A Starbucks employee’s tearful video about their work schedule has captured the internet’s attention, sparking a heated debate about workplace demands and student life balance. Starbucks, known as the largest coffee chain globally, boasts nearly 400,000 employees and generally receives high marks for employee satisfaction regarding work-life balance.
Despite these accolades, a barista who is juggling the roles of both an employee and a full-time student shared a poignant video criticizing their management. The barista highlighted their struggle with being assigned a 25-hour work week, which includes full eight-hour shifts on weekends.
The video caught the eye of far-right Trump supporter Sebastian Gorka on X (formerly Twitter), who derisively commented: “Trans Barrister has meltdown because 8 hours is too long to work on a day…” Alongside his mocking words, Gorka’s post contained an embarrassing typo, which did not go unnoticed and added fuel to the criticism against the Starbucks worker.
Responses to the situation varied widely. One commenter stated, “My husband normally works 70 hours a week and was it hard, yes but he still did it. This kid needs to learn what hard work is otherwise they won’t be able to make it.” Another shared, “Oh cry me a river. I drove a truck for 35 years. 12-14 hours a day. Sometimes gone for a month at a time. Suck it up buttercup.”
However, a wave of support for the barista also emerged. Critics of the negative responses argued that managing an eight-hour workday while being a full-time student is indeed challenging. One defender said, “They’re allowed to be frustrated at Starbucks and their crappy manager not pulling their weight. People keep bringing up their eight-hour shifts but working a job on top of being a full-time student would be tiring. They’re having a vent, so what?”
Another supporter highlighted the sheer volume of the barista’s weekly commitments, “Wow, you are so brave for bullying a young service worker. A full-time college student is expected to do 2-3 hours of homework per every class hour. So if this kiddo is in class 15 hours a week, has 30 hours of homework, and then 25 hours of work that is a 70-hour week.”
In the viral video, the barista shared their feelings of exhaustion and frustration, “I’m a full-time student, I get scheduled for 25 hours a week. And then on weekends, they scheduled me the entire day, open to close, that one’s scheduled for eight and a half hours, both Saturday and Sunday,” they explained. “There’s so many customers and we have four people on the floor all day. Only five people were put on schedule and somebody had to call out.”
The barista further expressed their dissatisfaction with management and some customers’ behavior, including incidents of misgendering. “I don’t get accommodation for being neurodivergent, people get mad at me for having too much sick time,” they added. “I don’t even know what to do anymore, I’m at my wit’s end with this job.”
The outcry and support show the complexities of managing work, education, and personal well-being in today’s fast-paced world.