Policy re: drive-thru customer names?
Tl;DR: Is it actually an official Starbucks policy that we are NOT ALLOWED (not just not required) to request customer names at drive thru?
Here is some context:
-3701 barista
-I have ADHD* and getting names at DTO makes my job 1000% easier, since it reduces the amount of information I need to process to hand out the correct items to just one word (i.e., a name). My coworkers are supportive of this, and know to get customer names, even during peak, if I'm at DTR.
-Having worked front/warming during peak, I am fully aware that a ticket with no name is a super helpful shortcut to quickly differentiate cafe/mobile food items from drive thru items. So my getting names at DTO does mean that the person at front/warming needs to shift their focus for the quick cue (i.e., the little DT in square). Again - my coworkers have no problem with this.
A few weeks ago, my DM was working with us during peak, and helping at front/warming. After she'd been there about 10 minute, she asked me if I was the one getting names for drive thru customers (she wasn't on headset). I said yes, and she said I am not allowed to do that anymore. During a brief lull a few minutes later, I told my SM about this and explained how difficult that makes things for me, and he said he understood but it's company policy that we can't take names at drive thru.
I of course submitted a request for accommodations as soon as my shift ended, and while that's pending, my SSVs & coworkers are great about ignoring this "policy" or actually not knowing about this "policy", and also just not placing me at DTO/DTR on the rare occasions that my DM is in store.
But the thing is, I actually don't believe my DM - I think she was just trying to make HER experience at warming during peak easier for her. I know that station during peak is SUPER stressful, so I get why it makes sense to prioritize convenience & expediency for partners at warming. And I absolutely would accept her saying that needs to be the priority. But my experience with "leaders" at Starbucks above the SSV level is that they will deflect, blame, and even outright lie in order to avoid taking responsibility for decisions they make that might make partners unhappy. So it wouldn't surprise me at all if my DM were unable/unwilling to stand by and defend her own (not unreasonable) decision, and instead made up a lie about company policy.
Again, it doesn't actually matter - I have current SSV informal accomodations/support & pending official accommodations - I'm just really curious: is it actually an official Starbucks policy that we are NOT ALLOWED (not just not required) to request customer names at drive thru?
(also, for what it's worth, I know policies are super inconsistent and sometimes contradictory over time, but when I first started at Sbucks, my previous SM used to give us so much grief if we failed to get names at DTO 🙄)
*in case this post's length and amount of context weren't enough to convey that fact 😬😂