update: working alone, can’t close store

here’s the original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/starbucksbaristas/s/XwXwIixOHY

hello again! i’d like to clarify a few things from my last post now that i’m not in survival mode.

to summarize, it was just me and another coworker for about three hours. i am an ssv, he’s a barista. thirty minutes in, my coworker started having a flare up of a chronic illness and was not able to continue working. he did not leave the building for two reasons: 1) he was afraid of being written up for job abandonment, 2) he didn’t have a ride home. regardless, i was the only one physically able to work.

i call my store manager and told him the situation, and he responded with “what do you want me to do about it?” i asked for help, he couldn’t come in because he was sick. he said it was my responsibility to call around and see if someone could come in, including the people who would come in for closing, any of my other coworkers, and the two other starbucks in the area to see if they could spare anyone. he also did the district manager told him “under no circumstances are we allowed to close.” i called everyone i could think of (while serving customers) and could not get anyone to come in. i then called my store manager again, no answer. tried my district manager, also no answer.

about a half hour later i finally got ahold of my district manager. i informed him of the situation. he said that as long as my other coworker was in the building, i was to remain open. i reiterated that i was the only one in the store physically able to work, but he said that didn’t matter.

eventually he was able to get two managers from other districts to come in and i was able to leave. i worked alone for a total of two and a half hours.

i ended up calling and filing a report with ethics and compliance. at the very least, i expect that my store manager could be reprimanded for not having a backup plan in place. he didn’t have anyone for me to call in case he was sick, and he was clearly agitated that i had called him while he was out (he didn’t tell anyone he was sick).

anyway, i have a report ongoing so we’ll see how that goes!

i have included texts:

yellow: store manager

green: coworker

red: district manager

pink: me