“If for any reason you are dissatisfied with your food or beverage item, let our baristas know and we’ll gladly remake it for you,” Starbucks states in its Return & Exchange Policy.
Since its story began in 1971, the beloved coffee franchise Starbucks has always prided itself on its customer service abilities. Yet, as the chain quickly gained traction and globalized to over 35,000 stores worldwide, the coffee monopolizer has allegedly not always taken care of its roughly 349,000 employees.
And while many employees, or “Partners,” have banded together to create a Union, sometimes partners like Sophie fall through the cracks.
Posted on Saturday, influencer Sophie’s (@Sophiesappp) three-part TikTok series explaining her recent resignation from the Starbucks she once managed amassed more than 313,500 views and 21,135 likes. Sitting on her living room floor, the young woman leans over her coffee table and tells all.
Before diving in, Sophie assured viewers that her story was merely personal. She explained that her story should not be used to represent others’ experiences with the corporation.
Why Sophie quit Starbucks
“To start off, I started at Starbucks in 2020. I was a barista for about eight months, was promoted to a shift supervisor for nine, ten months. Then I was assistant manager for about nine months, and then I was a store manager for the rest of my time with Starbucks,” Sophie said.
Sophie was one of the 60 percent of Starbucks store managers who began their career as a barista. And as a 21-year-old manager, Sophie shared her experiences via TikTok, gaining a large following of former Starbucks partners.
“[The] beginning of my career with Starbucks was great. I loved it. Barista, shift supervisor, assistant store manager—all up until January of this year,” Sophie expressed.
“I really enjoyed my job,” Sophie explained, stating that she saw herself working there for the foreseeable future.
“The culture at Starbucks started to take a turn in January, and I wasn’t happy,” Sophie continued.
“In the beginning of the year, I dual-managed two stores for about five or six weeks, and then went on to dual-manage another two stores for about four more weeks,” Sophie said.
Then, upon returning to her own store, she was faced with her own staffing crisis. Allegedly, for roughly two months, her location was severely understaffed.
“So, you can say by May, I was burnt out. Burnt out beyond all means,” Sophie concluded her first part of the series.
Before she could even post the second clip, commenters were stating their alliance with Sophie and that, as partners themselves, they were exhausted.
“Current 5 year SSV [shift supervisor] here. I am drained. Mentally and emotionally. Burned out. I can’t wait for the day I can leave,” one commenter wrote, gaining 1,408 likes.
“Starbucks killed me, I was feeling depressed, it felt like I had so many responsibilities that in 8hrs wasn’t enough time and they didn’t want to pay OT, didn’t have time for anyone or anything,” another said.
Sophie then released part two of the series.
It wasn’t just the workload
“Lots of things were changing at the corporate level, and I wasn’t feeling very prioritized or supported. I felt alone; I felt alone behind the scenes of Starbucks,” Sophie said.
At this point, Sophie began to explain her newfound passion for social media. As, more recently, her postings began to gain a larger following, she realized that this may be her next career path.
“Not so much, like, ‘I wanna be an influencer.’ More like, ‘I wanna do this for a corporation,’” Sophie explained. “And that made me pursue digital marketing courses and social media management courses and kind of explore a different career that way.”
As summer went forward, Sophie began looking for jobs in the digital media industry. She spent her free time trying to get her foot in the door.
“I was not planning on resigning until I had something, until my social media became a problem for corporate, like a lot of people have,” Sophie said.
“I was flagged by a corporate person because I was wearing my apron in my videos,” Sophie said.
Because Sophie’s apron had a visible Starbucks logo, it can be assumed that this was the issue. Sophie explained that she had no intention of resigning until it was requested that she take down her videos.
Her content scuffle heats up with corporate
Starting up her final part of the series, Sophie admitted to not taking down the content per corporate request.
“I had decided that this content is something I’m proud of. It’s something that I have worked really hard on, and it’s something that makes me happy.”
Sticking to her guns, Sophie put in her three-week notice shortly after the interaction. However, Starbucks had a different approach.
“After I put in my three-week notice, I was told my resignation was effective immediately, and I could not finish out the rest of my notice,” Sophie told viewers.
Heartbroken, Sophie explained that she had no chance to say goodbye to any of her fellow co-workers or even customers. Allegedly, she didn’t even get a chance to clean out her desk.
However, though her time at Starbucks came to a quick stop, Sophie happily announced that she found a new position more suited to her new passions.
“I am happy to say that I have accepted a social media specialist position for a marketing firm, and I’m so excited to start this journey,” Sophie explained.
Giving praise to Starbucks, Sophie thanked the corporation for everything it had given her during her time there.
@sophiesappp Finally answering your questions 🥳 #storytime #quit #job #starbucks #unemployed #barista #storemanager #contentcreator #trending #fyp #viral ♬ original sound – soph 🌼
“It was a rough road, and I know that it’s not easy for a lot of people, but I am so excited for this next part of my life and to be able to continue doing what I love professionally and personally,” Sophie said.
“I know that this is the right path for me,” she concluded.
The Daily Dot reached out to Sophie (@Sophiesappp) via TikTok direct message and Starbucks via its press email.
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