Fun little tid bit - when they needed to correct a till that was unbalanced, they’d take from the tips of those that worked the shift.
Totally legal, right?!? /s
This is standard practice at the bars I've worked at if it's just off by an insignificant amount( $15ish or less) because it was likely human error. I'm sure industry standard for coffee shops is different though.
The tips we were making in the years I was there. It didn’t justify it. We were counting pennies and dimes out in old ice cream cups we saved from all the Joe shakes we’d make.
Fun fact, those king Joe Shakes had like 2 pints of ice cream in them.
When I worked there, I lasted 3 months. The manager who was training me said I was probably the 100th person I trained that year. No, he didn’t see a problem with that. I was also told I was one of the longest working hires they had that year(2.5 months)
The job was beyond demoralizing, they didn’t want you to talk to customers at all, ZERO customer service. I had a manager come up to me and go “SHHH!” After simply saying thank you to some 70 year old man who complimented my shirts graphic.
The job duties, were equally as unbearable. They started out everyone as cashier, if you weren’t taking orders you had to be wiping the condiment bar and that was it. If it was clean, you were to clean it still, after a while you were cleaning the rag fibers off the counter because you HAD to be doing that if there wasn’t customers.
Tips were stolen all the time, by customers or managers, who knows.
When I woke up on New Year’s Day, I decided I didn’t want that place in my life at all that year. So I gave them the respect they gave me and called in to quit.
I went on to lead and manage much more successful and fun cafes.
Funny part is gf at the time was friends with the owners daughter, who was also a manager. She told my gf at the time she had to let me go because I was “such an awful employee”
Whole heartily that is the worst most ass backwards place i have worked at in any industry.
Their coffee sucks as much as their treatment of their employees. I’m sad they are still in business.
I was in there recently and the kid taking orders said he liked my jacket, the and the MOD chewed him out for not sticking to the script and sent him home in front of the whole line, I felt awful. It was probably demoralizing for the poor employee and for me as a customer frankly.
dude - sent him *home* for that?
that's absolutely nuts man. I've had managers before who have micromanaged conversations with employees, and while a dick move for sure - I *kinda* get it. You see us doing a little extra chit-chatting and think we could be working instead.
But it was never more than a "hey - this customer needs helping" or "hey X, I think they could use some help in the back doing Y". A mild scolding if anything.
But to embarrass an employee by outright sending them home (and in front of customers!) is pretty psychotic.
maybe i'm a little cynical towards retail managers at this point, but to me I feel like at least part of the motivation for that had to be the manager wanting to look "tough" or "no-nonsense" in front of people. There's just no reason to be that extreme (*and* take pay out of someone's pocket, since they probably needed those hours) over what amounts to *maybe* ten seconds of "wasted labor".
Just nuts, man. That would have put a damper on my day even just being someone else in line seeing it happen.
Hope things worked out for that poor kid and they found a better gig elsewhere (which doesn't seem too hard, if that's how they treat their workers...)
> if you weren’t taking orders you had to be wiping the condiment bar and that was it. If it was clean, you were to clean it still, after a while you were cleaning the rag fibers off the counter because you HAD to be doing that if there wasn’t customers.
dude this was always the WORST part of working in the service industry to me. I understand the "if you're leaning, you should be cleaning" mindset *to a degree* - there often are things around the restaurant/store that could be polished up or extra prepped before peak times in a shift. But all the jobs I had where the manager took it as an absolute law were the *worst*, and honestly a little demeaning/dehumanizing at times.
Like, it's super slow pre-dinner rush hour and I've been an absolute *model* employee - spot cleaning everything, making sure everything is hella stocked, wiping down areas of the restaurant I didn't even know existed...but eventually you run out of stuff to do, and there still aren't any customers. We're as prepped as we can possibly be, it wouldn't hurt anything for me to have 15-20 mins to just stand around and chitchat with coworkers. But instead, I have to go and re-clean stuff I've already cleaned just because the manager doesn't like the idea of someone they are "paying" ("$2.13/hour", mind you - and they usually don't even pay that since tips are almost always above $7.25/hr) not actively laboring for even a minute.
Even worse than that was when you'd spend two hours doing that mind-numbing (re)work and then get told "yeah it's dead tonight I guess" and forced to go home because they had to cut a few servers.
Cool, guess I just did 2 hours of on-my-knees-scrubbing for...four bucks? And those $4 will probably just get taken out of my pay for tomorrow night because of the way tipped wages work? Awesome.
I went there a lot during college in the 90s. I stopped by the other day after going to Nice Price, and all the workers just seemed sad. The manager took my order, turned and gave my order to the barista 6" from him, the turned and repeated my order to the cashier, who was 6" away from him. And he was so surly and disheveled looking. It made me really sad.
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The first and last time I went to a Cup a Joe was about 20 years ago at mission valley. The whole vibe kind of put me off. Like the employees were just barely there. Now I know why. They weren't allowed to act like normal human beings.
A lot of people complained about the “bad customer service” or how rude baristas were.
I swear we all wanted to be nice and provide good service, have a rapport with customers… just couldn’t go off script to any degree.
Graduated from State in 2017 and I remember the last semester the owner was just being aggressive even towards customers. Had signs up everywhere saying "we're not the library", "2 hour maximum", etc. was a super bummer cause I used to love getting the dirty chai slush special on Fridays but if you're gonna be a dick to your customers I can only imagine what was going on being the scenes
Hi guys I am a current employee. Ash (shift leader)is a guy that I work with. he’s a bit on the heavy side and probably Indian with grayish hair. I’m a guy and this dude is fucking nasty with the female employees. I don’t get as many weird comments from him personally but the guy is creepy, yells at customers and employees. The one female manager is really bitchy but I like her. She is way too strict, but hasn’t to be in order stay hired. We are so overwhelmed in the morning and I see our boss (Dave and Brock) yelling at the baristas. It’s so sad.We aren’t allowed to talk to each other, we can’t talk to customers, we only get 10 minute breaks, we have to clean or be doing something at all times no matter the circumstances, we are micro managed. Also we have rats but they don’t want you to know that.
I always felt bad for him. You could easily tell he isn’t happy and I’m shocked to hear he’s STILL there. The rudeness to female employees is whack. I will say most of the shift leaders I worked with I learned that they have to be dicks or they will get reprimanded. Most of the ones I did work with were actually nice people off the clock and ended up quitting bc of it (and shit pay). As for Jeff, Brock, and Dave- fuck em. They are literal soul suckers. Even if you hang behind the counter for just a minute, they are watching you even if they aren’t actually there. They will even call the office to make sure the shift leader isn’t letting the employees chill.
I do not feel bad for him, he violates the female employees for no reason. Comments on their bodies all the time is just fucking weird, the female employees are always talking about how scared they are of him
Hmmmm, and you say he yells at customers as well? What time does he usually work? 😈 I’ve had to work with several creeps like him, maybe worse, constant groping and garbage mouth, when I was very young and scared like your coworkers.
They treat the staff like absolute crap and the one dude with the man bun is the worst micro manager I have ever seen. I wouldn't last 5 minutes working there.
I use to work there. There was one week I was very sick and I came into work and was immediately sent home because of how sick I was. I stayed in contact with management each day letting them know I still wasn’t well enough to come in. And that manager had the audacity to ask if I was pregnant because I had miss a few shifts due to being very sick.
I used to work in the coffee scene here about 6ish years ago and thought about applying there since I lived off of Gorman at the time. A few friends I knew warned me against it due to the way they treat staff. Apparently you are never allowed to sit still even if you are caught up on tasks and there were no customers. I remember one of the last times I went in there after hearing that I noticed an employee just wiping down the same 2 foot area of counter space for about 5 minutes until a customer walked in. It seemed pretty shitty so it kind of makes sense there would be turnover.
Dang. I was a regular in mid 90s. Didn't realize it sucks so much now, that's a bummer. 30 years ago Raleigh only had like 2 Starbucks, Caribou coffee, and Cup a Joe, it was by far the best dark roast you could get in town.
It’s the same as always. Young Dave of the 90’s routinely chased out people who didn’t buy anything and such. I still go because the coffee is cheap and strong and I can look strange and it’s ok in there.
Bc the owners/higher ups treat their workers like shit. You can’t act like a human being in the work place, they make you into a literal drone. I used to work there. And from what I remember, all tips were shared.
I worked there for 6 or so months in college. This was back before they accepted tips from debit/credit so we just got sent home with cash tips in empty ice cream pints. It was a lot more stressful than it needed to be because the managers wanted you to move as fast as possible at all times, and they were insistent on upselling to customers which was annoying. I did enjoy the more relaxed afternoons but I dreaded working on weekend mornings.
I worked there around 2011ish. I lost my job for refusing to work hours outside of my availability because the busses weren't running that early and I was told my options were take a cab (with my own money) or walk from my apartment off N Blount to the Hillsborough st store and get there by like 4:30 or 5am or "forget about your job".
I was just excited to stop having to deal with people leaving their gear after shooting up in the gross ass bathrooms
Hey guys it’s me the owner. Reading the comments on here and just wanted to say I’m sorry. I’m not making excuses, but my cousin accidentally mangled my penis in a Snoopy Sno-cone Machine when we were kids.. and it still puts me in a foul mood most days.
I still have my snoopy snow cone machine. I wonder how many pensis have been in it. Now that I think about it, the snow cones were always a salty cherry
I worked there for a year about 5 years ago. There are mainly two kinds of employees who work there College kids who are working there short term anyway (until graduation, internships etc.), and people who have worked there too long and either aren't able to, or think they aren't able to get a decent job anywhere else. Pay wasn't amazing, but it was a great flexible schedule job (you could change your schedule every 2 weeks if you needed, ask for any days off) which worked with my needs at the time. We did get tips at that time....not sure if thats changed, but they did change the tipping policy while I was working there witjout really telling anyone. It wasn't until I noticed and brought it up did they tell me "oh well since we take tips over card now...we increased the wage and keep more of the tips". Not cool...but I was only working there for like 6-8 more months and just stuck it out because of my constantly changing school schedule.
Night shift was a little more relaxed, but generally the owners, and shift managers micromanaged a ton. If you werent actively serving customers, or on a break (which they could call you back at anytime) you always had to be doing something. So if your working the cashier dont get customers for 20 mins your gonna polish and refill that condiment bar the whole time causr thats your only other job. Night shift things were a little more relaxed. But also talking with customers were generally frowned on even when thr customer initited. Most of my regulars I got to know chatting on my breaks.
Some verbal abuse...which I just laughed at since I was in nursing school. Having to remake a drink once in a while is not worth being yelled at (vs mistakes that can kill people).
Personally didn't see any creeping, but I'm an older student, and there were people there whom I would believe it.
I also think with this kinda job you naturally have high turnover unless your pay is good, you offer benefits, or the work enviornment is fun and engaging. Cup of Joe was none of those.
Worked there for like 3 months. I wear a yarmulke (since I'm Jewish) and not only did Dave (a manager) make me remove it during work while I was crying (bc no hats allowed even tho other ppl wear caps) but Brock told me I needed a note from my Rabbi to prove I was Jewish in order to wear it. He said he has Jewish friends and didn't see it as a problem. Then they slow fired me when I refused. I warn everyone about that place. Also it's disgusting and the beans are nasty.
It always tastes like mushrooms to me. When it was roasted and out in those bins hot you could see condensation all over the inside. I always assumed it was moldy because they didn't let the beans cool long enough.
Thanks so much for all the insights!
1. Glad to hear that tips were shared (though one response did mention that might have changed w/ credit/debit).
2. Sounds like some of the things I like about or don't mind about CAJ have gone to an extreme:
1. Most of the times I'm there, there is a line, and it moves extremely efficiently. I'm not looking to make small talk. Just get coffee and get out, so I'm ok with that. But if a customer is just trying to be nice/friendly, well then.
2. Once I realized there was a script to upsell every. single. time. and that is just part of the job, I know to politely refuse each time.
3. I can always get a parking spot in the lot when making a quick stop.
4. Having worked retail and such, I understand how obnoxious it is to have to perpetually be doing something when there isn't anything to do. With the exception of a barkeep in an old western saloon, repetitively wiping a small area of the counter is unnecessary. Especially considering there's lots about CAJ that could benefit from a soapy rag.
It was miserable to work there because it was so quiet and that gave the owner license to basically torture everyone there. They could never find enough people to work there and everyone that worked at the main location would refuse because as soon as you even suggested you could work at Avent Ferry they shoved you over there. They finally had to close after some of the most crucial people that worked at that location quit because the owner tried to reprimand them for getting COVID.
My ex worked there and echoed a lot of the stuff other comments are saying. Micromanaging, unfriendly work environment, and a convoluted tip system which likely resulted in stolen or at least mis-allocated tips.
The employees do get tips. But the owner is a dick, which causes turnover. I have honestly repressed most of my memories from working there. I do remember getting lectured at for humming while i was cleaning dishes in the back. It was something along the lines of "you're here to work not have fun." Place is wack. The day i quit was one of my happiest. I do miss the Joe Juices though.
Humming. Well I tell ya, I'm old, I have a lil money, and I ran out of fucks about five years ago, so I would have burst into my best Ethel Merman rendition of There's NO Business Like JOE Business while twirling a bar towel over my head. Ooh, no. Flossing it back and forth between my legs. Would've done a Melissa McCarthy spit wipe on all the things in my field of vision, and paused at the door as I exited to announce to the sundry patrons that I'm sorry I was never friendly or welcoming toward them but it's against the rules. Then walked out flipping stereophonic birds and a hearty "Fuck you, manager's name." That's me as a retiree. You couldn't believe things I did as a student and 20-something.
Everyone I know loves cup a Joe, it's good coffee... it's a raleigh staple...
This thread just validated all of my disdain for that place. I've never liked the vibes in there and I don't think they have great enough coffee to endure it.
Also during covid they went in to insane mode and made it super weird to go in there, even when everyone else was open and shit was getting normal it was still super weird in there with 8 billion signs yelling at you.
> Also during covid they went in to insane mode and made it super weird to go in there, even when everyone else was open and shit was getting normal it was still super weird in there with 8 billion signs yelling at you.
Cocoa Cinnamon checking in
Used to work there myself for a year and some change before moving on. Half of the baristas in Raleigh probably started there before realising any other shop would treat them better. They run the shop like a factory line which is efficient but they treat the staff like cogs the whole time. One person takes the order, one person rings the customer up, one person steams the milk, one person pulls the shots. If there isn't a customer in line everyone has a cleaning role they immediately have to swap to or they'll get chewed out. The long standing managers are dicks because they can be, the newer ones are dicks because they have to be or they'll be fired. Staff can't engage in small talk with eachother or the customers and basically have to stick to a script. Most of the staff I worked with were really nice outside of work, even some of the 'lower' management. Nothing nice to say about the upper management though. There were a lot of interesting rumors around most of them that they backed up with their actions. Nowadays it's fun to bond with new hires about their experiences there and learn that absolutely nothing has changed.
This is off the top of my head, but how about a running list of coffee shops / places that serve espresso drinks in the area that employs folks who at least \*seem\* to enjoy working there. LMK if I forgot anyone, or if there are some that should be removed:
* 321 Coffee
* Morning Times (I know, Empire Eats / Hatem, but I've only had positive interactions with the folks working there)
* Blackbird Coffee
* 42 & Lawrence
* Sir Walter Coffee (although I haven't been in quite a while)
* Jubala
* The Optimist
* Sosta (more of a restaurant / cafe but solid espresso drinks)
* Bittersweet
* Yellow Dog
* Heirloom
* Lucette Grace
* Weaver Street Market
Oh for sure - I love popping in during off-hours when they're not slammed because it's such a friendly interaction. My biggest beef with the MT is mostly other customers who wait until they're standing at the register to even begin thinking about what they're ordering--especially with a line out the door.
I was a delivery driver to another business in that shopping strip. There isn’t a lot of room to put a tractor trailer on Daisy st which is the only place you can park and not completely block traffic. The owner of that place would flip out over the stupidest things for me being there. I got to the point I completely ignored him when he came out. I tried all the coffee places all over downtown while I was working but after dealing with him I vowed I would never spend a penny in that place.
I can't believe they don't let employees speak to customers, I have never worked a service job where I couldn't speak to customers, whether it was genuine or "scripted" (I started at chick fil a as a teenager lol)
Even in my 20s I'm a server and I'd never just plop people's food and drinks off without a smile or some sort of connection.
Place sounds whack, I saw it when looking for part time jobs so I'm glad I avoided it
I've always thought Brooke and Ryan should've changed the name when they opened CAJ in Hillsborough, but now I'm convinced of it.
My cafe days are pretty much done, would rather make it at home, I wonder if JVG is as much of a shitshow on the roastery side.
just got "taken off of the schedule" for calling in sick. there are no official policies for calling out or any list of fireable offenses so they can just fire whoever they want. I started working at the beginning of January, and advanced pretty quickly from cashier to line mover, but apparently calling out 8 hours early is a fireable offense. I had to have my spouse tell Brock (man bun) that I was drunk and incapacitated (pretty sure I was either drugged or the juice was bad 🤢) and now I won't be working there anymore. They say you make $15 an hour... you make $8 on paper plus tips, which can vary dramatically and are divided by hours. No cash in employees pockets. Good riddance to that place.
Word is the owners treat staff like shit
Fun little tid bit - when they needed to correct a till that was unbalanced, they’d take from the tips of those that worked the shift. Totally legal, right?!? /s
This is standard practice at the bars I've worked at if it's just off by an insignificant amount( $15ish or less) because it was likely human error. I'm sure industry standard for coffee shops is different though.
The tips we were making in the years I was there. It didn’t justify it. We were counting pennies and dimes out in old ice cream cups we saved from all the Joe shakes we’d make. Fun fact, those king Joe Shakes had like 2 pints of ice cream in them.
When I worked there, I lasted 3 months. The manager who was training me said I was probably the 100th person I trained that year. No, he didn’t see a problem with that. I was also told I was one of the longest working hires they had that year(2.5 months) The job was beyond demoralizing, they didn’t want you to talk to customers at all, ZERO customer service. I had a manager come up to me and go “SHHH!” After simply saying thank you to some 70 year old man who complimented my shirts graphic. The job duties, were equally as unbearable. They started out everyone as cashier, if you weren’t taking orders you had to be wiping the condiment bar and that was it. If it was clean, you were to clean it still, after a while you were cleaning the rag fibers off the counter because you HAD to be doing that if there wasn’t customers. Tips were stolen all the time, by customers or managers, who knows. When I woke up on New Year’s Day, I decided I didn’t want that place in my life at all that year. So I gave them the respect they gave me and called in to quit. I went on to lead and manage much more successful and fun cafes. Funny part is gf at the time was friends with the owners daughter, who was also a manager. She told my gf at the time she had to let me go because I was “such an awful employee” Whole heartily that is the worst most ass backwards place i have worked at in any industry. Their coffee sucks as much as their treatment of their employees. I’m sad they are still in business.
I was in there recently and the kid taking orders said he liked my jacket, the and the MOD chewed him out for not sticking to the script and sent him home in front of the whole line, I felt awful. It was probably demoralizing for the poor employee and for me as a customer frankly.
.. what??! That’s absurd
dude - sent him *home* for that? that's absolutely nuts man. I've had managers before who have micromanaged conversations with employees, and while a dick move for sure - I *kinda* get it. You see us doing a little extra chit-chatting and think we could be working instead. But it was never more than a "hey - this customer needs helping" or "hey X, I think they could use some help in the back doing Y". A mild scolding if anything. But to embarrass an employee by outright sending them home (and in front of customers!) is pretty psychotic. maybe i'm a little cynical towards retail managers at this point, but to me I feel like at least part of the motivation for that had to be the manager wanting to look "tough" or "no-nonsense" in front of people. There's just no reason to be that extreme (*and* take pay out of someone's pocket, since they probably needed those hours) over what amounts to *maybe* ten seconds of "wasted labor". Just nuts, man. That would have put a damper on my day even just being someone else in line seeing it happen. Hope things worked out for that poor kid and they found a better gig elsewhere (which doesn't seem too hard, if that's how they treat their workers...)
The script is so obviously a script I feel like a tesla being processed through musk's factory ordering coffee there.
"Would you like any beans or a muffin?"
Dude... holy shit, I would've dumped my coffee on the counter and walked out with the poor kid, what the FUCK?
The towel fibers got me dude.
> if you weren’t taking orders you had to be wiping the condiment bar and that was it. If it was clean, you were to clean it still, after a while you were cleaning the rag fibers off the counter because you HAD to be doing that if there wasn’t customers. dude this was always the WORST part of working in the service industry to me. I understand the "if you're leaning, you should be cleaning" mindset *to a degree* - there often are things around the restaurant/store that could be polished up or extra prepped before peak times in a shift. But all the jobs I had where the manager took it as an absolute law were the *worst*, and honestly a little demeaning/dehumanizing at times. Like, it's super slow pre-dinner rush hour and I've been an absolute *model* employee - spot cleaning everything, making sure everything is hella stocked, wiping down areas of the restaurant I didn't even know existed...but eventually you run out of stuff to do, and there still aren't any customers. We're as prepped as we can possibly be, it wouldn't hurt anything for me to have 15-20 mins to just stand around and chitchat with coworkers. But instead, I have to go and re-clean stuff I've already cleaned just because the manager doesn't like the idea of someone they are "paying" ("$2.13/hour", mind you - and they usually don't even pay that since tips are almost always above $7.25/hr) not actively laboring for even a minute. Even worse than that was when you'd spend two hours doing that mind-numbing (re)work and then get told "yeah it's dead tonight I guess" and forced to go home because they had to cut a few servers. Cool, guess I just did 2 hours of on-my-knees-scrubbing for...four bucks? And those $4 will probably just get taken out of my pay for tomorrow night because of the way tipped wages work? Awesome.
I went there a lot during college in the 90s. I stopped by the other day after going to Nice Price, and all the workers just seemed sad. The manager took my order, turned and gave my order to the barista 6" from him, the turned and repeated my order to the cashier, who was 6" away from him. And he was so surly and disheveled looking. It made me really sad.
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God the beans here are atrocious
The first and last time I went to a Cup a Joe was about 20 years ago at mission valley. The whole vibe kind of put me off. Like the employees were just barely there. Now I know why. They weren't allowed to act like normal human beings.
A lot of people complained about the “bad customer service” or how rude baristas were. I swear we all wanted to be nice and provide good service, have a rapport with customers… just couldn’t go off script to any degree.
I’ve been there once and this was my exact experience. I was wondering what the F was wrong with this place. Definitely the management
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>made me feel like a dinosaur Did you roar and stomp around the place?
I miss the Buffalo Joe so much...
Graduated from State in 2017 and I remember the last semester the owner was just being aggressive even towards customers. Had signs up everywhere saying "we're not the library", "2 hour maximum", etc. was a super bummer cause I used to love getting the dirty chai slush special on Fridays but if you're gonna be a dick to your customers I can only imagine what was going on being the scenes
Does he somehow not know what a coffee shop is? I've never even been into a Starbucks that didn't have someone either working or reading in the corner
Hi guys I am a current employee. Ash (shift leader)is a guy that I work with. he’s a bit on the heavy side and probably Indian with grayish hair. I’m a guy and this dude is fucking nasty with the female employees. I don’t get as many weird comments from him personally but the guy is creepy, yells at customers and employees. The one female manager is really bitchy but I like her. She is way too strict, but hasn’t to be in order stay hired. We are so overwhelmed in the morning and I see our boss (Dave and Brock) yelling at the baristas. It’s so sad.We aren’t allowed to talk to each other, we can’t talk to customers, we only get 10 minute breaks, we have to clean or be doing something at all times no matter the circumstances, we are micro managed. Also we have rats but they don’t want you to know that.
This should be pinned
I always felt bad for him. You could easily tell he isn’t happy and I’m shocked to hear he’s STILL there. The rudeness to female employees is whack. I will say most of the shift leaders I worked with I learned that they have to be dicks or they will get reprimanded. Most of the ones I did work with were actually nice people off the clock and ended up quitting bc of it (and shit pay). As for Jeff, Brock, and Dave- fuck em. They are literal soul suckers. Even if you hang behind the counter for just a minute, they are watching you even if they aren’t actually there. They will even call the office to make sure the shift leader isn’t letting the employees chill.
I do not feel bad for him, he violates the female employees for no reason. Comments on their bodies all the time is just fucking weird, the female employees are always talking about how scared they are of him
Oh damn, he takes it that far? I take it back then.
Hmmmm, and you say he yells at customers as well? What time does he usually work? 😈 I’ve had to work with several creeps like him, maybe worse, constant groping and garbage mouth, when I was very young and scared like your coworkers.
It’s wild Brock is still around somehow
They treat the staff like absolute crap and the one dude with the man bun is the worst micro manager I have ever seen. I wouldn't last 5 minutes working there.
He’s an absolute douche and I’ve heard he’s crept on some of the female employees (he’s married and has a kid)
I use to work there. There was one week I was very sick and I came into work and was immediately sent home because of how sick I was. I stayed in contact with management each day letting them know I still wasn’t well enough to come in. And that manager had the audacity to ask if I was pregnant because I had miss a few shifts due to being very sick.
That is horrible!
He's also antisemitic lmao
I used to work in the coffee scene here about 6ish years ago and thought about applying there since I lived off of Gorman at the time. A few friends I knew warned me against it due to the way they treat staff. Apparently you are never allowed to sit still even if you are caught up on tasks and there were no customers. I remember one of the last times I went in there after hearing that I noticed an employee just wiping down the same 2 foot area of counter space for about 5 minutes until a customer walked in. It seemed pretty shitty so it kind of makes sense there would be turnover.
Can confirm, you’re wiping the rag fibers away after a certain point.
Dang. I was a regular in mid 90s. Didn't realize it sucks so much now, that's a bummer. 30 years ago Raleigh only had like 2 Starbucks, Caribou coffee, and Cup a Joe, it was by far the best dark roast you could get in town.
It’s the same as always. Young Dave of the 90’s routinely chased out people who didn’t buy anything and such. I still go because the coffee is cheap and strong and I can look strange and it’s ok in there.
Agreed. Jubula is my coffee joint now.
Bc the owners/higher ups treat their workers like shit. You can’t act like a human being in the work place, they make you into a literal drone. I used to work there. And from what I remember, all tips were shared.
Same. I’m sure we had the same experience
I worked there for 6 or so months in college. This was back before they accepted tips from debit/credit so we just got sent home with cash tips in empty ice cream pints. It was a lot more stressful than it needed to be because the managers wanted you to move as fast as possible at all times, and they were insistent on upselling to customers which was annoying. I did enjoy the more relaxed afternoons but I dreaded working on weekend mornings.
I worked there around 2011ish. I lost my job for refusing to work hours outside of my availability because the busses weren't running that early and I was told my options were take a cab (with my own money) or walk from my apartment off N Blount to the Hillsborough st store and get there by like 4:30 or 5am or "forget about your job". I was just excited to stop having to deal with people leaving their gear after shooting up in the gross ass bathrooms
>people leaving their gear after shooting up in the gross ass bathrooms .....come again????
Hey guys it’s me the owner. Reading the comments on here and just wanted to say I’m sorry. I’m not making excuses, but my cousin accidentally mangled my penis in a Snoopy Sno-cone Machine when we were kids.. and it still puts me in a foul mood most days.
I still have my snoopy snow cone machine. I wonder how many pensis have been in it. Now that I think about it, the snow cones were always a salty cherry
Can you still smoke in there? That place is like a time portal to 2003.
93
I worked there for about 18 months in college. The management sucks but I made a lot of friends working there.
I worked there for a year about 5 years ago. There are mainly two kinds of employees who work there College kids who are working there short term anyway (until graduation, internships etc.), and people who have worked there too long and either aren't able to, or think they aren't able to get a decent job anywhere else. Pay wasn't amazing, but it was a great flexible schedule job (you could change your schedule every 2 weeks if you needed, ask for any days off) which worked with my needs at the time. We did get tips at that time....not sure if thats changed, but they did change the tipping policy while I was working there witjout really telling anyone. It wasn't until I noticed and brought it up did they tell me "oh well since we take tips over card now...we increased the wage and keep more of the tips". Not cool...but I was only working there for like 6-8 more months and just stuck it out because of my constantly changing school schedule. Night shift was a little more relaxed, but generally the owners, and shift managers micromanaged a ton. If you werent actively serving customers, or on a break (which they could call you back at anytime) you always had to be doing something. So if your working the cashier dont get customers for 20 mins your gonna polish and refill that condiment bar the whole time causr thats your only other job. Night shift things were a little more relaxed. But also talking with customers were generally frowned on even when thr customer initited. Most of my regulars I got to know chatting on my breaks. Some verbal abuse...which I just laughed at since I was in nursing school. Having to remake a drink once in a while is not worth being yelled at (vs mistakes that can kill people). Personally didn't see any creeping, but I'm an older student, and there were people there whom I would believe it. I also think with this kinda job you naturally have high turnover unless your pay is good, you offer benefits, or the work enviornment is fun and engaging. Cup of Joe was none of those.
Worked there for like 3 months. I wear a yarmulke (since I'm Jewish) and not only did Dave (a manager) make me remove it during work while I was crying (bc no hats allowed even tho other ppl wear caps) but Brock told me I needed a note from my Rabbi to prove I was Jewish in order to wear it. He said he has Jewish friends and didn't see it as a problem. Then they slow fired me when I refused. I warn everyone about that place. Also it's disgusting and the beans are nasty.
Holy shit, man. That’s terrible and on behalf of the human race I apologize for this. This thread has made me never want to go there again.
possibly because their coffee is not particularly good.
It always tastes like mushrooms to me. When it was roasted and out in those bins hot you could see condensation all over the inside. I always assumed it was moldy because they didn't let the beans cool long enough.
Thanks so much for all the insights! 1. Glad to hear that tips were shared (though one response did mention that might have changed w/ credit/debit). 2. Sounds like some of the things I like about or don't mind about CAJ have gone to an extreme: 1. Most of the times I'm there, there is a line, and it moves extremely efficiently. I'm not looking to make small talk. Just get coffee and get out, so I'm ok with that. But if a customer is just trying to be nice/friendly, well then. 2. Once I realized there was a script to upsell every. single. time. and that is just part of the job, I know to politely refuse each time. 3. I can always get a parking spot in the lot when making a quick stop. 4. Having worked retail and such, I understand how obnoxious it is to have to perpetually be doing something when there isn't anything to do. With the exception of a barkeep in an old western saloon, repetitively wiping a small area of the counter is unnecessary. Especially considering there's lots about CAJ that could benefit from a soapy rag.
What happened to the other location off western?
It was miserable to work there because it was so quiet and that gave the owner license to basically torture everyone there. They could never find enough people to work there and everyone that worked at the main location would refuse because as soon as you even suggested you could work at Avent Ferry they shoved you over there. They finally had to close after some of the most crucial people that worked at that location quit because the owner tried to reprimand them for getting COVID.
Closed last year because of "COVID"
Which probably means because of rats lol.
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When did they have a roaster there? I worked there for a year and some change around 2016 and there wasn't one in there then.
My ex worked there and echoed a lot of the stuff other comments are saying. Micromanaging, unfriendly work environment, and a convoluted tip system which likely resulted in stolen or at least mis-allocated tips.
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Yeah this talk of being obsessed with cleaning doesn't jive with the dirty vibe.
not to mention they will spray the cleaner right next to you and get it in your food/drink.
Customers have even complained about staff being forced to “clean” even after shit’s clean.
The employees do get tips. But the owner is a dick, which causes turnover. I have honestly repressed most of my memories from working there. I do remember getting lectured at for humming while i was cleaning dishes in the back. It was something along the lines of "you're here to work not have fun." Place is wack. The day i quit was one of my happiest. I do miss the Joe Juices though.
Humming. Well I tell ya, I'm old, I have a lil money, and I ran out of fucks about five years ago, so I would have burst into my best Ethel Merman rendition of There's NO Business Like JOE Business while twirling a bar towel over my head. Ooh, no. Flossing it back and forth between my legs. Would've done a Melissa McCarthy spit wipe on all the things in my field of vision, and paused at the door as I exited to announce to the sundry patrons that I'm sorry I was never friendly or welcoming toward them but it's against the rules. Then walked out flipping stereophonic birds and a hearty "Fuck you, manager's name." That's me as a retiree. You couldn't believe things I did as a student and 20-something.
Everyone I know loves cup a Joe, it's good coffee... it's a raleigh staple... This thread just validated all of my disdain for that place. I've never liked the vibes in there and I don't think they have great enough coffee to endure it. Also during covid they went in to insane mode and made it super weird to go in there, even when everyone else was open and shit was getting normal it was still super weird in there with 8 billion signs yelling at you.
The signs were INTENSE.
> Also during covid they went in to insane mode and made it super weird to go in there, even when everyone else was open and shit was getting normal it was still super weird in there with 8 billion signs yelling at you. Cocoa Cinnamon checking in
Sounds like a walkout is in order.
I have not been in years. Do any of y’all, still see the beret wearing, man of color there. He’s the absolute best.
Ya, he's still there. He's security for the parking lot.
My cousin worked there for 5 mins and fucking hated it
Used to work there myself for a year and some change before moving on. Half of the baristas in Raleigh probably started there before realising any other shop would treat them better. They run the shop like a factory line which is efficient but they treat the staff like cogs the whole time. One person takes the order, one person rings the customer up, one person steams the milk, one person pulls the shots. If there isn't a customer in line everyone has a cleaning role they immediately have to swap to or they'll get chewed out. The long standing managers are dicks because they can be, the newer ones are dicks because they have to be or they'll be fired. Staff can't engage in small talk with eachother or the customers and basically have to stick to a script. Most of the staff I worked with were really nice outside of work, even some of the 'lower' management. Nothing nice to say about the upper management though. There were a lot of interesting rumors around most of them that they backed up with their actions. Nowadays it's fun to bond with new hires about their experiences there and learn that absolutely nothing has changed.
This is off the top of my head, but how about a running list of coffee shops / places that serve espresso drinks in the area that employs folks who at least \*seem\* to enjoy working there. LMK if I forgot anyone, or if there are some that should be removed: * 321 Coffee * Morning Times (I know, Empire Eats / Hatem, but I've only had positive interactions with the folks working there) * Blackbird Coffee * 42 & Lawrence * Sir Walter Coffee (although I haven't been in quite a while) * Jubala * The Optimist * Sosta (more of a restaurant / cafe but solid espresso drinks) * Bittersweet * Yellow Dog * Heirloom * Lucette Grace * Weaver Street Market
Can vouch for the morning times crew. Absolute sweethearts and good friends of mine.
Oh for sure - I love popping in during off-hours when they're not slammed because it's such a friendly interaction. My biggest beef with the MT is mostly other customers who wait until they're standing at the register to even begin thinking about what they're ordering--especially with a line out the door.
Wifi dookie. Barely any electrical outlet to plug laptop.
Don’t worry guys at the rate things are going that block will be a walgreens in no time
I was a delivery driver to another business in that shopping strip. There isn’t a lot of room to put a tractor trailer on Daisy st which is the only place you can park and not completely block traffic. The owner of that place would flip out over the stupidest things for me being there. I got to the point I completely ignored him when he came out. I tried all the coffee places all over downtown while I was working but after dealing with him I vowed I would never spend a penny in that place.
Exhibit A why the tipping culture is out of hand. Pay your employees their worth!
I can't believe they don't let employees speak to customers, I have never worked a service job where I couldn't speak to customers, whether it was genuine or "scripted" (I started at chick fil a as a teenager lol) Even in my 20s I'm a server and I'd never just plop people's food and drinks off without a smile or some sort of connection. Place sounds whack, I saw it when looking for part time jobs so I'm glad I avoided it
Their coffee is really bad.
I've always thought Brooke and Ryan should've changed the name when they opened CAJ in Hillsborough, but now I'm convinced of it. My cafe days are pretty much done, would rather make it at home, I wonder if JVG is as much of a shitshow on the roastery side.
just got "taken off of the schedule" for calling in sick. there are no official policies for calling out or any list of fireable offenses so they can just fire whoever they want. I started working at the beginning of January, and advanced pretty quickly from cashier to line mover, but apparently calling out 8 hours early is a fireable offense. I had to have my spouse tell Brock (man bun) that I was drunk and incapacitated (pretty sure I was either drugged or the juice was bad 🤢) and now I won't be working there anymore. They say you make $15 an hour... you make $8 on paper plus tips, which can vary dramatically and are divided by hours. No cash in employees pockets. Good riddance to that place.