Starbucks associates stress over customer reviews

Current and former Starbucks workers say that consumer surveys, which are used to assess job performance, are evaluated without any context. "Partners feel that corporate is sort of out of touch with the reality of the job,” said Maddie Vanhook, a barista at a Starbucks in Cleveland. “You’re just kind of pumping out drinks. I think a lot of people just get into a groove. But then somewhere in the back of your head, if you don’t say hi to everybody or you don’t have a little conversation with everybody in between all of this rush and noise and other stuff going on, it’s like, oh, you know, this will affect my store’s numbers.”