Red Eye

Part Nine

Wandering around the break-room in an attempt to find any extra supplies, my eyes kept glancing at all the names tapped to the lockers and I soon found myself thinking back on my own coworkers. Had we been trapped together during this, would we survive?

Probably not seeing as how over the last few months, the place had turned into a massive shit-show. Our store manager had jumped ship leaving our severely under-qualified assistant manager to take control. At the time, we didn't know how truly unprepared she was to take the reigns until it was too late. 

At the time, our old manager had begun to slack off when it came to doing their job. They kept letting their responsibilities slide and became extremely unmotivated. Once they found an opportunity elsewhere that promised a higher salary and less stress, they took it and ran. Can't really say I blamed them. This left our assistant manager to pick up the slack; pressured into not only fulfilling her duties but upper management's as well. And bless her, through it all she kept an unwavering smile on her face, never once letting the stress make her crack.

In the beginning, Grace- true to her namesake- did and said everything with such a delicate ease, careful not to step on anyone's toes or make demands of anyone already carrying too much on their shoulders. She was this unbreakable pillar of strength, radiating positivity, inspiring us all to do and be better. 

When she was promoted, we thought she would make things different. We thought she would understand the hardships we had all faced and work to lighten the load that we had all been carrying. We thought she would make things better.

Then, like with most companies, they took that innocent, precious spirit of hers and shattered it. When they offered her the position, she eagerly took it. Told everyone she was "blessed" to have been considered for the role. But like with most people given power and authority, she let it consume her and that sweet smile of hers turned into spiteful smirk. 

You see, in my experience of being the outcast, of being the one sitting on the sidelines, you learn to observe people. When you go about unnoticed, it makes it easy to watch people in their most private of moments. You come to recognize the walls they build, the facades they create. Because I was one of the few original members of this doomed crew, these little sneak-peeks into what was really happening became unwanted "perks" of the job. 

Despite the smiles, the "positive vibes", the encouraging words, Grace crumbled under the pressure of having to do extra work. She felt obligated to go above and beyond, exceed everyone's expectations including her own and in doing so, fell victim to insecurity about her place at work. Behind closed doors, she would break down, have crying fits in the bathroom. She constantly needed reassurance from us that she was stronger than all of us, that she could keep going, that we needed her as much as she needed us. 

This newfound power quickly went to her head and she began cracking the whip down on all of us. She felt she had been mistreated, felt too overworked and so we all had to share in the responsibilities she no longer wanted any part of. We had to say and do things on her behalf, make excuses for her inabilities and mistakes, handle difficult and even dangerous situations on our own because she simply couldn't be bothered to care. 

Work became a revolving door of people coming and going. Heightened stress levels led to frequent resignations. New hires eager for their first job experience quickly lost all enthusiasm. If my theory about the cause of Red-Eyes was plausible, my workplace had become the perfect pressure-cooker to test it out. 

I then wondered if this Starbucks, with its overly cheery workers, was hiding a sinister side. Reflecting on the times I'd been greeted by kind workers, told "good morning" and "have a nice day" with a bright smile, given compliments on what I was wearing, indulged in casual conversation, I couldn't help but wonder if it had all been a carefully constructed facade. How many of these people had been genuinely friendly and how many were simply hiding the pain of an average workday?

I've encountered my fair share of employees being pushed past their breaking point, having to endure the ever-critical Karen and the never satisfied Steve, having to remake orders because people don't understand the basic difference between a hot and cold beverage.

If we're being brutally honest, how many of the employees that you encounter on your average Starbucks run are truly overjoyed to be handing you that morning coffee every single day? How many of them in their tired, overworked state are longing to throw that boiling brown liquid in your ungrateful face? How many of them, like Grace, are just putting on a brave smile to get through their shift before closing up for the night and succumbing to hysterical fits brought on by the realization that they will never escape this vicious cycle?

For the hell of it, I did a random Google search and stumbled onto a Reddit account seemingly created by disgruntled employees and discovered just how much of a struggle it had become for the company to keep up its promise to "inspire and nurture the human spirit." Complaints about under-staffing, limited supplies, disrespectful customers, incapable managers. None of this was new- we've all been cruelly blessed with similar fates at our workplaces- but still, I was left shaking my head with disappointment. 

Within the past few years, the notion of self-entitlement has gone through the roof. The idea that certain people deserve one form of treatment versus another. No matter what the industry, it's been engrained in a worker's mind that "the customer is always right" and therefore they can treat you like absolute shit as long as they get what they came for and got to use every coupon, discount, promotion, Reward Member point and VIP perk at their disposal. And this fundamental, unquestionable rule that has dictated companies throughout the centuries is reinforced by micro-management eager to fire you over the simplest slip-up and replace you with yet another naive new recruit. 

Every time we clock in, we are preparing for battle and yet the name tags, uniforms, even hiding behind a fully-stocked counter or devoutly-tidy desk offer us no protection.  And in our most desperate of moments, reliance on our tough-skin just doesn't cut it anymore. 

Such a dark and cut-throat place the world of customer service can be...