villageBrew!!
Brewing In A CoffeePress!! to include
Cleaning A CoffeePress!! and even PressingCoffee INTO your Pants!!
-----
while Studying our green workbooks this week, us NewHires!! learned about Starbucks Mission statement, that its CorePurpose!!, is "To provide an uplifting experience that enriches people's daily lives",
of course, theCompany!! pretty much left day to day things up to me, theSam!! and I brought my own ClownNose and paddleShoes to theGame!!
My 18yr old trainer, Ajli, deftly took theCustomer's order, scooping up a 12oz cup when first heard from theBoys lips,
"Quad Mocha, medium,, no... Large"...
Her practiced hands change directions faster than theRegularJoe changed his mind and replaces the smaller cup and picks up the larger size-theVenti
while her other hand had fished out her blackMarker from her pocket and already uncapped it, turned it around and capped theEnd (one handed, even I can't do that)
"4 M", Whip" she scribbles legibly then hands theCup off to me,
I stare at Ajile dumbfounded for a second-theYoungMan/customer was "My" 3rd realLive customer of the morning and my head was still swirling with "FirstImpressions",
theStarbucksExperience, "CustomerCare" and the subsequent workbooks that we newHires had read from,
had carefully taken notes about and had seen accompanying DVD's regarding all the above that we had so far absorbed-she quietly says "4 pumps"..
"mocha", I finish her thought and turn to the counter behind me,
pump 2, 3, 4 times and set thePaper cup and it's whiteGolden contents upon theCounter beneath theMonstrous EspressoMachine (and I'll get to that behemoth later)
I look again at theMocha, and observe that it's a sweet repository sunny and of cheerful disposition, more so than all of us Employees and Trainees combined,
for all the contents of our BaristaStand cupboards are indeed, "storing places of items that we'd eventually sell"
and for Most people, whom truly Love and look forward to that early morning cup of Joe or the Sweeter caffienate drinks
they bury thePast whether years ago, yesterday or even what just happened outside theBusiness door and become bornAgain upon a wing, a prayer and sip to juanValdez and all things Columbian,
"How are you doing?" sula's cheery voice rose behind me, by now I knew her friendly face and had benefited from suggestions she volunteered to us NewHires,
forShe saw theInevitable delay, saw that at least 20seconds had come and gone and moved on with the StarbucksMissionStatement, to "Develop enthusiastically satisfied customers all of the time"-even at 0630hrs!!
My classmate by now had stepped in and Sula handed theSilverbullet-shaped whipDispenser to her and she finished theCustomer's drink by layering on Thickly theCream and capping theCup, sleeved it, slid it across theReceptionCounter,
Even though Sula's regular customer had quietly answered her query moments before, my brain hadn't registered theConversation until maybe 10mins later after cleaning up theFrothed milk.
Had replayed theScene and comprehended that Her Regular, theYoungMan, sadly whispered that he "was going Up there again to see her", apparently up there was theHospital where a family member was resting,
my mind wandered again and settled upon other thoughts, of Resting at theHospital or else dying.
Wasn't that another definition for Repository?,
A resting place, a burial place yes, but moving onto other explanations for Repository I noted that Sula, and Ajuli, Erin, Verona & All the Other BaristaGirls!! and I were also just "one of a few" handfuls of "people" in Anyone's life who came our way seeking a cup of Solace, of peace "that they'd confide in",
I'd heard that before in a BeautySalon a decade ago, thousands of miles away.
I'd heard this before in a MassageSchool 13yrs ago and a lifetime away.
Heard times when a Customer or a Client had grown to trust you and could talk with you, Could trust you enough to even share something joyous or painful and whether you answered or not, they still felt safe and still kept coming back to you for your Product and Services,
I'd heard many such revelations in quiet moments, hundreds, thousands of times before, Because of the various careers that I had been a part of, when Customer Service was being mastered by me,
as I journeyed through my respective crafts and trades wondering what I wanted to be "When I GrewUp!!", and someone would open up to me a moment and speak from their heart,
and Starbucks would call that moment, Connecting with our Customers.
Something that they want us to do every day and perhaps with Each and every customer that steps up to our counters.
A soft hand settles on my arm,
"the Mocha, the chocolate, not theWhite colored..." Ajali smiles,
"oh..." I freeze again.
I guess I now feel first time "On theFloor" jitters differently now.
I step back as Ajali preps theMocha and my classMate / fellow NewHire fills theVoid beside theTeenAge ShiftLeader / Trainer,
my body (having been already Beaten and worked to Death in a few Bars & Restaurants theYear previous, so much so that Cleaning is now automatic!!) grabs the unused steelJug with excess foamed milk and I pour it out down the sink-cos we're not supposed to ReSteam any milk,
a Trainers voice, from behind me, reminds me not to add so much Cold milk from the refrigerator when I'm prepping to Foam theMilk,
"which is why I'm dumping out about 12oz" I yell at myself inwardly,
"I mean, 3 or 4 days of paperwork, orientation and finally theWorkbooks and some handsOn I'm wasting Mocha mix, pouring too much milk, not wiping up milkSpray from off theMachine covers or spill tray AFTER each use....", I'm a mess inside.
Finally I quit mentally beating myself up and finish washing, rinsing and sanitizing the 2 steelJugs and Upturn them on theCounter to dry,
I look more closely at theEspressoMachine, it's fully automated but still has an "Manual" control button,
and theGroupHeads, where theCupLike portaFilter baskets link up Under theGroupHeads into theGroove and receive theEspresso from, AREN'T there.
Or at least, I AM looking at theSame EspressoMachine that every Barista-in-Training once looked at, but this model doesn't have theSingleStem SteamWands nor does it have
a SiteGlass for WaterTank monitoring or a PressureGuage to judge the 5 to 8 BARs of pressure needed to Steam, nor does it have visible On / Off switches,
It just has a Green indicator light and 5 buttons on front and NO brand name.
I'll call it "HAL", like the2001SpaceOdessey movies, but my acronym stands for something more "earthy" and not something so "homocidal".
I'll call it HAL / Heaving Another Latte (at my pants AGAIN!!)
And speaking of "it's full of Stars", thePictogram Illustrations on the Buttons may as well be some Futuristic Alpha-Numeric Code, and one of those 5 buttons on theFacePanel, which I inadvertently press While I Meant to Press theOtherButton next to it, yielded unto me a situation in which I wanted to cry "HALp!!", d:oP
When I go to Foam theMilk again for theNextCustomer's drink, I press the "Auto" button and correctly VentOUT theSteamWand, Or at Least I "meant" to press theAuto and my pinky hit theManual button.
And I see theMilk foam and hear it rumble and hissssssssss, then I set theSteelMilkJug down on theDripTray and pushDown on theArticulatingSteamWand, locking it in place,
When theRumbling and Hisssing doesn't stop and theMilk keeps rising-Rising-RISING!! up and splatters ALL over theDripTray, theCounter, Upon ME!!
Ajili quickly steps over and presses the "Auto" button again, and all chaos becomes quiet.
"somebody shoot me please!!" I think to myself,
"pleasee!!!" Oh god, I'm so embarrassed, and I've got my new Black dress shirt on.
It now has tiny flecks of milk, tiny, tiny pinhead-sized-flecks of milk,
I strangely wonder how many angels are dancing on MY shirt!? I bet they're laughing at me too right along with those 3 beautiful girls 6' away from me, Wow, our Work space is really smalllll, smaller than my Ego is now.
Another RegularCustomer sighs, and another teenAge trainer-who's training a 24yr old mother of 3 and a 42yr old dropOut-from-Life-connects once again with the patient valued customer as only a StarbucksBarista can!!
I'm theSam!!
and I'll conveniently forget those Mistakes of Old when first exploring theMany Vocations and Trades that were once new to me,
I'll forget when an youngArtMajor was drawing a friend of his one Study night, and without thought, but with much Feeling and Artistry he drew a Nude instead of a Clothed female!! oh god... strike me now... My friend laughed and kissed me and took my drawing!!
I'll forget when an CosmetologyStudent drops his hairBrushes and BlowDryer and runs off to theBackRoom on his firstFloorDay in a Panic, At least he didn't CRY like his youngPeer Instructor DID WHEN SHE first started her FloorTime!!
I'll conveniently forget the time, when first shooting theNewly acquired Glocks out in theVillage long ago, that it wasn't until sometime later that those pesky "Mosquito" swarms brushing my head were REALLY an errant 9mm and .45cal bullets that bounced back / deflected back at me from 100' feet way off theTrees and could have killed me!!
I'll conveniently forget the time, when first sewing upon an Industrial machine as a NavyParachuteRigger, that those small chips and scratches upon my Eyeglasses were MADE from broken sewing needleTips as they flew out and toward my face,
Thank god for safety glasses or Eye glasses, Life would be different for me now were I drastically VisualImpaired back then.
These lighthearted and serious moments of any kind I'm sure that we WorkingClass stiffs have experienced at one time or another,
and if you haven't made a silly or serious mistake you haven't Lived yet!!
lovs,
BaristaSam!!
and PartTime Mocha-wear model!!
CARRS / SAFEWAY store,
Starbucks kiosk
Cleaning A CoffeePress!! and even PressingCoffee INTO your Pants!!
-----
while Studying our green workbooks this week, us NewHires!! learned about Starbucks Mission statement, that its CorePurpose!!, is "To provide an uplifting experience that enriches people's daily lives",
of course, theCompany!! pretty much left day to day things up to me, theSam!! and I brought my own ClownNose and paddleShoes to theGame!!
My 18yr old trainer, Ajli, deftly took theCustomer's order, scooping up a 12oz cup when first heard from theBoys lips,
"Quad Mocha, medium,, no... Large"...
Her practiced hands change directions faster than theRegularJoe changed his mind and replaces the smaller cup and picks up the larger size-theVenti
while her other hand had fished out her blackMarker from her pocket and already uncapped it, turned it around and capped theEnd (one handed, even I can't do that)
"4 M", Whip" she scribbles legibly then hands theCup off to me,
I stare at Ajile dumbfounded for a second-theYoungMan/customer was "My" 3rd realLive customer of the morning and my head was still swirling with "FirstImpressions",
theStarbucksExperience, "CustomerCare" and the subsequent workbooks that we newHires had read from,
had carefully taken notes about and had seen accompanying DVD's regarding all the above that we had so far absorbed-she quietly says "4 pumps"..
"mocha", I finish her thought and turn to the counter behind me,
pump 2, 3, 4 times and set thePaper cup and it's whiteGolden contents upon theCounter beneath theMonstrous EspressoMachine (and I'll get to that behemoth later)
I look again at theMocha, and observe that it's a sweet repository sunny and of cheerful disposition, more so than all of us Employees and Trainees combined,
for all the contents of our BaristaStand cupboards are indeed, "storing places of items that we'd eventually sell"
and for Most people, whom truly Love and look forward to that early morning cup of Joe or the Sweeter caffienate drinks
they bury thePast whether years ago, yesterday or even what just happened outside theBusiness door and become bornAgain upon a wing, a prayer and sip to juanValdez and all things Columbian,
"How are you doing?" sula's cheery voice rose behind me, by now I knew her friendly face and had benefited from suggestions she volunteered to us NewHires,
forShe saw theInevitable delay, saw that at least 20seconds had come and gone and moved on with the StarbucksMissionStatement, to "Develop enthusiastically satisfied customers all of the time"-even at 0630hrs!!
My classmate by now had stepped in and Sula handed theSilverbullet-shaped whipDispenser to her and she finished theCustomer's drink by layering on Thickly theCream and capping theCup, sleeved it, slid it across theReceptionCounter,
Even though Sula's regular customer had quietly answered her query moments before, my brain hadn't registered theConversation until maybe 10mins later after cleaning up theFrothed milk.
Had replayed theScene and comprehended that Her Regular, theYoungMan, sadly whispered that he "was going Up there again to see her", apparently up there was theHospital where a family member was resting,
my mind wandered again and settled upon other thoughts, of Resting at theHospital or else dying.
Wasn't that another definition for Repository?,
A resting place, a burial place yes, but moving onto other explanations for Repository I noted that Sula, and Ajuli, Erin, Verona & All the Other BaristaGirls!! and I were also just "one of a few" handfuls of "people" in Anyone's life who came our way seeking a cup of Solace, of peace "that they'd confide in",
I'd heard that before in a BeautySalon a decade ago, thousands of miles away.
I'd heard this before in a MassageSchool 13yrs ago and a lifetime away.
Heard times when a Customer or a Client had grown to trust you and could talk with you, Could trust you enough to even share something joyous or painful and whether you answered or not, they still felt safe and still kept coming back to you for your Product and Services,
I'd heard many such revelations in quiet moments, hundreds, thousands of times before, Because of the various careers that I had been a part of, when Customer Service was being mastered by me,
as I journeyed through my respective crafts and trades wondering what I wanted to be "When I GrewUp!!", and someone would open up to me a moment and speak from their heart,
and Starbucks would call that moment, Connecting with our Customers.
Something that they want us to do every day and perhaps with Each and every customer that steps up to our counters.
A soft hand settles on my arm,
"the Mocha, the chocolate, not theWhite colored..." Ajali smiles,
"oh..." I freeze again.
I guess I now feel first time "On theFloor" jitters differently now.
I step back as Ajali preps theMocha and my classMate / fellow NewHire fills theVoid beside theTeenAge ShiftLeader / Trainer,
my body (having been already Beaten and worked to Death in a few Bars & Restaurants theYear previous, so much so that Cleaning is now automatic!!) grabs the unused steelJug with excess foamed milk and I pour it out down the sink-cos we're not supposed to ReSteam any milk,
a Trainers voice, from behind me, reminds me not to add so much Cold milk from the refrigerator when I'm prepping to Foam theMilk,
"which is why I'm dumping out about 12oz" I yell at myself inwardly,
"I mean, 3 or 4 days of paperwork, orientation and finally theWorkbooks and some handsOn I'm wasting Mocha mix, pouring too much milk, not wiping up milkSpray from off theMachine covers or spill tray AFTER each use....", I'm a mess inside.
Finally I quit mentally beating myself up and finish washing, rinsing and sanitizing the 2 steelJugs and Upturn them on theCounter to dry,
I look more closely at theEspressoMachine, it's fully automated but still has an "Manual" control button,
and theGroupHeads, where theCupLike portaFilter baskets link up Under theGroupHeads into theGroove and receive theEspresso from, AREN'T there.
Or at least, I AM looking at theSame EspressoMachine that every Barista-in-Training once looked at, but this model doesn't have theSingleStem SteamWands nor does it have
a SiteGlass for WaterTank monitoring or a PressureGuage to judge the 5 to 8 BARs of pressure needed to Steam, nor does it have visible On / Off switches,
It just has a Green indicator light and 5 buttons on front and NO brand name.
I'll call it "HAL", like the2001SpaceOdessey movies, but my acronym stands for something more "earthy" and not something so "homocidal".
I'll call it HAL / Heaving Another Latte (at my pants AGAIN!!)
And speaking of "it's full of Stars", thePictogram Illustrations on the Buttons may as well be some Futuristic Alpha-Numeric Code, and one of those 5 buttons on theFacePanel, which I inadvertently press While I Meant to Press theOtherButton next to it, yielded unto me a situation in which I wanted to cry "HALp!!", d:oP
When I go to Foam theMilk again for theNextCustomer's drink, I press the "Auto" button and correctly VentOUT theSteamWand, Or at Least I "meant" to press theAuto and my pinky hit theManual button.
And I see theMilk foam and hear it rumble and hissssssssss, then I set theSteelMilkJug down on theDripTray and pushDown on theArticulatingSteamWand, locking it in place,
When theRumbling and Hisssing doesn't stop and theMilk keeps rising-Rising-RISING!! up and splatters ALL over theDripTray, theCounter, Upon ME!!
Ajili quickly steps over and presses the "Auto" button again, and all chaos becomes quiet.
"somebody shoot me please!!" I think to myself,
"pleasee!!!" Oh god, I'm so embarrassed, and I've got my new Black dress shirt on.
It now has tiny flecks of milk, tiny, tiny pinhead-sized-flecks of milk,
I strangely wonder how many angels are dancing on MY shirt!? I bet they're laughing at me too right along with those 3 beautiful girls 6' away from me, Wow, our Work space is really smalllll, smaller than my Ego is now.
Another RegularCustomer sighs, and another teenAge trainer-who's training a 24yr old mother of 3 and a 42yr old dropOut-from-Life-connects once again with the patient valued customer as only a StarbucksBarista can!!
I'm theSam!!
and I'll conveniently forget those Mistakes of Old when first exploring theMany Vocations and Trades that were once new to me,
I'll forget when an youngArtMajor was drawing a friend of his one Study night, and without thought, but with much Feeling and Artistry he drew a Nude instead of a Clothed female!! oh god... strike me now... My friend laughed and kissed me and took my drawing!!
I'll forget when an CosmetologyStudent drops his hairBrushes and BlowDryer and runs off to theBackRoom on his firstFloorDay in a Panic, At least he didn't CRY like his youngPeer Instructor DID WHEN SHE first started her FloorTime!!
I'll conveniently forget the time, when first shooting theNewly acquired Glocks out in theVillage long ago, that it wasn't until sometime later that those pesky "Mosquito" swarms brushing my head were REALLY an errant 9mm and .45cal bullets that bounced back / deflected back at me from 100' feet way off theTrees and could have killed me!!
I'll conveniently forget the time, when first sewing upon an Industrial machine as a NavyParachuteRigger, that those small chips and scratches upon my Eyeglasses were MADE from broken sewing needleTips as they flew out and toward my face,
Thank god for safety glasses or Eye glasses, Life would be different for me now were I drastically VisualImpaired back then.
These lighthearted and serious moments of any kind I'm sure that we WorkingClass stiffs have experienced at one time or another,
and if you haven't made a silly or serious mistake you haven't Lived yet!!
lovs,
BaristaSam!!
and PartTime Mocha-wear model!!
CARRS / SAFEWAY store,
Starbucks kiosk
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