Discrimination Behind the Bar
Considering discrimination through the power of stories
I had been working in cafés for three years before I noticed it. I was on bar, making drinks while my male co-worker worked the register. A regular customer came in and started chatting with my co-worker, eventually ordering an espresso. I made it, set the espresso in front of him, poured him a glass of water on the side, and stepped back. Our bar was small, but open, and you could see everything everyone was doing. Baristas were on display, and it was very obvious who was making the drinks.
But this sort of thing happens every day, and if you ask most women or people of colour, they’d be unsurprised hearing a story like this.
He drank his espresso quickly, started raving about how good the shot was, and turned to my co-worker and thanked him for the espresso. Confused, I stayed quiet, watching my co-worker attempt to explain that he hadn’t actually made the espresso. But that didn’t matter. However beautifully my co-worker defended my work, pointing to me and refusing praise, I wasn’t going to get credit because the customer refused to acknowledge me.
I tell this story for a couple of reasons. One, because it’s the first time I noticed gender stereotyping and discrimination in my coffee life, and perhaps in any aspect of my life so overtly. Two, because stories are powerful. We all know coffee has problems, but simply stating that gender, racial, or any form of discrimination exists doesn’t necessarily move us to action, because it can be hard to make connections between actions and emotions.
Reading a list of facts might not stir us, but seeing a story play out, listening to characters react and interact, forges a connection and awakens our souls. Storytelling exists in every culture and is ubiquitous in its ability to unite and unify. ‘Through stories we learn about human culture and psychology, without the potentially staggering costs of having to gain this experience first-hand,’ notes Jonathan Gottschall in his book The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human.
Here are some stories from members of our community who have faced discrimination or marginalisation for their gender or gender identity. I asked coffee professionals to share examples of discrimination they’d faced, and was sent dozens of stories. Some have had key facts changed to protect their tellers, but most are left intact. They ranged in scope and scale, so this article is organised into four sections covering the most common types of story collected.
a woman had proven she was fully capable of performing this job.
The stories collected here are not special. They’re not unique. Things like this happen often to women, to minorities, to people who don’t inhabit traditional gender expressions or identities. I hope these stories stir in you a sea change, a reason to crusade for better standards, and an awareness of the biases — small and large — that may exist in you. Coffee is served in a space where we see the same people, the same community members every day, yet we rarely turn inwards to see what the other members need. This is a moment to turn inwards.
AGGRESSION FROM CUSTOMERS
In the story above, the source of discrimination is clear — the customer. I complained to my boss, but nothing was done because at the end of the day, this was a paying customer. In coffee (and in most customer service settings), the narrative we are told to accept is that ‘the customer is always right.’ However, this narrative comes from the idea that the customer can’t request anything that might make us feel unsafe or uncomfortable. To be asked if you’re single, what you’re doing after work and when you finish, called offensive names, and to have your appearance remarked upon — these are the seemingly innocuous and passing moments that, little-by-little and day-by-day, create environments where many do not feel safe. Occupying an identity where our safety is not our own or our bodies are seen as consumable objects, customer comments and requests can transgress the boundaries of what it means to provide excellent service.
Anything can spur a customer to go beyond a safe boundary. Sam Rogers shares her experiences:
As is quite common, one regular was asking about my tattoos while I was making his drink. Then, he asked when I was going to start doing Suicide Girls. I was so shocked and embarrassed that I was completely at a loss for words. I was working with three male colleagues at the time, one of which was my manager. They just laughed and carried on.
Another woman told me:
I once had this customer who came into the café three or four times a day. One time I was doing a cupping and I asked him if he wanted to join. He said, ‘Anything to get some one-on-one time with you.’ During the cupping, he salaciously looked at my mouth during the whole slurping part. He would often run into me and my other co-workers and invite himself to whatever we were doing. He once sat down at [a restaurant] with us without an invite.
This might seem harmless, but by inserting himself into these situations, he — and many other customers — assumes that service workers are available for consumption; they are not viewed as autonomous actors, but as things meant to please.
AGGRESSION FROM CO-WORKERS
There’s a lot of emotional work that goes into dealing with aggression from customers. And while those aggressions are acutely felt, there can be comfort in knowing that customers come and go. In the case of co-workers, that distance disappears. Conflict between co-workers can be indirect — like a co-worker who allows a customer to say a sexist or racist remark and excusing themselves by stating that they weren’t the one to say it — to direct acts of aggression.
It was normal for a male customer to come in and for the two of them to completely bro out with each other for the entire five-minute interaction. Even though I was on bar, I was not included or introduced. It’s like I was invisible. I noticed that when it was another guy working on bar, there was always an introduction or an opening for [him] to join in the conversation….
Writes one woman about an experience while working with a male co-worker. Another woman disclosed the following experience:
I had a co-worker constantly undermine my authority on shift. He had been a manager at another location, but after creating a hostile environment there, he was demoted and moved to my store. He was not fired because he was friends with the owners and managers. […] He would intimidate the younger baristas by telling them what to do even though I was the shift lead. The company then created a special position for him at my store and gave him back his authority.
This behaviour — creating a position for a man who is both bad at his job and a threatening presence because he’s bros with the owners — is the stuff many people hear stories of and think it’s not possible or that someone is exaggerating. But this sort of thing happens every day, and if you ask most women or people of colour, they’d be unsurprised hearing a story like this. It’s not uncommon for people to seek the justification behind an action at the expense of the person who was hurt by the action. It’s difficult to accept or wrap our heads around institutional racism or gender bias because it’s not clear-cut or blatant. This isn’t someone saying, ‘Hey, you won’t be promoted because you’re female/black/non-binary.’ Instead, its identification bias — seeing yourself in someone who is like you — so you find ways to justify their actions. These biases become ingrained in our institutions, and we begin to inappropriately deem certain groups as better suited to the job or more talented than others.
AGGRESSION FROM LEADERS
Problematic customers and co-workers can be easy to ignore for those in power. One common form of deflection is saying the actions of these aggressive individuals are only reflective of that particular individual, and that systemic issues aren’t to blame. But aggression from leaders is another, often more insidious form of discrimination. There are usually fewer means of corrective behaviour because it can be too dangerous to report a superior, and it’s likely that the attitudes of these individuals have been created or validated by the companies that place and keep them in power. This kind of discrimination comes in various forms, from actions that make people feel under-appreciated or overlooked, to those that make others feel outright unsafe.
Kristina shares a story from her first coffee job:
There were a few times when I had to come to work late or leave early because of an audition or performance, so I would change in the bathroom. As I gathered my bag in the office, a male co-worker, and friend of my boss, walked by and asked if I was wearing anything underneath my skirt.
I immediately reported this to my boss as sexual harassment, and asked him to address it. He told me that I was being sensitive and that I should expect things like that from a guy like him. No reprimands, no apologies. He ended up making a comment like that once more a couple of weeks later.
Not only was this behaviour inappropriate, but the failure to reprimand the employee meant that similar or more serious situations would likely go unpunished too.
Rachel shared this story:
After growing my previous company’s wholesale by 40 per cent last year, I moved to San Francisco for my partner’s job. My boss told me that they were planning on transitioning my job to two positions — a woman to do the customer service and a man to do the sales. They told me, ‘I know I’m not supposed to say this, but gender does play a big role in the way these jobs operate.’
Perhaps your reaction to this is to think that women are better suited for particular roles, particularly customer service. This argument ignores three points. First, that women are perhaps better at these jobs because they continuously put in them. What usually happens when a role becomes gendered is that the ‘masculine’ role is seen as more demanding or more difficult. Second, as job roles become gendered, some positions are not rewarded with the same incentives like commissions or bonuses and are therefore monetarily less lucrative. And third, perhaps most importantly, a woman had proven she was fully capable of performing this job.
After releasing an article on women’s issues in coffee, the social media page of a coffee publication was flooded with comments — both positive and negative — about women’s experiences in coffee. Some were quick to say, ‘Well, if you don’t like the discrimination you face at your job, then you should work somewhere else.’ When faced with stories and anecdotes about discrimination, the onus continues to fall on the victims to fix their immediate circumstances instead of calling for a system-wide overhaul of racist and sexist barriers.
What usually happens when a role becomes gendered is that the ‘masculine’ role is seen as more demanding or more difficult.
And, just in case you haven’t noticed, discrimination happens everywhere. According to the Restaurant Opportunities Center, a non-profit organisation that represents the interests of low-wage service workers, 66 per cent of women report being harassed by managers, 80 per cent report being harassed by co-workers, and 78 per cent report being harassed by customers. When tips include a large part of one’s earnings, incidents of sexual harassment go up, and managers are more likely to brush off harassment in the interest of providing a positive customer service experience. For many members of the coffee world, relief won’t come from changing cafés.
QUESTIONING KNOWLEDGE
I have to admit that some of these stories were hard to piece together. Although I fundamentally believe in the power of stories, I can see why many are reluctant to share their experiences. Not only do marginalised groups fear retaliation, but there’s often a reluctance to listen when those who are marginalised speak out because it can feel like a personal attack on the listener. A barista named Becky writes that she
was working this really important event. We were all specially chosen because we are excellent at our craft. My boyfriend was on hand to help me out.
The entire night people came up and asked him about my drink, thanked him, and asked him about coffee — even when my name and photo were on the invite and menu card.
I felt upset. People believed he was smart and capable, which he is. I, however, have to fight for that type of recognition. I had to work a year to get my customers to trust me and look to me for suggestions on what coffees to buy. I had to answer pop quizzes from customers who learned their coffee knowledge from the back of a bag, and there was my boyfriend, receiving more credit in three seconds that I had in over eight years. If he worked in my café, he would never have faced the same issues I had. Women are seen as incapable until proven capable but the opposite is [true for] men.
As Becky is clear to point out, she is not saying her boyfriend, or her co-workers, or anyone else around her is incapable. Yet often when we call out unfair behaviour, it’s met with a defensiveness and dismissal of the real experiences of women and minorities.
There’s a lot of guilt, confusion, and denial bound up in discrimination, from both aggressors and their victims. If you’re reading this and feel attacked or like saying, ‘I would never do anything like that,’ consider for a moment why someone would share these stories, stories that come from deeply rooted systems that disadvantage people who don’t fit a particular mould. And remember: these stories aren’t about making you feel good. They should make you uncomfortable. They should cause you to question yourself and the systems that may have unfairly benefitted you.
We don’t share these stories to shame — we share them because they’re real. Be grateful to their tellers for opening up a part of their world that’s hard to share. And in the future, be open to storytelling. Ask your staff how they feel. Become closer to the people around you through listening. If they welcome questions, ask. If they don’t, there’s a world of resources around you to help you learn and understand the plight many people face by being marked as other. Don’t deny the experiences of others, because people don’t make up stories of plight and discrimination. We chose to tell stories because they require two unique participants: a storyteller and a listener. If you’re successful and have power, be a listener for a moment. You might learn something.
Artwork and images by Jema Sakusheva, Chris Daniels, Jan Vajda, and Katarína Dudášová.
The text for this artwork is made up of direct quotations collected during a 2014 study on sexism in the specialty coffee workplace conducted by Sabine Parrish (University of Oxford).
This article was originally published in Standart Issue 8. Want more caffeinated goodness in beautiful print?
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