Facing the Music...and coming out smelling like coffee!

I always like surprises at work. And today was no exception. Let me explain…

At Starbucks, I usually know what to anticipate while working the closing shift. It’s a nice ebb and flow of people who need an afternoon and evening treat to make their day a little brighter…or maybe they need a quaint place to use the WIFI to do some “work” on their computers…either way, it’s a good crowd of interesting people that make the café a fun place to work. But it’s usually not the biggest “tipping” crowd as these aren’t the kind of people that are exactly expecting exceptional service, they just want their drinks delicious and their service quick.

Well, we had a couple of random rushes due to some large orders from individuals (which always causes a back-up of drinks and a “slight” panic in the barista on duty…mainly because it causes the shift to jump over to the bar, literally, in my case as I like to “jump” while I am on the job…jump meaning wreck chaotic havoc on the bar supplies and create a mess…). So, the barista is hurrying away on drinks and thinking in her head, “Great. Kara is going to ‘hop’ over here and start messing with all the drinks…in order to offer her ‘help’” and true to form, I did! I tried NOT to meddle too much in the already busy barista’s order of precision, but I offered a couple random quotes about efficiency that I felt were adequate given the circumstances, some of which included, “A penny saved is a penny earned.” And “To be or not to be…that is the question that is never asked.”

Needless to say, the customers must have noticed the tornado that I was causing behind the bar on their behalf and when I came back over to the register area, I noticed that on both occasions of busy-ness, two very large bills had been left in our tip jar. And by very large, I mean, large enough to know that people were greatly rewarding our work! Or at least they were entertained by the scene we were creating to keep them distracted!

Now, while tips aren’t a HUGE thing (to make a living off of, I mean, as they are divied up between us all), they are a good indication of satisfied customers, and that’s the key at Starbucks…if people are happy, the “store” in general is a happy place to work! And it means that they received above and beyond service! I couldn’t have done good work without good co-workers and tonight, I had two of the more “fun” baristas with which to perform above and beyond service! It always makes for a good day to know that people were entertained and, maybe even, enlightened about what great customer service really entails!

Even though we did have one guy that wanted the music turned down…I just assume it’s because he wanted to better hear my singing that was going on behind the bar…as I do a great Louis Armstrong “What a Wonderful World” rendition complete with scratchy bass voice followed by, “Thanks and I will be here all week…”

On that note, I’m hitting the sack for the day...a couple large bills richer! haha.