Fired from Starbucks for Selling a Few Pounds of Coffee/Tea on eBay
Submitted on Tue, 02/06/2007 - 1:57am
Starbucks recently fired barista Tina [not her real name] without warning from her store near Toronto. Tina sold a few of her leftover "partner-markouts" [a bag of tea or coffee each employee is entitled to each week] on eBay to save for a Disney World trip with her daugthers. The coffee and tea were her property and she had never been made aware of any policy against selling it.
What do folks think: Did she deserve to get fired? If so, should she have at least received a warning?
Is it creepy that a multibillion dollar company found a single employee selling a few pounds of product?
Here is Tina in her own words:
I am not a younger person; I am 42 and was in Information Technology for over 17 years. After having two girls, I decided to stay home for a couple of years like a lot of mothers. I had entered our local Starbucks and really liked the atmosphere. My husband suggested maybe coming and working for them part time while our girls were at school. Great idea I thought!
I had never worked in retail so my first 2 weeks of training was an adjustment but I passed the training. I only had an hour to try making drinks. That was it. Working there was stressful. I was constantly corrected for things they thought I did wrong. One supervisor was a real annoyance. Tina do this, Tina do that. She never lifted a finger and made me the servant. She had a major attitude problem.
I complained to the manager and she said that yes we have talked to her and are trying to fix the problem. Several times I had customers say to me, "I cannot believe she is talking to you like that". I just smiled and grinned and bared it. One evening particular she was so nasty she actually made me cry. At that point I thought this was not worth it. I mentioned to another supervisor who was also having problems with her. A few of us were asked to write of our experiences. She is still working today which I cannot believe.
During this time I noticed an increase in blood pressure and noticeable heart palpitations. When I finally went to the doctor my blood pressure was 160/101.
Just before Christmas, Starbucks opened a new store nearby in our town of 40,000. Since the store opened, management took away hours because of the decline in customers due to the new store. Many people complained including me. Instead of working while my girls were at school, I was working early morning openings and night time close.
I received my 6 month review with flying colours. I had resolved my issue with this one supervisor. I was also looking forward to the 75 cent pay raise and 1.5% increase.
During my time at Starbucks I was also taking my 1 lb. per week markout of coffee. By the time Christmas came I had a good 10 lbs. of coffee. I happily gave them out as Christmas presents to my family members. Every week I would take my markout. During that time after Christmas, I had a few lbs. of tea left over from my store and a few items kicking around the house that I thought maybe someone would be interested in buying. I also decided to sell the 2 lbs. of coffee that I also had. While I was a Zellers one day I noticed that they also sold Tazo Chai mix. I bought 2 of them. When I got them home and tried them I noticed they were not the same as the mix from the store. I also decided to sell the one that was not opened.
Well apparently security at Starbucks found out and started to take action. I had no idea I was doing anything wrong. I felt it was my coffee and what harm was there is selling a lb on eBay. My husband and I decided to cut down on coffee or cut it out altogether because maybe the coffee was causing the heart palpitations.
I came into work on the Monday and the district manager and security was there. They started asking me questions about how I did certain tasks at the store. They finally said that I was selling on eBay. I asked them how they knew. Apparently they have software that can detect who is selling. They asked me to write a letter explaining my actions which I did. I apologized profusely but they still said for me to leave. They came in like the police. I felt like a criminal. They asked me for my green card and I left.
I have never been fired from a position in my life. This was a terrible experience and I will never buy anything from them again.
The one reason that I was selling some stuff on eBay was because I was saving up to take my girls to Walt Disney World in October. I thought any savings would help.
I am hopeful to learn that a union fight is going forward. Partners need to be protected from this very greedy company.