What Not to Order

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I followed up on the whole being employed thing. So here's what's happening right now in my life.

I'm still employed. By Starbucks. I've worked two 40 hour weeks so far, and hopefully that'll continue to happen. The goal is to make as much money as possible in this short span of time. I've worked mostly 8-hour days, and usually between 10 and 6:30ish. I've done a couple of closing shifts, which are from 2 to 10:30, and I'll likely do an opening shift sometime soon, but my shifts will continue to vary. I've had weekends off so far as well, which has been nice. That'll probably change :)
And now that I've been there two weeks, I actually know how to do stuff. I can run your order through, I can brew coffee, I can serve you a pastry, I can make drinks, and I can even whip up a Frappuccino for you. I'm still a little unsure of some of the recipes, and there are some weird exceptions to rules (Caramel Macchiattos, for instance, take their espresso shots not directly in the cup...), but honestly, I've learned the French language, and it has several exceptions, so I think I can handle this.

As per the title of this blog, here's what not to order. Or what to order if you want to be one of those annoying Starbucks junkies:
Annoying Starbucks Junky: I'll take a half-caf, triple long shot, Tall in a Venti cup with no sleeve, sugar-free two-thirds sweet, kid's temperature, no whip, extra foam, light drizzle, salted caramel hot chocolate, with maybe an ice cube thrown in so it's not too hot.

Please, don't. You're not cool, you have too much time on your hands.

I work with good people. They're quite funny, and they want to do their jobs well. And they've been patient with me, even when I'm annoying and repetitive with my questions.

So, it's been good. For a first job, I think I totally lucked out.

Thanks for reading!

Status: Employed

At least for now.

A week and a couple of days ago, I had an interview at Starbucks. It was a fairly formal but friendly interview with two different people, one a store manager, the other a manager in training. The interview went well enough, but I didn't answer some questions as well as I could have, and honestly, I don't have any experience. I didn't get the job, to my disappointment, but also to my renewed determination. I went about handing out resumes like nobody's business a couple of days later, and sat back waiting for a possible phone call. This was a great exercise in my confidence; just walking up to someone and trying to show them how great I am in a three second conversation was a challenge.

The next day, I got a phone call from Starbucks. A different Starbucks than before. I had applied to several in one go, since that's what their online application process offered me. I missed their call, and by the time I called back, the manager wasn't in. So I called back the next morning, and went in for an interview that afternoon. The manager and I chatted a bit, I learned what the company is like, I asked a few questions... And then she asked if I wanted to try working there. Bam. Just like that. Most casual interview ever, much more comfortable than the other one, and she didn't seem to care that I didn't have experience, she just wanted to know that I'll do my best to work hard and serve people well. I think the main thing was that I said I actually cared about people, and wanted to improve their days as much as possible, it wasn't just for the sake of getting the job done.

So, cool story. I start on Monday. Apparently their training is pretty intensive. But, I survived the IB program, so I figure I can live through almost anything :). We'll find out.

Here are some reasons why God is good:
-I was extremely confident going into the first interview that I would be the best person ever for the job, and everyone would be proud of me for getting it, and I would breeze through my first job easily, blah blah blah. When I didn't get it, it was a beautiful slap in the face. And it's easy to say this now that I'm employed and happy, but it sucked at the time. I didn't realize how much I had been counting on that job.
-This Starbucks location is in an Indigo, which means a few things. Firstly, that I'm surrounded by books and nice things all the time. Secondly, that there won't be the same crazy morning rushes that other Starbucks' experience. And speaking of mornings, thirdly, the store opens when the Indigo does, at 9am. NO ABNORMALLY EARLY MORNING SHIFTS FOR ME.

Okay. That's it. Still waiting to hear from Cape Town. Still wanting to get snail mail from anyone who feels like writing to me? :) And I'm thankful that I'll soon have something to do with my time, so I won't be such a useless pile of lazy.