whew.
yesterday was a helluva day.
like i mentioned in my last post, i am back home for winter break working at the coffee shop where i got my very first coffee job. but now it's under new ownership...again. i've gone over this before, but let's review: first it was java jitterz then it was java junkie and now it's the java bean. so here i am at the jitterzjunkiebean. i am actually inside the shop right now. it's a really great place to be in the mornings. you can see the sun rise because of all the big windows and watching morning traffic over coffee and cigarettes is a wonderful thing. i also get a pretty great mix of morning regulars. most of whom were jitterz and junkie regulars as well. it's really fun to see them and chat them up.
this morning i couldn't get the shop to warm up so i finally punched the thermostat up to 76 and now it's cozy in here, even next to the big windows.
i could go on and on about the great atmosphere in here, but that's for another time.
so now for the main attraction: yesterday.
yeah, carpenters. rainy days and mondays always get me down, too.
so yesterday. i bounced out of bed at 5:45 AM, really excited and ready to get to work. especially because kim and i were going to work together for the morning shift just like old times. the catch is that kim had the key. i arrived at the bean at 6:25 sharp and sat in my car and waited. and waited and waited. i called kim about sixty times (not exaggerating) but her phone was dead. why i felt the need to call a dead phone a stupid amount of times, i'll never know. at any rate. kimi made it at about eight thirty. and because this blog is for coffee and coffeeshops NOT airing dirty laundry, all i'll say is that she did NOT get fired! hooray! hokay. anyways, we got the shop up and running and all was well. kimi went home for the rest of the day and i was left to run the shop by myself.
not a big deal.
until two PM rolled around when my shift was over.
then taylor didn't show up.
so i called my boss and asked her if this happened a lot and she said no, but to wait until two thirty because taylor may have been confused.
i called my boss again at two forty five, still lacking my coworker.
she said she would be here as soon as she could, but she had errands to run.
she showed up and we redid the schedule and i was under the impression that i would be pulling a fifty hour week.
i left at four with an hour to run errands get dressed and go on a date.
but luckily today they called one of the other girls from the fayetteville shop and she's going to come down and relieve me. and she and i will be covering a lot over the next couple days. oy.
however, what made yesterday so bad was not solely the insane turns of events. while all of that was going on i ran out of cigarettes, got a complaint about a milkshake (-_-), and oh yeah, i was trying to get to charlotte for a date. and i thought that i would have to work thirteen hours today. which would have been pretty rough.
so my day ended very chaotically with a quick run to the gas station for cigarettes, a stop by the ups store, and a glorious 30-second sprint through my house while getting ready and out the door again. once i got in the car i realized i hadn't eaten all day and quickly forgot as traffic was hell.
but yesterday is over!
and today i have managed to spill half a container of iced coffee, half a gallon of milk, and hit my head so hard that i almost knocked myself out.
*awkward laugh and thumbs up*
i've missed this shop a lot. it's been difficult getting used to a normal-sized coffee shop, but i love it.
more posting later about the shop in general.
Showing posts with label baristas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baristas. Show all posts
23 December 2008
18 December 2008
tips! ha!
tips are important
to people like
captains and barmen
for them it's a tip, see?
for me, i'm a gypsy
just toss me a coin
and i suddenly feel like i'm carmen
--from WORKING: the musical
tipping.
do you tip your barista?
are you supposed to tip your barista?
WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU TIP YOUR BARISTA?
well. it's important. that's why.
even if it's only a quarter, tips are important. we don't do the work that waiters and waitresses do, but it is similar in some ways.
we serve. that's about as similar as it gets.
but we also create. we direct you toward the drink that we think you might like depending on the small bits of information you give us. (see: the barista game in the coffee dictionary.)
we (those of us who take our jobs too seriously) try our best to entertain you to the extent that we can for the amount of time that you're in our shop.
and baristas, like elephants, never forget. we remember the tippers and the non-tippers. if we're in a position to see what you drive or meet your family, we'll probably remember what you order after a few visits to the shop.
so how much should you tip?
well, just like when you go to a restaurant, tip what you can and what you feel the barista deserves. if you're a regular at a shop, you don't need to feel obligated to tip every single time, but a dollar here or fifty cents there will make your barista very happy.
if you've ever worked in a restaurant or coffee shop, your money probably works something like this: your check goes to gas, bills, food, etc. and tips pay for your habits. so remember that your barista is living on tips just like a waitress does.
there's also the tipping dilemma for baristas: will people tip if the jar is full or empty? whenever i start a shift, i put a dollar in the jar. it's habit and it also reminds people that there is a tip jar there and if they can spare some change for their caffeine provider, they can put it in there. but then, usually (unless you have a particularly large tip jar), your jar fills up to the point where you need to take some money out.
here's my system:
if there are any bills larger than a $1, i take them out and put them in my wallet. i have experienced tip jar robbery and sometimes fingers will get sticky if they see a $5 bill.
after removing large bills (which i RARELY have to do), i count how much money i have in the jar. if i have ten dollars, i put it all back. if i have fourteen dollars, i put four back and pocket the ten and so forth.
my theory is that customers are not sympathy tippers. if customers see that you've been an efficient, pleasant barista, they are more likely to tip. it is likely that your customer won't know how long you've been there, but they'll assume the worst when it comes to whether or not they'll give you their money. so a full tip jar will secure a full tip jar.
hope everybody is having a fun, safe, and sufficiently caffeinated holiday. i'm back in my hometown working at a coffee shop. it's the building of my very first shop with its third set of owners. all of whom i have been hired by, now. i'll be back at the bus in a month or so.
to people like
captains and barmen
for them it's a tip, see?
for me, i'm a gypsy
just toss me a coin
and i suddenly feel like i'm carmen
--from WORKING: the musical
tipping.
do you tip your barista?
are you supposed to tip your barista?
WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU TIP YOUR BARISTA?
well. it's important. that's why.
even if it's only a quarter, tips are important. we don't do the work that waiters and waitresses do, but it is similar in some ways.
we serve. that's about as similar as it gets.
but we also create. we direct you toward the drink that we think you might like depending on the small bits of information you give us. (see: the barista game in the coffee dictionary.)
we (those of us who take our jobs too seriously) try our best to entertain you to the extent that we can for the amount of time that you're in our shop.
and baristas, like elephants, never forget. we remember the tippers and the non-tippers. if we're in a position to see what you drive or meet your family, we'll probably remember what you order after a few visits to the shop.
so how much should you tip?
well, just like when you go to a restaurant, tip what you can and what you feel the barista deserves. if you're a regular at a shop, you don't need to feel obligated to tip every single time, but a dollar here or fifty cents there will make your barista very happy.
if you've ever worked in a restaurant or coffee shop, your money probably works something like this: your check goes to gas, bills, food, etc. and tips pay for your habits. so remember that your barista is living on tips just like a waitress does.
there's also the tipping dilemma for baristas: will people tip if the jar is full or empty? whenever i start a shift, i put a dollar in the jar. it's habit and it also reminds people that there is a tip jar there and if they can spare some change for their caffeine provider, they can put it in there. but then, usually (unless you have a particularly large tip jar), your jar fills up to the point where you need to take some money out.
here's my system:
if there are any bills larger than a $1, i take them out and put them in my wallet. i have experienced tip jar robbery and sometimes fingers will get sticky if they see a $5 bill.
after removing large bills (which i RARELY have to do), i count how much money i have in the jar. if i have ten dollars, i put it all back. if i have fourteen dollars, i put four back and pocket the ten and so forth.
my theory is that customers are not sympathy tippers. if customers see that you've been an efficient, pleasant barista, they are more likely to tip. it is likely that your customer won't know how long you've been there, but they'll assume the worst when it comes to whether or not they'll give you their money. so a full tip jar will secure a full tip jar.
hope everybody is having a fun, safe, and sufficiently caffeinated holiday. i'm back in my hometown working at a coffee shop. it's the building of my very first shop with its third set of owners. all of whom i have been hired by, now. i'll be back at the bus in a month or so.
24 October 2008
of the bean that they drink
every day
every week
you should quit...
--jump little children
i just made myself...a latte. I KNOW. i know. but it is probably the most delicious latte i have ever had...and it's rainy and disgusting at the bus. i made myself a mocha, but instead of a regular mocha, i used our hot cocoa recipe to make it. i haven't decided if i want to share this delicious recipe with you because it's kind of a secret. i have probably exceeded my usually alotted number of coffee sins for the week, so no more lattes for a while...hopefully.
and for tonight's post: The Chatty Barista, or Why won't she shut up!?
depending on what kind of coffee shop you go to, you could encounter a very chatty barista. (which, by the way, barista is gender neutral. i'll probably be referring to the barista as a she...because i have mostly worked with/encountered women...and i am one. please don't be offended, boys.) i am a chatty barista. at my first shop, jitterz, i worked with my best friend, kim. our friends janna and david later joined us. (that's probably a story for another day) when kim and i were working...you couldn't get out of there. especially once we started smoking. we would chat up customers to the point of no return. they would spend hours outside with us, smoking and talking. even the customers who didn't smoke would spend lots of time with us.
the most interesting characters were:
frank: our dearest regular. got a large sumatra every day after work. we got to hear about his son, his wife's boob job, his drinking experiences in college--everything. on christmas he gave us a twenty dollar tip. i miss frank.
frankie: frankie worked at a really sketchy adult book/video store across the river. he later worked for coca-cola, sued them and went back to the adult store. he called janna, kimi and i "frankie's angels." he is a lovely person and never ceased to make us smile.
karen: karen is the coach for the olympic white water kayaking team. brought in lots and lots of gorgeous boys to see us. and she just made a great conversationalist.
we also had our fair share of creepsters and flirty regulars. it happens.
but i digress. the method behind our madness is that we worked at a very intimate, low-traffic coffee shop. we had the time to talk to our customers, if they had the time to open up to us. we have taken our jobs as baristas to the next level--for us, it's a way of life. we invest time and emotion in our customers because they have allowed us to do so. we care about them. even the ones who scare us.
now, as a barista in a VERY high-traffic coffee bus, i've had to alter my means of communication. we have very few regulars at the bus because we are positioned in a city that has a mostly tourist-based economy. and we don't have a bathroom. so now i get to meet lots and lots of people who are simply passing through. if they have a map, a camera, a mast general store bag, or a shocked expression, i start by asking them where they're from. i want to know. i want to know why they're here and what they're doing and if they're having fun. i love recommending bars and restaurants. tourists, despite their naivete, are fun. especially the ones who are REALLY excited to be here.
as a barista and coffee enthusiast, i feel the need to get to know who i am serving. i feel so strongly about coffee and the way it makes people feel and consequently want to know about who will be consuming my favorite addiction.
every week
you should quit...
--jump little children
i just made myself...a latte. I KNOW. i know. but it is probably the most delicious latte i have ever had...and it's rainy and disgusting at the bus. i made myself a mocha, but instead of a regular mocha, i used our hot cocoa recipe to make it. i haven't decided if i want to share this delicious recipe with you because it's kind of a secret. i have probably exceeded my usually alotted number of coffee sins for the week, so no more lattes for a while...hopefully.
and for tonight's post: The Chatty Barista, or Why won't she shut up!?
depending on what kind of coffee shop you go to, you could encounter a very chatty barista. (which, by the way, barista is gender neutral. i'll probably be referring to the barista as a she...because i have mostly worked with/encountered women...and i am one. please don't be offended, boys.) i am a chatty barista. at my first shop, jitterz, i worked with my best friend, kim. our friends janna and david later joined us. (that's probably a story for another day) when kim and i were working...you couldn't get out of there. especially once we started smoking. we would chat up customers to the point of no return. they would spend hours outside with us, smoking and talking. even the customers who didn't smoke would spend lots of time with us.
the most interesting characters were:
frank: our dearest regular. got a large sumatra every day after work. we got to hear about his son, his wife's boob job, his drinking experiences in college--everything. on christmas he gave us a twenty dollar tip. i miss frank.
frankie: frankie worked at a really sketchy adult book/video store across the river. he later worked for coca-cola, sued them and went back to the adult store. he called janna, kimi and i "frankie's angels." he is a lovely person and never ceased to make us smile.
karen: karen is the coach for the olympic white water kayaking team. brought in lots and lots of gorgeous boys to see us. and she just made a great conversationalist.
we also had our fair share of creepsters and flirty regulars. it happens.
but i digress. the method behind our madness is that we worked at a very intimate, low-traffic coffee shop. we had the time to talk to our customers, if they had the time to open up to us. we have taken our jobs as baristas to the next level--for us, it's a way of life. we invest time and emotion in our customers because they have allowed us to do so. we care about them. even the ones who scare us.
now, as a barista in a VERY high-traffic coffee bus, i've had to alter my means of communication. we have very few regulars at the bus because we are positioned in a city that has a mostly tourist-based economy. and we don't have a bathroom. so now i get to meet lots and lots of people who are simply passing through. if they have a map, a camera, a mast general store bag, or a shocked expression, i start by asking them where they're from. i want to know. i want to know why they're here and what they're doing and if they're having fun. i love recommending bars and restaurants. tourists, despite their naivete, are fun. especially the ones who are REALLY excited to be here.
as a barista and coffee enthusiast, i feel the need to get to know who i am serving. i feel so strongly about coffee and the way it makes people feel and consequently want to know about who will be consuming my favorite addiction.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
