So I (23F, college student) do not own this coffee shop, but I work there as a barista. I work on a very busy street in South Florida that is absolutely filled with homeless people. First off, this is not a post hating on homeless people. I feel so deeply about how awful this situation is for them but at this point I am exhausted coming to work. We have been actively losing customers due to reviews and comments like: “great coffee shop, awesome workers but there are tons of homeless people with their feet up outside smoking and drinking”. Every day I open I have to kick people off the chairs from sleeping there so I can put out the chair cushions. They leave trash, beer, their actual belongs, food, throw up, and so much more. I am getting paid minimum wage btw. The other day people were literally smoking crak outside. I am a women who truly could not win a fight with them (I have been threatened). We have been instructed to contact non emergency to have them removed but they run from them and then we can’t trespass them. Every worker at our shop has been harassed. Just the other day we have stopped giving free waters as well as no more public bathroom. The amount of times people have been doing drgs in our bathroom is insane. We are in the process of having a meeting with the city set up with the city. I am so sick of coming to work and having to deal with this. There are so many things I didn’t mention. This is not only a daily issue but happens multiple times during my single shift, yesterday I called the cops once and non emergency once as well as having to kick out more than 5 people.

If any business owners have any advice that would be greatly appreciated.

Edit- I am in college. I also really enjoy this job besides the homelessness issue, everyone is telling me to look for a different place to work. If this does not change, I will 100% be looking to work at a different place. But for now I want to be a part of that change as I really enjoy this business and the community it stands for.