Starbucks put new limits starting Monday on what its baristas can wear under their green aprons. The dress code requires employees at company-operated and licensed stores in the U.S. and Canada to wear a solid black shirt and khaki, black or blue denim bottoms.
Under the previous dress code, baristas could wear a broader range of dark colors and patterned shirts. Starbucks said the new rules would make its green aprons stand out and create a sense of familiarity for customers as it tries to establish a warmer, more welcoming feeling in its stores.
Well, all i can say is to go scan some of the other comments so it doesn’t seem like this is coming from a single place.
But this isn’t the only complaint. This is one complaint that was the breaking point.
Dress codes that aren’t safety related are bullshit to begin with, but when they’re being presented as a de facto uniform and the employees aren’t being compensated as such, it amounts to a form of worker abuse.
They’re already under paid, over worked, and dehumanized by their corporate structure. Now they’re being expected to pony up for more clothing than what they already paid for out of their wages without compensation. When the policy is broad enough, you can make your work and life wear the same. Once you narrow it down, you can’t any more.
You have an effective double expense that you didn’t have before the policy change. It may not be literally double, so please don’t get and nitpick that.
The point is that it’s a company stomping on workers. That it’s a lighter stomp than others is irrelevant.
I can absolutely understand the frustration and unfairness of having to pay for clothes you wouldn’t typically wear, specifically for a role that is already underpaid and pretty miserable.
I’m just saying that, to me, it feels a little dramatic, a little silly, to strike over it. Again, I understand and can empathise with the people affected by this policy and unhappy about it! I’m not happy that I have to pay for my train tickets to go to work – but I’ve always had to do that, for years, and I guess I just accept that as part of working life. To be clear, this is just my opinion. In my opinion, some expenses out of pocket are sort of just how work is, and as much as it sucks it’s just sort of the way of things.
I don’t think I’ve come across as nitpicky or unfair so far in this discussion so I’m not sure exactly why you figured I’d nitpick you saying double.
I hope the workers get their way and have this policy reversed – I agree that the uniform is bullshit.