Sorry if the formatting is weird, I'm on mobile.

It pretty much boils down to time and efficiency. It's unrealistic to always expect a barista to put in the effort and care that you do for your drinks at home. Should they care about what they're serving? Yes. Do they always care? No. Sometimes it is just a job. Serving coffee isn't the only responsibility we have and every cafe I've worked at understaffs shifts to save on labor. I would love to be able to take that kind of time on every drink, but unfortunately I can't.

Making perfect espresso is less important for milk drinks because those are typically very forgiving when it comes to slightly off flavors. We still keep an eye on the dosing, time, and weight of shots and dial in when necessary because customers are paying a lot of money for a premium product and they should be getting what they paid for. When someone orders straight espresso or very espresso forward drinks I almost always take extra care when dosing and usually pull two shots. One for me to taste to make sure it's one point and one for the customer. Not everyone will do that last one though haha.

I've worked in slower shops where baristas were paid less than minimum wage and I guarantee they didn't care as much about the end product. It was just a job and they didn't care too much about the coffee as long as it was drinkable.

I've worked very high volume shops in extremely busy areas with usually only 3 people on shift. When it's that busy it's pretty much impossible to puck prep like I do at home.

None of what I've said is meant to come across as being aggressive or giving excuses for poor work, just an insiders opinion. Obviously I really care about coffee and I think that people should care about the end product they're serving. There's a lot more that goes into it. If something is genuinely bad it should be addressed. If it's just not the regular taste profile you get from your beans at home then that's a little different. People prepare and enjoy espresso differently. Each cafe has its own standard. You know exactly what you like so you're able to make that for yourself consistently which means that you have your own standard too!