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Don’t Be a Jerk to Your Barista — and Other Thoughts on Frontline Work | Adriann Negreros | TED

All jobs, especially those held by frontline workers, should have dignity and the ability to turn into great careers, says change management expert Adriann Negreros. From shift flexibility to ending work on time, he outlines what he calls the “handbook of humanity” — people-centered ideas for change, rooted in empathy — that, when implemented, can…

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All jobs, especially those held by frontline workers, should have dignity and the ability to turn into great careers, says change management expert Adriann Negreros. From shift flexibility to ending work on time, he outlines what he calls the “handbook of humanity” — people-centered ideas for change, rooted in empathy — that, when implemented, can redefine the nature of frontline work.

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36 Comments

36 Comments

  1. @julianshepherd2038

    January 8, 2024 at 10:08 am

    A well trained barista can spit in your coffee without you noticing.
    Be polite.

    • @usedscar

      January 8, 2024 at 10:11 am

      Lol good aim😂

    • @mbergamin16

      January 8, 2024 at 10:58 am

      And will likely be a barista for the rest of thier life with that attitude 😂

  2. @usedscar

    January 8, 2024 at 10:08 am

    I love front line work. I love being busy and the people most of the time. I sure found the money hard to live on and raise my son as a single mom. Just a couple thou more would have been enough back then. I’m simi retired now and about to go look for another front line cus I’m broke on SS!

  3. @2resouza

    January 8, 2024 at 10:11 am

    Working myself for 15 years in the hospitality industry I have seen it all and I could not agree more with this video content. Thank you for sharing it. Many people have NO idea what is to be working at frontline, specially CEO and management team.

  4. @beverlystraus9300

    January 8, 2024 at 10:29 am

    Yikes!😳
    Now we need TED Talks to simply teach this auduence civility & basic manners!
    😮😮😮😮😮😮😮

    • @ikbenmens1729

      January 9, 2024 at 11:59 am

      I know, but the auwfull thing about it, is that it’s totally needed.

  5. @workofheartllc

    January 8, 2024 at 10:34 am

    A barista is not front line. That will always refer to first responders, emergency and medical professionals

    • @mbergamin16

      January 8, 2024 at 11:00 am

      They want to feel important, so they’ll cling onto that title probably given during the ‘pandemic’ 😂

  6. @Asadkhanmarwat509

    January 8, 2024 at 10:55 am

    This is Intrest TED

  7. @mbergamin16

    January 8, 2024 at 10:56 am

    It’s called customer service, not Frontline work. 😂

    • @Hollow_Theorist

      January 8, 2024 at 12:35 pm

      You don’t realise that even simple repetitive jobs have their downsides. If you’re a waiter people can practically spit at you as you serve food to people who make more money in a few months than you can a year, even regular people like karens. You have to have a strong work ethic, patience, a work persona, carrying trays with 10 glasses and balancing 2 hot dishes on one arm.

      There is no such thing as an easy job, I did blue collar work as a chef and conservationist/gardener as well for around 3 years as well and being a waiter or retail worker can be more stressful.

    • @mbergamin16

      January 8, 2024 at 12:53 pm

      @@Hollow_Theorist Does any of what you said change the fact it’s a customer service position and not what the rest of the world considers “frontline work”?

      Start an advocate group 🤷‍♂️

  8. @Nannada1212

    January 8, 2024 at 10:59 am

    Bro… They need a clean bathroom? Who do you think cleans the bathroom in a coffee shop, since that’s your comparison? One of those employees. You’re so disconnected by talking to CEO’s that you forget (or maybe never knew) that cleaning IS part of all of those jobs.

  9. @brittonprice637

    January 8, 2024 at 11:01 am

    I remember when these jobs were mostly worked by high school/college kids trying to make some extra spending money. Now people make a career out of it, feel like you owe them your money and have been given the title “Frontline workers” to make them feel important. Not all, but most.

  10. @Nannada1212

    January 8, 2024 at 11:05 am

    This feels like a speech they give at a pyramid scheme conference. Complete with nonstop hand gestures, “jokes” that don’t really have a punchline, meandering points, and empty conclusions. 🤷 I work in food, and this “educational talk” is a big waste of time.

  11. @WhiteSinner

    January 8, 2024 at 11:13 am

    Bless the Kid. CEOs know most people cannot maintain a healthy life, with the wages they offer for frontlines workers in their companies. The problem is the business itself, they are offering a service/product at a “competitive price”. However, the only way they can offer the said price, is by skimming salaries. Guess who’s salaries are affected… CEOs upper Management? Noooooo it’s the workers, the actual doers that get skinned. CEOs dont care if they need to find replacements/rehire every few weeks. It’s still cheaper the step over regular employees. It’s not an accident, it’s not unfortunate… it’s intended. The standard American business model. Made to fail or survive at the expense of others.

    • @Ribberflavenous

      January 8, 2024 at 1:03 pm

      It has been said many times by many corporate executives: they only every answer to their shareholders and their shareholders only ever required increasing profits. Everything flows from there. Employees are commoditized and burned through. Companies have consistently shown that they will put their workforce and customers at risk if it means an increase in margin. Until that changes, nothing changes.

    • @WhiteSinner

      January 8, 2024 at 5:03 pm

      @@Ribberflavenous Agreed, yet it doesn’t stop at stock marketed companies or CEOs. The american model is at fault. For instance, it’s not normal that waiters at a private restaurant or bar have to rely on tips to survive. Yet if they’d include the staffs full salary, pension and health insurance to the menu prices, they’d lose customers to cheaper competition. People value their own pocket more than they value other people. And it’s not even wrong. Why should people potentially value a society that only cares for itself rather than its own. It’s a vicious conflict loop. The model shouldn’t allow such discrepancies. There shouldn’t be cheaper competition. Facilities, poeples time and efforts, ressources, wares and energy has a cost, yet the model allows to save on peoples time and efforts

  12. @c.p.1688

    January 8, 2024 at 11:44 am

    Amen…

  13. @lupin7559

    January 8, 2024 at 12:06 pm

    Remember back when TED had balls and Philosopher Dan Dennett followed Pastor Rick Warren directly after a talk only to expose him for writing a well selling but completely BS religious self help novel? Search “Responding to Pastor Rick Warren”

  14. @tjtampa214

    January 8, 2024 at 12:11 pm

    Both sides are at fault or actually three sides. Owner/ operators, employees, customers.

    • @WhiteSinner

      January 8, 2024 at 5:07 pm

      I say the customers. Boycot the poeple exploiting business model until the model dissapears. Then you’re one step further.

  15. @dnjegah

    January 8, 2024 at 12:16 pm

    How many body types do we have out there?

  16. @folee_edge

    January 8, 2024 at 12:18 pm

    Pay should be based on the skills necessary to do the job.
    Unskilled front line jobs should not be career jobs; these are ways to build very basic skills, like understanding what it is to have to show up and work with others. If you’re 25 and not in college or trade school, you should not be doing these jobs – giving these jobs “living wages” only makes the prices of everything go up…

  17. @ms9001

    January 8, 2024 at 12:43 pm

    that’s right, be nice, otherwise they will spit in your coffee.

  18. @paulbuttenhoff253

    January 8, 2024 at 12:56 pm

    It is far more likely your barista is nasty and surly to you, the paying customer than the other way around. Oh and they all want tips now.

  19. @AutoAbsolute

    January 8, 2024 at 1:03 pm

    TLDW – just be nice to people

  20. @cheersmodreams691

    January 8, 2024 at 1:20 pm

    If CEOs experienced front line workers, the front line worker’s pay would be different (also janitors, doormen, etc.). But the only way for that to happen is for these workers to unionize. Imagine VPs emptying trash cans, cleaning bathrooms, etc. when front line workers strike.

  21. @slyfoxxsr.941

    January 8, 2024 at 1:40 pm

    Barista? You mean coffee LGBQT+ person?

  22. @MyMMC

    January 8, 2024 at 2:04 pm

    its embarrassing that there are TED talks for this.

  23. @peterweller8583

    January 8, 2024 at 2:08 pm

    Not only do CEO’s haven’t a clue about their employees strugglse just to maintain their job.
    That job pays the CEO’s stock option based pay structure.
    So he is able to sluff his tax burden on the rest of us poor slobs.
    Us who cannot afford top tier tax lawyers from like the #1 school in the country.
    I am not saying that all coffee shops are even structured like corporations I was loosely affiliated in a Co-Operative (employee owned)
    That is a rant for another day.
    What I really want to know is what aside from appointing a board of directors does a CEO do to deserve 50 to 100 X their employees wages?

  24. @isaacthek

    January 8, 2024 at 4:33 pm

    3 billion? Out of a total population of, say, 8? So literally 80% of all workers are front line? I’m calling bad statistics.

  25. @dhruvdangi_

    January 8, 2024 at 10:47 pm

    3 Billion????

  26. @LBJC

    January 9, 2024 at 12:44 am

    In what world are service people front line workers. They’re completely replaceable in society

  27. @leighcwilson

    January 9, 2024 at 1:08 am

    TED just lets anyone Talk nowadays

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