3 hours in the late afternoon/early evening.
They had the mandatory training as part of the CEO’s efforts to get them out of their sales slump and to do some serious education on the fine art of espresso. I’m glad they did that. Every company needs to keep on its toes to stay ahead and to improve their employees’ attitudes toward what they are doing and why. And it’s not just management or a few of the top baristas from each store (on their off hours) because it’s “not cost effective to train more people”. It’s everyone. They want to make sure every barista is there getting in on it.
I’ve been in situations where one person (me) getting the real training has to turn around and regurgitate that training into an unpaid teaching experience for every other lunkhead in the employ. Or else it’s a situation where training is done when the trainee and the trainer have to work out some schedule to get the schoolin’ done. Many times it never happens. It’s not fun to be in an awkward unorganized corporate teaching scenario and I like it when stuff like this happens, and it takes some gumption to close the stores in a prime sales timeslot.
I’m sure that it may have been an inconvenience for some of the employees because it may be hours after their shift ended or they had prior commitments, but that is a choice each has to make. I’ve heard many times that Starbucks is an incredible company to work for, so personally, I’d come in an learn something to make my work experience and the customers’ experiences that much more worthwhile.
(Here’s a little segue to get into another point, so don’t think I’ve had a stroke or something.) I usually don’t listen to the radio during the day, only on the drive to and from work, so I get to miss out on the daytime DJ’s on K-LOVE. I really like K-LOVE, but I am fortunate not to have more exposure to some of the on-air personalities. Today, I had to run an errand with Julie, so we heard about the Starbucks event every moment we were in the car when music wasn’t being played.
The general attitude was (paraphrasing), “How could they? What about all those people who need their caffeine fix on the drive home? I need my Starbucks!” There were some people who called in to give their defense (mainly the employees don’t all have 9 to 5 hours and that time works best for all involved), but the next talent banter focused on the same thing (maybe in case someone had just tuned in). Was it a slow news day?
I am not here to bash K-LOVE. I love the music and I really enjoy many of the on-air personalities. But what has our culture come to when a corporation closing its doors for a few hours on one day is the most important thing to chap our hides? And it’s closing its doors to make them a better company not only for their sales, but for their employees and customers. It’s also not even for a few hours each week or a few hours each day. It’s a few hours on one stinking day!
There are a lot of things in this world that should get us ticked off, get us angry, make us blow our tops. People all over the world are going hungry. People in our own country are starving. There are homeless children. There are disturbed individuals waiting for a hair-trigger psyche to be released to commit horrible crimes. There are many many things in this world to make us angry and demand justice.
Starbucks not being open so that you can have your Caramel Frappuccino is not a reason to be flustered. (Mmmm caramel frappuccino.) It may be a minor inconvenience, but is probably more of an inconvenience for the employees (‘cause they HAVE to be there). People were given notification beforehand. Life WILL go on. There are many other places to get coffee. They opened their doors again afterward. If America’s biggest gripe for the day is the loss of an espresso for three small hours, we are a very fortunate and very spoiled country!
You know, I’m not what you would call a regular Starbucks customer. But this makes me want to go there more often. If they care enough about their employees to lose 3 hours of revenue to make sure those employees can attend and not lose tons of sleep, and if they care enough about their customers to take the time to make sure everyone involved can improve the customer experience, then I want to support that company.
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