Think of these as "heads-ups" rather than cons/negatives. They weren't all cons for me:
- Work hours and environment depend on management team (SM & ASM). Quality of manager can make or break a store.
- You must be service oriented: friendly enough to engage with every customer but efficient enough to crank through a long line quickly.
- Juggle opposing goals. Doing the lobby after the 10 minute timer rings, getting through that morning rush 2 minutes per customer with a smile and "thank you" with each drink, restocking pastry case, rebrewing coffee and introducing yourself to the new district manager may all be your #1 priority at the exact same moment. Be able to handle this.
- If you work in a fast-paced store or during morning rush, be prepared to hustle, multi-task and make split-second decisions, especially as a supervisor or manager.
- Figure out what to do with yourself and your partners during slow periods. What else can you clean on the Duty Roster?
- Many shifts involve early morning/late evening hours (a plus for some). The manager makes the call on hours; you list your availability and then are assigned shifts.
- Regular morning openers are often tired and working multiple jobs/taking classes at the same time.
- Health benefits depend on hours worked. If you don't get enough hours, you can lose your insurance.
- Creative individuals and think-on-your-feet partners that focus on providing better solutions to problems will end up clashing with "by-the-book" partners and those who swear by the current iteration of the ever-evolving set of rules.
- Hard workers can be overused and underappreciated, even if unintentionally. I've been at 2 stores where mediocre workers drag quality of team down.
- Variety of ages and work ethics on same team can be a pro and a con.
- There's sometimes an upside-down distribution of smarts and experience where brilliant, talented, artistic, analytical or success-minded people are working for ho-hum management. How do we foster these employees without telling them to step in line and put their nose to the grindstone? Ideation needed.
- You have to be on board with company culture (e.g. "thank you policy"), lingo (e.g. "partners") & activities (e.g. "coffee tastings").
