What Does the Luckin Coffee Barista Debate Show?

A recent master's graduate in China chose a part-time barista role at Luckin Coffee instead of an office job, and the post drew wide debate online. Supporters say no occupation is inherently superior or inferior and that young people should explore; critics call it a waste of a diploma.

The case reflects a broader trend. As graduate student numbers overtake undergraduates and the economy slows, more highly educated young people move into light physical service work such as coffee and tea drinks, either to escape high-pressure office routines or as transitional work. Whether the barista level at chain brands matches expectations is a separate question.

Recently, the news that a recent master's graduate chose to join Luckin Coffee as a part-time barista sparked widespread discussion online. Supporters believe that no occupation is inherently superior or inferior, and that young people should try more things; opponents feel that this is a waste of a diploma. In fact, as the number of graduate students at universities surpasses that of undergraduates, under the dual pressure of diploma devaluation and economic downturn, more and more highly educated young people are turning their eyes to light physical service industries such as coffee and tea drinks. They are either seeking to escape the high-pressure, hyper-competitive office environment, or treating it as transitional work. However, is the real experience behind the counter at chain brands as relaxed and comfortable as imagined? This article explores in depth the multiple motivations and real dilemmas behind this phenomenon.

▲

Click to follow | Daily specialty coffee culture magazine Coffee Works

Recently, a post about joining Luckin triggered a great deal of attention and discussion among netizens online.

According to the poster herself, she is a master's graduate who just graduated this year and had previously worked in the education and training industry for over a month. Because she was unwilling to face a computer all day making endless PowerPoints and spreadsheets and drawings, she decided to resign and look for a new job. The blogger mentioned that she wanted to try light physical work, and coupled with her personal interests, she chose to go to Luckin as a part-time barista and is currently undergoing onboarding training.

After the post was published, many people were very surprised that a recent master's graduate did not choose a respectable office position but instead went to shake coffee at the Luckin counter, and they expressed their views one after another.

Those who support it feel that occupations themselves have no distinction of high or low, and that young people should also try more in order to find, across all industries, work that truly suits them and can bring satisfaction and happiness. Some undergraduates and master's graduates who have already joined Luckin for some time also spoke from personal experience, saying that busily shaking coffee behind the counter is far more interesting than sitting in an office staring at a computer looking at reports.

However, many people also believe that it is truly a waste of one's own advantages for people with good job-seeking conditions to choose a physical job that does not look at diplomas.

In the view of some netizens, a recent graduate student has so many possible career paths to choose from, and becoming an office white-collar worker or taking civil service or public institution exams are both viable options, so why go to a tea drink shop to be a worker on a beverage assembly line, vainly wasting the diploma earned through years of hard study and frittering away precious youthful years.

In fact, in recent years, the total number of graduate students at some "Double First-Class" universities has already surpassed that of undergraduates. According to data on the graduate-to-undergraduate ratio at some universities released by the Kaoyan Information Network, the number of graduate students at many well-known institutions such as the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University, and Fudan University is greater than that of undergraduates, and this phenomenon has gradually become a trend.

(Image taken from the "Kaoyan Information Network" WeChat public account)

Against this background, doubts such as "diploma devaluation" and "high education, low employment" have also emerged. In addition, the economic downturn has led many industries to begin layoffs and compress labor costs, and graduate students who, after graduation, sent resumes to dozens of companies but received no reply and could not find work for a long time are everywhere.

Under the anxiety and life pressure brought by repeated failures, many people no longer insist on finding high-paying positions and instead enter service industries with lower entry barriers, working as waiters or milk tea shop employees.

Of course, in addition to objective factors, some graduates, after experiencing office workplaces, believe that they are not suited to the high-pressure, hyper-competitive work atmosphere, cannot work with older colleagues, and find it difficult to handle complex workplace relationships, so they choose to resign and enter coffee and tea shops where people of the same age gather.

In their eyes, coffee and tea shops are mostly filled with people around their own age, interpersonal relationships are simple, it is easier to get along, and it is easier to find common topics. It can even meet the needs of some single people looking for a partner, allowing them to date after work in a romance of "striving together toward a better life."

However, some highly educated graduates who work part-time in coffee and tea shops do not plan to develop there for the long term.

They point out that because employee turnover in the service industry is high, most coffee and tea shops have various deficiencies in protecting employee rights and interests, so they regard it as transitional work or a part-time job that can sustain their livelihood and let them earn a bit more money.

From the perspective of salary levels, shaking coffee and milk tea is not very competitive compared with working in factories or delivering food. But the reality is that millions of young people have chosen this job, which is not too mentally demanding and does not require being exposed to wind and sun. Even master's graduates with high education have added filters such as "no internal friction" and "light physical work" to it, submitting their resumes to coffee and tea shops in the hope of obtaining what they consider a relaxed and comfortable job.

However, workers who have been at chain brands for a long time will only stretch out their scarred hands and tell newcomers full of longing for the industry that shaking coffee will not become easy and comfortable just because of various filters. Those highly educated workers who say they are "taking off Kong Yiji's long gown" and stepping behind the counter may only, when they are overwhelmed by timeliness rates, complaints, and bad reviews, re-examine whether their decision to give up a high-paying job was correct.

Image source: Internet

Disclaimer: Some images in this article are from the Internet. For some content on the website, such as images, we will respect the original author's copyright and indicate the source. However, due to the large quantity, there will be个别 images and texts that have not yet been credited. Please understand. If the original author has any dispute, they can contact the website for handling. Once verified, we will immediately correct it. Compiled and edited by "Coffee Works." Please indicate the source when reposting. If there is infringement, please inform us for deletion. Thank you~!

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.