Working solo shifts as a barista can have some perks … however is it definitely worth the dangers?
BY EMILY JOY MENESES
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Featured photograph by Nguyen Tran
It’s a query that I’ve come throughout so much as a barista over the previous few years: Ought to espresso store workers be allowed to work on bar alone? Right here within the United States, many cafés are working with minimal workers. However how minimal is too minimal?
Whereas scheduling solo shifts does serve some advantages to baristas, it additionally presents quite a lot of dangers. On this installment of “Let’s Speak About”, we’re discussing working solo and asking Barista Journal On-line readers to share their perception on the matter.
Execs & Cons
At my first espresso store job, there was a time when a lot of my teammates loved working alone. For the reason that café was on the smaller facet with a extra minimal menu and a slower tempo than most different locations, there usually wasn’t sufficient to do when two baristas have been working—which meant we did a whole lot of aimless standing round.
Over time, the group collectively determined that they needed to start working solo shifts, even for opening and shutting. In spite of everything, it meant that we may preserve our ideas to ourselves. It additionally meant so much much less idle time and much more independence, which all of us appeared to understand.
Nonetheless, working solo additionally introduced some difficulties and dangers. For instance, as a result of we have been working alone, we technically weren’t taking our legally required lunch breaks. As well as, I all the time felt nervous closing on my own; one thing about working in such a darkish, quiet house alone late at evening made me really feel unsteady. Different baristas I labored with additionally advised tales of buyer altercations the place they might have most popular to have had backup. Fortunately, nothing too severe ever occurred, and all of us, for essentially the most half, stayed protected. Nonetheless, that isn’t the case for each institution.
Solo Shifts Gone Fallacious
It may be scary to consider, however it’s nonetheless necessary to think about occasions when working solo as a meals and beverage worker has taken a flip for the worst. For instance, the South Korean bakery chain Paris Baguette got here beneath fireplace in 2022 when considered one of their workers was killed by equipment whereas working a graveyard shift alone.
Florida-based Barista Journal reader B. Rodriguez additionally shares a private story coping with a harmful scenario whereas scheduled to work alone. “I labored alone at a café location—considered one of two spots—in part of Tampa that was within the coronary heart of a neighborhood the place a serial killer was on a rampage in 2017. This isn’t hyperbole, (there’s) loads of information studies,” Rodriguez shares. “Anyhow, I needed to open this café alone at the hours of darkness and work all the shift alone from 6 a.m. (to) 2 p.m. We had no alarm system. After the third killing, I requested the supervisor if we may implement two openers or some safety system for cover. My request went ignored. The next week, an individual (the ultimate sufferer) was killed two blocks away, about an hour earlier than we opened. Nobody knew or realized (till) dawn.”
Whereas B. made it out of this scary scenario safely, it isn’t sufficient for espresso store managers to go away it to probability. Los Angeles-based Zayde Naquib, the unique founding father of Bar 9 who only in the near past ventured into Frequency Tea, shares the a number of the explanation why he’s firmly in opposition to solo shifts, and why he thinks that café managers must step as much as shield their workers.
“Firstly, solo bar shifts will not be solely taxing for the employee, they’re ripe for a lot of points—from attending to inappropriate company with out assist, to an lack of ability to take legally mandated breaks,” he states. “As (café leaders), it’s our job to offer hospitality and care to each company and group members. … If our group members don’t really feel protected, we’re failing them—plain and easy.”
The Small-Enterprise Proprietor’s Perspective
Subsequent week, we’ll launch half two of “Let’s Speak About: Baristas Working Solo,” the place we’ll talk about scheduling issues shared by small-business house owners and tips on how to discover options that shield the welfare of each them and their workers.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Emily Pleasure Meneses (she/they) is a author and musician primarily based in Los Angeles. Her hobbies embrace foraging, cortados, classic synths, and connecting along with her Filipino roots by way of music, artwork, meals, and beverage.
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