Why is specialty coffee chain Manner issuing warning slips?

After Christmas, Manner Coffee drew attention for issuing warning slips to staff. Employees reported penalties for drops in store fan group membership, hair on the floor, and looking at a phone too long. Headquarters audits stores through round-the-clock surveillance. Warnings affect promotions, and three may lead to forced resignation. Many baristas quit under the pressure.

On December 26 an employee posted that a Christmas warning slip came not from a mistake or a customer complaint but from a decline in the store fan group. Similar posts appeared under Manner search terms from Christmas Day. Front Street Coffee follows industry developments such as these and reports on specialty coffee culture for its readers.

Just after Christmas, Manner Coffee drew attention for frequently issuing warning slips to its employees. Multiple employees reported that the reasons for being penalized were all over the place—a drop in fan group membership, hair on the floor, looking at one's phone for too long, and other such details could all become grounds for a warning. It is understood that Manner's headquarters audits store operations through round-the-clock surveillance, and warning slips not only affect promotions but, once three accumulate, may lead to forced resignation. Under such high pressure, many frontline baristas, worn out both physically and mentally, chose to quit. Front Street Coffee follows industry developments and walks you through the whole story.

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Not long after Christmas, a Manner employee claimed that because the fan group of their store had seen a drop in membership, the company issued them a serious warning slip. The incident quickly drew the attention of netizens also working at Manner, who chimed in one after another in agreement.

On December 26, an internal Manner employee posted on social media that during Christmas they received a "surprise" from the company—a warning slip—and the reason was not a work mistake, nor a customer complaint, but a decline in the number of members in their store's fan group.

In fact, on Christmas Day itself, quite a few similar posts and comments had already appeared under Manner-related search terms, and almost all the reasons people were warned traced back to fan group numbers being too low: "Let me see how many people got serious warning slips because of the fan group," "Worked a five-hour shift during the morning rush, took a break to smoke a cigarette and glance at my phone, and happily got a warning slip," "(Warning) slips are flying everywhere, never happened before, these past few days they've been signing them left and right"...

Besides the reason of insufficient fan group headcount, many baristas who were also recently issued warning slips by Manner added in the comments their own speechless situations, such as milk foam turning yellow, latte art being ruined because they handed coffee to a customer with too big a motion, not putting the pad away after closing, hair on the floor, looking at the work phone for too long, and so on. It seems that any detail, as long as it is exposed to surveillance that headquarters can audit, can become a reason for the company to issue a warning.

It is understood that headquarters surveillance auditing is an important way Manner manages its stores, monitoring employees' work status throughout the entire shift. When behavior that does not meet operational requirements is found, a warning is given, and in serious cases a warning slip is issued. Manner has two types of warnings for employees, including verbal warnings and warning slips. Verbal warnings generally have little impact, while the consequences of being issued a warning slip are much more serious.

One worker once mentioned in an interview that the store surveillance has no blind spots, with three cameras in the work area watching at all times, so not a single step can go wrong. Although they know no one sits in front of the monitor screen watching in real time every day, irregular spot checks are enough to make one feel as if needles are pricking one's back. Moreover, one warning slip means no promotion for the next quarter, and three warning slips may lead to forced resignation, so no one wants to be singled out.

Workers who have recently been "issued slips" one after another said that their daily work was already overwhelmingly busy, with one person in the store always doing the work of two, and morning and noon rushes being commonplace, yet there had never been cases of being warned for no reason. Instead, now that the year-end is approaching, they are being nitpicked every day. Faced with these sudden warning slips, everyone feels that management, having stepped up auditing, is more like "deliberately finding fault."

As frontline baristas at Manner stores, long-term high-intensity work plus increasingly strict surveillance auditing undoubtedly brings dual pressure, both physical and mental, and in severe cases can even cause uncomfortable symptoms. Faced with such harsh company rules and regulations and sudden warning slips, some workers, already exhausted in body and mind, say it is truly hard to endure, and for the sake of their health they have no choice but to submit their resignation early.

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

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