Don't Worry! Drink Coffee!!

I’m not necessarily in the mood to make “lists,” but after working mornings at Starbucks, it’s hard not to. By this, I mean, I have communicated all morning in such a short, succinct manner, that any extraneous words seem indulgent and unnecessary. I have said things like "Iced Grande Unsweet with room Iced Coffee" or "Decaf Tall Nonfat 5 pump Hazelnut Latte." I forget how to communicate in normal terms and end up saying things like "Take. Trash. Outside. Now." Oh yeah, "Please. Thanks."
Let me elaborate. Picture an fairly “empty” Starbucks (customer wise), give or take three people sitting casually in the café, enjoying their already made drinks and offering occasional chitchat to the workers (who are frantically dumping old grounds, emptying trash cans, cleaning the condiment bar, brewing coffee, cleaning the espresso bar, and sorting the pastry case, all while simultaneously watching the door like snipers ready to drop EVERYTHING in lieu of seeing a customer and greeting aforementioned customer with a personalized and heartfelt greeting…)…so, picture that…the workers doing their thing, I’m doing the money stuff…the inventory…the big stuff that really is just the same grunt work as the baristas…and I usually end up helping them more in their work as they have more to do than I do anyway…

So, the environment is electric for a “rush” and true to form…in the morning…in walks two, three, four, five…no wait, SIX people. All at once. I am immediately in crisis mode. Let me define crisis mode. It means- stop everything I am doing, get to the register, BE CHARMING, take orders, and get payment on EVERY single drink, get cups marked for EVERY single drink, and get my tail over to the bar to help the barista get those people OUT THE DOOR. A. S. A. P. For real. (which is ASAPFR…not a word, but a state of mind…my mind)

In the morning, the rushes are different. The conversations are SHORT because the people are. Not in stature but in time. They want to get in and out. Literally, in and out, as fast as they can and they could care less that YOUR fee t are hurting or that one espresso machine is OUT for the count because of a plumbing malfunction or that you are running low on grande ice cups and are calling around frantic to find some before the noon rush and have to send your extra barista to pick them up asap so now YOU are the fallback man on the espresso bar and you are STILL not 100% positive if a Grande Americano gets 2 shots of espresso or 3. So you put 3 to be on the safe side (after all, it’s morning after all and who COULDN’T use a little kick in the pants.)

So, yeah, mornings are tough. Tough in a mental sense of- I’m GOING to look at the glass half full and smile and talk with EVERYONE that walks through that door. Can’t lie, though…one or two slip through the cracks. Let’s say, after a “rush” a ASAP-for-real rush…I am spent…I feel like I have given it my all, been charming and nice and GENUINALLY interested in conversation, and in comes someone…someone kind of generic…you know, her name could be Jessica or his name could be Mike. He or She could be wearing something very nondescript. They could be very ordinary. I would probably say the “company line” which I usually don’t say…and I could probably NOT be singing along to the radio and I could probably NOT ask them where they got their cool watch or their interesting necklace… I wouldn’t ask them where they worked, what they did… And you know what? I feel like I missed out. I will look back on the interaction and know that I didn’t give them ANYTHING to better their lives. I didn’t make their day any better except by giving them a little caffeinated boost of delicious-ocity that they could have bought from 7-Eleven for a lot cheaper. I feel bad about it, too. Because if ANYONE considers themselves to be an “entertainer,” it is me. I feel like I make “connections” like I make carbon dioxide (isn’t that what we produce when we breath?? If not, disregard that last statement…)…

So, today…I’m glad that I get to go home early when I work mornings…I am home by 2ish p.m. in the afternoon…even though I was up at 4 a.m., it is still good to get to enjoy the afternoon.

I like working closings better, though…because people have a slower pace of life…they are more apt to stay and visit for a while, to “care,” if that is possible, about what is going in life…as opposed to in the mornings when Starbucks is just a necessary pit stop in life…it is a choice in the evening to spend time at the coffeeshop...

Don't get me wrong- the morning people are interesting in their own, quirky, grumpy, weird way…but the evening people are precious jewels, like a breath of fresh air in a stuffy room- they help remind us why we love our jobs.

It’s not the storm of chaos that lights of the fire of doing a good job at my job…it’s the flower that survives that storm and brightens the whole garden!!