A fed-up barista took to social media with a video, airing his complaints. Sadly, his little meltdown quickly proved ridiculous, and there’s something he and those who relate to his disappointment should know.
Evan Sunshine, who is a trans barista, activist, and partner organizer for Starbucks Workers United, according to his Twitter bio, works at a Starbucks location in Ithaca, New York, and he has made it clear that he’s in support of unionizing. Taking to social media via video from a back room at his place of employment, a tearful Evan pleaded his case as he sadly had a full-fledged meltdown over his working conditions. Unfortunately for him, many weren’t sympathetic, and it’s easy to see why if you are Gen X or younger.
“People wonder why we need a union at Starbucks,” an obviously upset Evan began, adding that he was ready to walk out and quit after having a rough day. Admitting that he’s been crying in the back room, Evan explained that he is a full-time student, who gets scheduled for 25 hours a week, as well as being on the schedule for 8 and 1/2 hours a day on the weekends. This is obviously too much for Evan. Although I can sympathize since working and going to school full-time is a lot on young adults, that’s not Evan’s only complaint:
Trans Barrister has meltdown because 8 hours is too long to work on a day… pic.twitter.com/IfVSzZ4G0w
— Sebastian Gorka DrG (@SebGorka) October 30, 2022
Apparently, Evan isn’t just upset about the long hours but he’s also distraught about how busy his shifts are. According to Evan, there are only four people on the floor all day because someone called out and his location only has 13 employees total. Making matters worse, Evan claims that his manager didn’t come in, opting to take himself off the schedule for the weekend instead. “They don’t want to help us,” Evan cries, referring to management.
“We need a union because this can’t happen. This can’t happen!” Evan pleads. “We need fair scheduling, we need managers to hold themselves accountable for helping their workers,” Evan continued, alleging that customers not only yelled at him but also misgendered him, calling him a girl even though he has facial hair. Adding to Evan’s frustrations, he said he doesn’t “get accommodations for being neurodivergent” and “people get mad” at him for using his sick time. At his “wit’s end with this job,” Evan believes a union is the answer to all of his problems.
Unsurprisingly, people were not sympathetic to Evan’s plight after his video was shared on Twitter by Sebastian Gorka, “a British-born Hungarian-American media personality, military and intelligence analyst, and former government official – serving in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump as a Deputy Assistant to the President.”
“Oh my God. Someone call an ambulance, I just sprained my eyeballs from rolling them so hard,” a writer from Chicks On The Right said, adding that “Gen X was the last generation to actually grow tf up, and kids these days sure do love to make sure we know it.”
Evan isn’t the first person to get overwhelmed at work. While many of us can relate to Evan’s frustrations and know it’s no fun working when short-staffed, we understand that’s part of life. Why? Because sometimes, people can’t work their shifts. In fact, Evan himself admits to using sick time, something that he claims his coworkers “get mad” at him for doing. When one of those coworkers calls off, it seems Evan doesn’t offer the grace he expects to receive when he does the same thing. He also wasn’t fond of the advice strangers offered on the internet:
Whether we like it or not, sometimes life dictates that we have to roll up our sleeves and get stuff done with the people who showed up. Instead, Evan left his other three coworkers who showed up for their shift to sink while he cried in the back room. That’s simply not a very grown-up way to handle things. Instead, it comes off as a child having a tantrum and who does it hurt? His coworkers. In other words, Evan was contributing to the problem rather than helping it.
Evan said, and I quote, “There’s so many mobile orders, and I need to get through all of them, and then people are yelling at me because I don’t have their orders ready and I don’t know what to do,” as he sobbed. Well, Evan, here’s what you do: Dry your eyes, get yourself together, and make the orders. You don’t sit in the back room, crying. The orders aren’t going to get done faster that way. Instead, you only contribute to the problem and make it worse.
We all have bad days, and on those days, we have a choice. We can meltdown like toddlers having a tantrum or we can grow up, buckle down, and push through. And, we don’t say this from a place of mean-spiritedness, but rather from our experience. We’ve all wanted to break down like this, but we refrain because that’s what grown-ups do. More importantly, we don’t post it for the world to see. Sadly, however, being melodramatic may have worked — at least briefly.
According to The Cornell Daily Sun, Ithaca, New York became the first city in the United States to unionize all Starbucks locations. “Everyone was absolutely elated,” Evan said at the time. “Everyone was jumping, cheering, and hugging each other. It was absolute joy in that moment,” he added. However, those celebrations were short-lived. Approximately one month after it was announced that Ithaca Starbucks locations had unionized, the College Avenue location, where Evan reportedly worked, was closed, much to the dismay of employees, NPR reported. Pour Evan. Sometimes you win some, sometimes you lose some. Too bad, buddy.
