mk 1 2023 characters as starbies workers
A/N: sorry for not posting on this page after leaving it dead for years, a lot of shit has happened lol. my mom got cancer, i lost all my friends, covid happened, then i got cancer, i almost didn’t graduate high school, then i got a job as a barista at the siren and i’m in college full time so i barely have any free time, but MK 1 came out and i love so many of the characters, so i couldn’t resist projecting onto them. if i get any requests, i’ll make sure to do my best to complete them, and if you ever submitted one and i didn’t get to it pls hmu again so i can get that done.
also if you guys like this AU and want more headcanons based on it, lmk :)
ASM - Assistant Store Manager
Proxy - A manager from another location who acts as a substitute for a store’s SM when they’re absent
Shift Lead/Shift - Shift Supervisor
Partners - Starbucks Employees
Connections - Partner/Customer Interaction
Connection Score - A score on a scale of 1-100 determining your store’s rate of connection with customers
Hot Bar - Where espresso drinks, teas, and matchas are made
Cold bar - Where frappucinos, refreshers, iced teas, iced coffee, and cold brews are made
- works at a cafe store in a popular shopping center with raiden (jr.)
- pretty good at customer connections, primarily with the older ladies lol, older men don’t rlly like him
- barista, tried and got promoted to shift lead but demoted himself after the first week, thought it was too much work lol
- godly on bar, loves cold bar
- mf stays arguing with rude customers
- always puts his music on the in-store speakers
- it’s all 2010s club music
- most unserious person in the planet
- liu kang wrote him up once and all he said was ‘aight shawty damn’
- literally gives no fucks
- barista trainer, at first he only chose to do it for the bonus pay, but realized he really likes teaching the newbies plus he’s really good at it so he’s stuck to it
- bro is always filming tik toks at work that should definitely get him fired but he’s too good of a worker to be let go
- i can imagine him making parody videos making fun of that joboi dude, like bruh wtf is a griddy frappucino
- he usually gets a grande cold brew with a splash of sweet cream and three pumps toffee nut, but loves a good peach green tea lemonade too
- was also a barista, but offered to promote to shift lead after kung lao quit and got the job almost instantaneously
- gets along with everyone, almost none of the customers give him trouble, and honestly how could they?
- elders love him, children love him, older women love him, teenage girls love him, he’s very well loved
- pretty well-rounded and is great on all positions, but front and warming is his strength
- constantly meal violating because he’s always scheduled for mid-shift and he works at a high volume store that gets most of the rush in the afternoons, so he’s always stepping in to help even if he’s on break
- someone please make this man eat his lunch
- always makes sure the floor is prefect before passing it on to the next shift, best believe he’ll have ovens done, floors done, cards done, ice bins done, lobby checked, stations restocked, all the other shifts are resisting the urge to kiss him on the mouth after they transition with each other
- doesn’t bend the rules too much
- that being said, he refuses to throw out the food at the end of the night. he won't tell you to take anything, but will definitely turn a blind eye
- wiping down the counters for his partners on the floor when it’s really busy is his love language
- bro eats like an old man, he’s constantly marking out oatmeal for every break, he’s like 15% oatmeal now
- he drinks the brewed coffee??? with cream and two splendas if he’s feeling sweet?????? not even an iced espresso, straight up pike. mf is an old soul fr, kung lao can’t stand it
- only exception is when he sometimes gets a tall iced matcha with coconut milk
- he was raised by his grandfather (raiden sr.), who is also his namesake
- loves his grandpa so much, it’s actually so endearing
- definitely could become an ASM if he wanted to, but he prefers being a shift since he’s still figuring himself out
- he’s the store manager lol
- was offered to promote but chose not to, too much responsibility and he saw how disconnected district managers are from their baristas, and prefers working with them more closely
- is fed up with kung lao’s shit but can’t bring himself to fire him
- someone ordered the griddy frappucino once when he was on register, nearly short circuited
- constantly working on his dissertation, how he’s even pursuing an education and being such a good SM at once is beyond anyone’s understanding
- when asked how, he just says he meditates, which is not the advice most people expect or really want if we’re being honest
- super patient with his coworkers, and usually lets the petty stuff go
- wearing something slightly out of dress code? as long as it’s not a health code violation he doesn’t give a shit. got an apron pin that isn’t starbucks-approved? as long as it doesn’t have any profanity he couldn’t care less
- always has his trademark calm demeanor, but the only people who have ever managed to make him crack are kung lao (duh), johnny cage (double duh), and shang tsung (triple quadruple duh)
- His main drink is a trenta iced passion tea with no water and three splendas, or a tall cold brew with two pumps of sugar free vanilla, a packet of stevias, and a splash of coconut milk, usually enjoys it with a spinach feta wrap
- very healthy very granola indeed
- is that regular that only ever seems to come in to give the baristas a hard time
- places orders that make the sticker the length of a novel and it changes every time
- it only gets worse when liu kang is on bar
- “may i have a trenta iced coffee blended with extra water, extra ice, twelve pumps of caramel, twelve pumps of classic, extra soy milk, extra coconut milk, extra almond milk, vanilla sweet cold foam, chocolate cream cold foam, matcha cold foam, and two splenda packets”
- no amount of meditative breathing can stop liu kang from nearly popping a vein every time he comes in
- he never even drinks the shit he orders
- always sends it back even if he didn’t even take a single sip
- throws it in the trash on the way out the door and makes sure everyone sees him do it
- what even is his drink order??
- sometimes comes into the store in costume pretending to be someone else (it’s obviously him)
- the ultimate grinch but just for liu kang
- comes in on christmas every year and hands everyone envelopes with their names on them, everyone’s envelope has $50 in it while liu kang’s envelope only has a dollar
- apparently was liu kang’s biochemistry professor his sophomore year of college, the beef has been going on since then
- when will it ever end? how did it even start? no one knows
- doesn’t work at starbies either, instead he’s an ex-actor and entertainment business mogul that stops by before his meetings
- always stopping in cause he gets bored
- even chats it up w/ the regulars every now and then, usually kenshi
- speaking of kenshi, they were best friends in high school and college and have kept in touch since
- it’s also worth mentioning they were both total losers in high school
- they also were in a band together in their college years
- at first, partners at this store thought he was kind of obnoxious, liu kang included, but he won them over when he almost got in an argument with shang tsung in the parking lot and punched him
- no one made themselves an official witness but everyone talked about it
- gets a venti iced americano with two pumps of hazelnut and cream
- an ASM at Kitana’s location
- gets along well with everyone on the team and often is in charge of coordinating holiday parties, store meetings, and activities
- is very passionate in the whole community outreach thing, and has won the award for it multiple times
- comes from a rough background, so she applied at starbucks specifically for their free college program with Arizona State
- basically corporate’s employee wet dream
- that doesn’t mean she’s totally okay with the way they handle things, and sometimes bickers with kitana over how the store should be run
- hates hates HATES the forced connections thing, she believes conversation and interest in others should be genuine, not a sales tactic
- usually gets a grande iced black tea with strawberry açaí base, or a hot mocha with oatmilk
- works as a store manager for a drive-thru location near a high school, but serves as a proxy for liu kang’s store
- rules that place with an iron fist, most of the baristas are scared of her
- but that usually goes away when they realize she’s a massive dork
- she pulled into the drive thru in a naruto t-shirt and hello kitty pajama pants once on one of her off-days and the illusion was shattered for everyone
- plays k-pop over the speakers and insists it’s a starbucks playlist (it’s not)
- girl is always stressed and always tired, doesn’t know how liu kang is still sane
- loves unpacking the carson order, it’s a nice getaway from the pressure of drive times and connection scores, plus she gets first dibs on any cute cups
- speaking of, she’s a chronic cup hoarder, it doesn’t matter if the cup is ugly, she still wants it
- almost cried when raspberry was discontinued
- gets an iced quad espresso with two pumps of vanilla and a splash of soy in a venti cup
- also an SM for a different drive-thru location next to a grocery store, her and kitana are almost like day and night
- tanya is her asm, but they’re dating so she’s in the process of transferring to another location
- tried keeping it under wraps but truthfully they’re fooling no one
- girl is really just there for the vibes
- she would be bordering on terrible manager if she didn’t let her partners have fun
- wanna put your music on the speakers? go ahead but if she thinks your music sucks she’ll make you do a trash run
- forgot to request a specific day off three weeks ahead? you’re good, she hasn’t even made the schedule for that week yet lol
- are you batching frappucinos? thank fuck, she’s really trying to get those drive times down
- someone being a dick? let her know so she can argue with them lol
- whatever you do tho, keep those connections scores up. it’s the one thing she really gives a shit about
- her store is a high theft store, so she’s been doing her best to keep the store and her partners safe, but is always super paranoid when she works a closing shift
- trying to reach her phone on a day off is borderline impossible unless the store is being robbed or someone is dying, bi-han is her proxy but he’s not very friendly either so you’re fucked either way
- was also devastated when raspberry was discontinued
- gets a grande iced chai with oatmilk, two pumps of hazelnut, and strawberry cold foam, she’ll add on a couple blonde shots if she’s working an early shift
- she’s the DM, it used to be kronika but she was fired for reasons no one will disclose
- vast improvement, let me tell you
- goes harder on both milleena and kitana, she refuses to let her daughters benefit from nepotism
- admires liu kang greatly, and was very disappointed when he rejected an offer to become a DM at a different district
- venti iced americano with 3 splendas and soy milk
- y’all know i couldn’t leave him out
- he wasn’t really in the new game but he’s too important
- doesn’t work at starbies at all, but is one of liu kang’s professors in college
- he is very fond of liu kang, they work closely together on his dissertation
- stops in every morning to see his grandson and his student, usually gets a black coffee or an earl grey tea
- is constantly scolding kung lao, he considers him a second grandchild and unfortunately that manifests in constant nagging
- loves his grandson to death and is very proud of him, but expresses it in a way that only raiden (jr.) and kung lao understand
- always beefing w/ shang tsung, except unlike liu kang’s beef w/ him, this shit goes back DECADES
- always dissing each other
- shang tsung: surprised to see you here
- raiden: i come here almost every day, are you so old that your memory is failing you?
- shang tsung: i’m just surprised to see you haven’t died yet, old man
- SM at a high volume drive store located next to a busy highway and proxy for milleena’s store, hates his life and hates his job
- he barely likes anyone aside from his brother and tomas
- so friendly to customers that it’s unnerving to the partners on the floor with him
- seeing his customer service smile is so terrifying to everyone that knows him
- it gives like,,,,american psycho vibes
- only reason no one’s completely terrified of him is because he insists on wearing his fucked up high top vans to work and they aren’t non-slip so he’s constantly sliding around
- at this point he’s hoping he falls so he can go home early or injure himself badly enough to go on medical leave
- grabs the scalding hot dishes fresh out of the dishwasher with his bare hands just to feel something
- also doesn’t give much of a shit about the dress code, just don’t make it a problem with the food and health department
- loves hot bar, but hates that he has to talk to people because the hand off is right next to the espresso machine
- because of this, he’s usually on customer support
- he would quit if it wasn’t for sareena, his ASM, she’s the one thing keeping that place from falling apart
- has to take a smoke break after every shift
- someone PLEASE tell this man that coffee and a cigarette isn’t a meal
- huge coffee hipster, borderline pretentious and hates the bullshit that starbucks teaches
- “dead shots aren’t real, you idiot” - bi-han to tomas at some point
- never makes drinks to standard, always changes it to what he thinks is better
- “you’re supposed to pour the shots over the ic—“ “—no, it makes the shots taste like shit” - also bi-han to tomas at some point
- somewhat appreciates covid for the fact that it normalized wearing a face mask, it’s rare to ever see the bottom half of his face
- fell to his knees when the very berry refresher was discontinued
- that was the start of his villain arc
- now he only drinks a straight up iced quad blonde espresso, no cream, no sugar, no nothing
- however, he does love a good pour over
- tried the griddy frappucino in secret and loved it, fell to his knees a second time in despair
- no one ever believes him when he says he’s bi-han’s brother because they’re so different
- consistent with connections, but always seems to attract the strangest of people so it usually ends awkwardly
- ultimate multitasker, excels in front and warming
- constantly burning his hands tho
- he keeps trying to convince bi-han to wear non-slip shoes
- he bought him those non-slip crocs and bi-han stopped talking to him for a week
- popular with teenage girls that come in because they think he’s dark and mysterious
- hates the taste of coffee
- usually gets a pineapple passsion fruit lemonade with passion tea and no inclusions, he thinks they’re gross
- literally carrying the majority of bi-han’s store’s connection score on his back
- big sweetheart, but kinda gullible and a bit of a pushover with customers
- let them start shit with other partners though, if you wanna see him mad
- wears the non-slip crocs that kuai liang bought for bi-han since he didn’t want them
- his barista love language is swapping out the sanitizer buckets and emptying the grounds drawers during peak
- people call him smoke cause he’s burnt so many cookies in the oven
- please don’t have this man on front and warming he’ll burn the store down
- average london fog enthusiast
