I work at a coffee chain in nyc. It’s pretty popular, so I want to make sure they don’t find out I made this post👀I’ve been working there a little over a month now. I’m a standard barista, nothing really hard about the job. The part of the job that’s stressing me out is the people in charge. They are constantly changing rules and procedures of the store and overall maintenance. I am neurodivergent, too many things to put in one post. My biggest weakness is I suffer from severe anxiety, beyond the roof bad. It affects my day to day life more than the average person and it physically hurts sometimes.

When I got called out the first time for doing procedures incorrectly, it was okay. I explained to my boss and others that it just takes me a second and I might make more mistakes than others, but I am trying my best. This kept happening over and over again, the changes. Constantly getting told I’m not doing things right even though the day before they told me I’m okay, I’ve had to go into the ceo office three times now to sign paperwork saying I promise to never fuck up again.

Today was the breaking point. I could go into more detail about how the company is horrible at being a company and business, but that’s for another time. Today they decided to have a one on one with me, my boss and store lead. They asked me how I was feeling and how I felt about my coworkers. I told them I was overwhelmed by all the incoherent feedback, but my coworkers are very sweet and I’m happy to have them. My boss then tells me, “your coworkers are very unhappy with you right now. You haven’t been closing correctly and that clearly affects the morning shift baristas, you are making them uncomfortable.” I explained to them I have been having a hard time this week because I am going through a detox from my previous medication so I am having physical symptoms that are making things harder. She then tells me, “this job probably isn’t for you then.”

Another thing…it’s a rule that we play Latin music in the store. I tend to play Latin jazz because the customers have complained about generic stuff being too loud. My boss noticed that I was playing the spotify Latin jazz playlist (very good playlist btw, I highly recommend). My boss says, “This stores music privileges are about to get taken away. Do you want to be the one to take away everyone’s music rights?” I then explained to her that it is Latin jazz, the singing is in Spanish, she explained it has to be generic or salsa, that “no one wants to listen to jazz.”

Anyways, so I’m on the verge of a mental breakdown because I can’t lost this job. I need the money and I was struggling to find to job for two years before this. My friend is convinced the company is doing this to me because I’m white, but I think that’s dumb on their part if it’s true. I’m scared it’s because I am trans, but I don’t want to automatically assume that…