I understand the reason that Baristas are not well paid, its a low skill job that you can be trained to do to a competent level in a couple of months. With that said, its a horrible job and extremely hard work.
My other half runs a chain coffee shop in the city. Her contracted hours are 47.5 hours a week. The store opening hours are 6.30 to 6 Monday to Friday - to complete all the tasks for opening she needs to be there for around 5.30am, if she is closing she'll leave at 6.30-7. A "double shift" is basically 12 hours on your feet, non stop. Its a busy store, there are usually queues even outside of peak hours. There is no paid sickness, lunch breaks are unpaid although food on shift is subsidised.
I'm in a niche accounting role, paid 3x what she earns. I work hard, my job is challenging, but despite all that hers is harder - if you offered me the same money I'm on now to do it, I wouldn't.
Because of the low barriers to entry in her role, she is replacable, so they can get away with paying such a low rate - but don't look down on people who work in the service industry or retail (10 years retail here in my past) - because despite the low skill requirement those jobs can be extremely challenging.
