A Starbucks barista broke down and cried on video because work is too tough for he? she? to handle. Oh, and guess what? They’re a full-time college student too.

Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit.

And it gets worse, friends. This person also wants a union for Starbucks employees to counter their a**hole managers. Well, of course they do. Like no one ever in the history of work had an a**hole manager, am I right?

But isn’t that just like a good little college-indoctrinated socialist?

Oh, and there’s one other thing, too. If you listen closely through the blubbering, you’ll find out that someone misgendered them. “What the f***?” they sob. “I’ve got a full mustache and beard.”

If that’s a “full mustache and beard,” then I’m the Pope.

The Woes of a Starbucks Employee

Here are some of the complaints this poor benighted soul made, recorded on video, and posted for the world to see:

“I am literally about to quit.”

“I’m crying in the back room right now and I almost crawled on the floor.”

So this person deserts their fellow baristas when the mobile orders stack up. Way to go, jerk. Employee of the Month material, right there.

But even worse, this child (yes, I said it) has to work on weekends! 

“I’m on the schedule for eight and a half hours, both Saturday and Sunday.”

Because, you know, it’s called the service industry, and that’s what they do.

Here’s the video:

https://twitter.com/ClownWorld_/status/1587193010688708608?s=20&t=DBay3_GZqlEg079tx3B1-w

As one person tweeted: This is the face of those who want you to forgive their student loans.

The Employee Gets Some Love

There were those who sympathized with the barista. Over at Twitter, one person responded with this:

“I don’t know, he seemed like a hard worker having a bad day. Ruling: Not a clown”

While someone else agreed:

“Agreed. Retail/food service is the worst. There are always 4 or 5 people who do nothing and never get reprimanded, then one guy like this who does everything and constantly gets chewed out. Trans or whatever he seems genuine, going to school, and working his ass off. Geez!”

Show of hands of anyone who’s ever worked retail or food service. That would include me, and both of my grown children. In fact, my oldest daughter said that her food service job convinced her to finish her degree(s).

I’m thinking that the guys in the picture below have much tougher jobs than the barista, and they’re about the same age, too.

Credit: US Army/flickr/CC BY 2.0.

Starbucks vs. Coleman Factory, Circa 1970

After my husband watched the Lament of the Starbucks Barista, he rolled his eyes.

“That person should’ve had my job in college,” he said.

My husband — one of those Boomers whom the barista’s generation likes to mock — also worked during his college years. Only instead of working in a coffee shop, he worked at the Coleman factory in Wichita, KS, while paying his tuition at Wichita State University.

His parents didn’t pay his freight; they bought his books only for his freshman year. The rest was up to him.

So he worked not 25 hours, but 40 hours a week during the graveyard shift, from 10pm to 7 am. He came home, slept a few hours, and then went off to class.

Here’s a snippet showing the loud, dirty conditions at Coleman (the Wichita factory is now closed).

Not only that, but there was little to no climate control at the time. He worked on the second floor, right above the heavy machinery, which heated the floor and kept the building about 100° in the summer. In the winter, snow would leak in through the transom windows. And because he worked the graveyard shift, the factory heat would be shut down during cold weather since there were only a handful of employees on the floor.

There was a union there, but Coleman was an open shop, and my husband wouldn’t join it. So he just powered through his ordeal.

Should We Mock the Starbucks Barista?

Eh, deep down inside I know it’s not kind. And I think this person may need counseling of some sort, too.

But this is the product of societal coddling of children, compounded by the current addiction to social media where young adults think they need to post all of their brain farts. Everyone has a bad day at work. Everyone has dealt with a nasty boss, too. But if you can’t stand your job, then for heaven’s sake get another one! There are plenty out there. And for crying out loud, stop posting your woes on social media.  That’s not just because people will mock you. There may be a position in the future you really want. But if a potential employer finds the clip of you crying your eyes out about your little college job being too tough, it will not go well.

Just a bit of wisdom from an old Boomer. You’re welcome.

Featured image: churl/flickr/cropped/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.