What A Circus

I'm not sure what was with tongight. Honestly, (I'm realizing how often I use the word 'honestly'. lol. but it just fits) it was like there was some crazy circus going on outside and all of the performers were coming in for their coffee.

It all started with this little crazy lady. She kind of reminded me of the little hunched over witch that tricks the prince at the beginning of Beauty & The Beast. lol.
As I was making drinks she came up to the side and said, rather abruptly, "Can I have some water???" So I said sure, and then again, so abruptly said, "and almost no ice!" I couldn't hear her so she had to repeat it again. Anyway, finally I was pouring the water and I could just tell something wasn't all quite there with her or something. I'm not sure what it was but then all of a sudden she looked at me and said, "That chocolate um shake thing you just gave my daughter, well she drank it and now she passed out!"
I was like, um. "Sorry, excuse me, what did you say??" I couldn't believe or understand what she was saying. she said the same thing again and then took the cup of water from me, without even getting a lid and that was the last I saw of her. Yes, the thoughtful side of me wondered if in fact her daughter had actually passed out...not from the drink of course, cause that's just ridiculous...and I didn't ever remember seeing her or her daughter, who I didn't see anywhere, get a drink in the first place. Maybe she thought I would charge her for her water if she didn't come up with some crazy story about why she needed it so bad....Honestly, one of the weirdest conversations to date.
I'm not sure if that's what set the tone for the rest of the evening but ever since that moment I just saw the weirdest things and people. Not to sound judgemental and call people weird. I guess everyone is special in their own way. But seriously there was a lot of special people walking around tonight.

Like this elderly man who had this insanely long white beard who looked like a combination of Gandaulf (sp!?) the Great, Santa Clause, and Moses all in one. Although the bright red sweater made me lean toward to the Santa Clause description. It was such an intense beard!
And then only a few minutes before spotting him I saw this other guy with the thickest long black beard and a tiny goatee walking around. Not exactly the friendliest looking guy to say the least.
Anyway I could barely believe I was even seeing either of them, let alone two of them in the same store at the same time. And then it all got even crazier when I realized they must have come together, as they went to leave together at the same time! So bizaare.

Then there was this girl with this crazy long bunny hat, that had bunny ears that reached all the way down her back. Again, talk about a crazy circus! And the amount of people with oddly dyed hair colors I saw tonight. I kept feeling like "where I am!?" Have we like time travelled!?
After the bunny ears girl was a girl who, no offense, but her hair looked like that crazy witch lady from Pirates of The Carribean.. again, so bizaare.

Then I had a lady tell me how she's either really indecisive or knows exactly what she wants, like when she wakes up at three in the morning craving tomatoe triscuits. Yes, tomatoe triscuits. Odd.

The list of tonight is seemingly endless.. cause then when we asked a lady if she wanted room for cream in her coffee she said 'what's that?' and we were like 'y'know like half & half..."
*blank stare*

and us again, "y'know like milk?"
*Odd blank stare*

Eventually she said she didn't need any room.
Lol.

And finally the one story that half made me laugh half just made me upset. This younger girl, we'll say like 24ish was buying drinks for her and her boyfriend when she decided to also add a bottled water to her purchase, which caused the price to rise by almost $3.
She said, "Boy, that's expensive water."
And I agreed with her, but said "yeah, it's a bit pricy but if it makes you feel any better part of the money goes to help build wells for kids in Africa." and all she said in a monotone voice was. "Nope." !!!! I couldn't believe that.
Ellie and I agreed, if you actually think that, at least don't say it out loud! Like you don't care at all if children get clean water! Seriously! I was not happy with her to say the least.
Anyway so that was my ridiculous circus of a night. It just didn't stop and I kept wanting to say, "Guys, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

Caffeine Withdrawal & Compliments

Today was an odd, yet funny sort of shift. For whatever reason I felt exhausted. Like the kind of exhausted where your feet just ache from standing. And it seemed like every customer I asked how they were doing, either told me how exhausted they were, or apologized for their lack of coordination in ordering and paying because they "really needed their coffee." But it's funny how somehow being tired seems to bring people closer together. They blame their lack of ordering skills on their lack of caffeine and then I agree that it's been a long day and that I need my coffee too. I can't count the number of times that conversation has happened...not that I'm insincere in the fact that I too need a coffee, (maybe just more sleep actually) but by saying that people get the feeling that I can relate and it somehow creates this small bond.
More sleep definately would have helped today, because for the first time ever I had a customer tell me the recipe of a drink! I asked her if she wanted a dark roast or a light roast for her Americano misto! For all you non-coffee addicts, the option for a light or dark roast for an Americano does not exist!...it's just dark roast espresso! Was so embarrasing. Lol. But anyway...
I also realized something important about compliments today: we think them often, but rarely verbalize them. Just as they were rounding the corner to pick up their drink, I had this customer tell me I had really nice eyes. It almost startled me, cause I wasn't expecting it... But honestly amidst my tiredness and feeling like I looked about the same way I felt, it made my day! And I realize how easy it might be for me to do the same for someone else. But we all get used to staying in our little bubbles and not ever extending ourselves to strangers like that, because somehow it makes us feel vulnerable in the process. But we really should just do it anyway,it can make more of a difference then we know!

A Marc Joel Moment

Tonight's blog is short n' sweet. I've been feeling a bit under the weather the last few days and so working tonight actually felt like work for once. However working with Marc Joel usually guarantees a million laughs and me feeling better by the end of it. I was reminded of a hilarious moment from the past...

This sweet elderly lady approached the till and was rummaging through her bag and talking about how she kept forgetting things lately...She then ordered her drink and
after she walked away,
Marc Joel turned to me and said, "I wanted to say to her, 'must be the alzheimers'."

I gave him a half joking look of shock and said, "That would have been sooo mean!"

But then he turned to me and said, "Nah, it's ok. She'd forget about it."

*Burst of Laughter*

Customer Spotlight #1: "The Journal Lady"

Seriously, I don’t understand her. Maybe sometimes the only realistic explanation for people’s behaviour is that their crazy. Crazy or lonely or bored, basically guaranteed to be one of those three...

All I did for this lady is put a journal on hold in the back while she went to the washroom (which I really didn’t need to know in the first place) and made some ‘customer small talk’ about how it’s always nice to get a new journal and all of a sudden I’m known as “The Journal Girl.”

Last time she came in she said “Oh there’s the journal girl!” with this big and rather goofy smile on her face. I was so puzzled at first and Marc Joel turned to me and said “How does she know you want to be a journalist?!” For a second I thought the same thing and then I realized, the answer was...she doesn’t!

And I guess since I was able to put a journal on hold for her, she now thinks EVERYTHING can be put on hold: she gave me her drink, pastry, laptop, and purse and asked if I could put them in the back room while..again, she went to the washroom. We do not and hopefully never will have a locker room for customers, but stunned as I was, I agreed.

But worst of all she now believes I have a intense collection of journals! Last time I came in, sadly when I wasn’t even working, after she exclaimed “journal girl!” with a light laugh, she continued on with “It must be so hard working in a bookstore as well with all the journals they have.” As if I must not be able to resist buying one on my way home after every shift.

Don’t get me wrong here. My rantings about this might come off a bit cynical. I’m all about customer connections and finding things in common and talking and all that...but not when it’s so ridiculous!

...Ok so I might actually own a lot of journals at home, but she doesn’t know that!

...or wait, maybe she does, maybe that’s what I told her when I was blabbing on trying to make small talk, but now I can’t even remember!

Either way I am not a journal shopaholic and my name is Zooey!

...once again, an uplifting and postive story to follow shortly! I re-fuse to lend 100% pessimism to my blogs. A-ha.

Chirstmas is FINALLY over

So as my loyal blog readers (which are ever so slowly growing in number) have been urging me to write again, because it's almost been a whole month since my last entry, I must comply!
I'd love to re-cap the holidays for you...
Let me start by telling you about 3 customers that I think have a lot in common...high expectations, actually let's just say either ridiculous expectations or impossible expectations.

First, my favourite... this young, let's say 22 year old girl, works nearby and often comes in for her drink. Apparently she used to work at the same coffee shop, which I find ever so hard to believe..This girl has a crazy amount of attitude. Pretty sure I've never seen her smile. She used to work in customer service? Seriously?

Anyway she came up to the till and explained to me that there was too much foam on her drink YESTERDAY and had settled by the time she got to work. Then she said, "So....I'm not sure what you can do about that...."

I wanted to be like it was YESTERDAY, so unless I invent a time machine (which Marc Joel would think is the coolest thing ever) then I'm pretty sure I can't do anything.

So I said, "Oh oK. Well, I'll make sure that there's less foam on your drink today."

But that clearly did not satisfy her...so she said AGAIN. "So I'm not sure what you can do about that..."

Honestly, people. So i finally caved in and gave her what she had been asking for all along...a free drink. I'm pretty sure she never even said thank you, and if she did it was the rudest thank you I've ever heard.

And then there was the impossible...This lady walks in on a Sunday afternoon, when things can be at their busiest. With the cafe entirely full she looks at me and asks if there's anywhere else to sit...I said no, sorry. Looks like it's full.

She didn't seem happy with that answer, it's like she thought I was hiding a few chairs and tables behind the counter or something.

She asked me again, and I said other than out by a food court nearby, that's all the seating we had. She looked at me in dismay, as if hoping I would go walk up to a customer and ask them to leave so she could sit down. She left, without ordering anything.

And then the last related story, which is just too much to explain in all detail, is this older quite obnoxious man, who does not like a certain type of coffee we brew and thinks we've been brewing it too long and should change it over. I don't think he realizes that there are other people out there who really like this coffee...but maybe we should start brewing according to his favourites every week...
Uh oh, I'm sounding bitter again, time for a positive story....

So Christmas was crazy busy but you sort of come to get used to it, you can also start to become a little robotic in your dealings with customers, cause it's just non-stop repeating the same things over and over again...that is until someone interesting comes a long...

After 100 ordinary customers came this lady dragging the base of a Christmas tree along the floor with her foot, until she reached the till. I commented on how heavy it must be, and to my surprise she picked it up and handed it to me across the counter so I could see how heavy it was, and it was heavy! I can't remember why, but she was just over all quite quirky in my opinion, that is until...

someone twice as quirky was next in line! She had this long leopard print coat on, long fake nails, bleach blonde hair, just quite eccentric seeming, but she came to the till and was THE NICEST customer I had had all day, asked me how I was doing before she even ordered. Just goes to show you really can't judge people by their outside :)

On the flip side, someone who looked like they might be really nice, came up to the till and asked me what our cheapest bag of coffee beans was. My co-worker, Nik, found her a bag and she proceeded to say to us,

"It's not that I'm cheap. It's just...y'know when you are buying a present for someone you really hate? You just don't like them? You don't want to spend a lot."

Both Nik and I stared in amazement and wanted to be like, "Um...no"..

I even softly said, "Why would you get them anything?" I couldn't remember if I actually said that out loud or just in my head, I had to ask Nik if I actually did.
Weird. It was just weird.

Working near the mall over the holidays can be a rough situation, constantly being shown how Christmas has become such a commercialized, money-making holiday, but it's when you meet those people who, despite having to stand in enormously long line-ups and squirm their way around masses of people, still know how to smile and remember the real reason for the season.

Allow Me to Introduce My Coffee Shop Family...

I figure before I get any further, it might be a good time to tell you my side of the story. My “Coffee-shop Journey”, or as training would have me call it, my “Coffee-Shop experience,” had its own unique start...
“I will never EVER work at a coffee shop” ....Ok, so some starts can begin with reluctance.

Yes, I’ll admit I never wanted to be a coffee shop barista. Not only that, but I had only been to my coffee shop three times in my entire life and each time I ordered the same thing: something cold and without coffee.

Yes, it’s true. I’d also never drank a cup of coffee, even the smell turned me off.
And then there was the menu board. I’d stare up at what seemed like an endless amount of drink options and thought to myself, there’s no way I could ever remember all that (let alone all the drink modifiers, that I was currently unaware of). But soon enough the manager of a little coffee shop, romantically tucked away in a bookstore, was in need of some new hires, and seeing how I was in need of a job, somehow I convinced myself it was the perfect match.
I was calling out decaf, triple, tall, sugar-free vanilla, non-fat, wet, cappuccinos in no time.
Ok, I lie again....
It definitely took some time and a few overwhelming internal panic moments of, “what have I gotten myself into!?” But after the constant help from my training coaches, I felt set. On top of that they seemed like the most welcoming group of people I’d ever met. Let me introduce you to them, to whom I like to call my Coffee Shop Family.

First there was Claire. I clearly remember her complimenting me on my scarf, when I happened to come in (for my fourth visit ever) the day before my interview; back in the day when I was just a customer; when I was just “one of them.” Claire must be one of the most accommodating and considerate people I now know. On top of that, she’s also the only vegetarian I know. Not that that’s a big deal or anything; but it was when our hotdogs got mixed up at a work bbq, and I got my first delightful taste of tofu. Regardless, she’s a sweetheart. And sad to say, as I write this, she is no longer working at our store :(

Next there’s Ellie. I always compare or equate her with Audrey Hepburn; and you must know, I love Audrey Hepburn. Like Hepburn, she has this almost regal presence about her, (along with an intelligence that brings her straight A’s); not to mention I think she looks quite similar to Audrey, which is a compliment to say the least.

Kenzie. Probably one of the most compassionate people I’ve met. If you ever discuss something tragic going on, you can see the tears rise in her eyes. And I must mention her eyes. Everyone comments on what beautiful big eyes she has. People also continually ask if we are sisters, sometimes if we are even twins, even when we’re standing right next to each other!. So I guess that’s a compliment to my eyes as well. Although either of us think we look that much alike! But we’ve really become good friends, and I’m so thankful for that!

The guy who hasn’t come up with his alias name yet: quiet & pensive. I used to never be too sure what he’s thinking. And I used get quite nervous around him and feel like a complete and utter dumb blonde (no offensive made to those naturally blonde) with every question I asked, like I should know the answer by now. But to leave you with that description of “The guy who hasn’t come up with his alias name yet” would be far too incomplete. That was just the beginning...things are totally different now! We laugh a lot, I truly look forward to working with him!

And then there’s Hayley, who I was about to say is the baby sister of our family, but that has changed recently with the addition of two younger ones. She joined us when she was still in high school. There’s something about working with Hayley that puts me in the silliest mood ever, which is awesome cause it makes every ridiculously annoying customer somehow still seem funny and shifts go by way faster.

Marc-Joel. Where do I begin? Well I’d start with 20 questions. The day he began as my shift supervisor he wanted to know all about everything, like most importantly what movies do you watch? His favourite? Back to the Future. On top of that he is one of the funniest people you’ll ever meet.
Seriously, NEVER a DULL MOMENT.
And doesn’t make you feel stupid when you ask what seems to be a dumb question. Like the time I was reading my training manual and it told me where to store the ground COW. I stopped. Cow? We put ground cow in our coffee? This can’t be right! And thankfully it wasn’t...COW = Coffee Of the Week....all the vegetarians simultaneously breathe a sigh of relief.
Anyway, back to Marc-Joel. I always say he’s like the brother I never had, except...normally you wouldn’t get along half as well with your brother or think he’s half as charming.

Moving right along...
Nadine, she is our manager. We get to open together almost every Saturday morning...and let’s just say there is lots of singing that happens, and as lot of timing espresso (....and then drinking the espresso that we HAD to time...) She is definitely full of energy...and I love to stop and say that was the perfect “manager quote!” Lol.

And then there’s our newest addition to our coffee shop family, Esteban, as he would like to be called. I’m pretty sure that’s Spanish, which he is not...Hmmm, how to summarize Esteban? Well he likes ninjas and sometimes wants to fight a bear or eat hotdogs, and add random drink modifiers into calling drinks, or quote Elf with me. But mostly, he just makes me laugh. Oh and he doesn’t know much about John Mayer, but I somewhat successfully tried to change that...I will keep working at it. lol. He also gets way to excited when we are out of soy, which makes me sad...But, on the other hand, he fully supplied us with new boxes of tea that we were running out of, which is sweet, cause my favourite kind was almost extinct in our store! I can’t live without my white tea!

Then there’s our “newbees,” Stacy and Tamara. Stacy is great for laughing a lot. A lot, a lot. At a lot of things....which is fun. Funny story on that coming later. And Tamara, she is the tough but nice one ;p and my new little sister, which she didn’t like me saying at first. Lol. For good reason, but I changed that 

And then there’s Nik, note that it’s Nik with just a "K", not Ni"ck". He was clear on that. I’m never quite sure when he’s serious or when he’s just joking, or if he’s ever really sincere in the compliments he gives. Lol. But, no, he too is a lot of fun to work with. And is overly charming with all the customers, which they seem to like. Oh and sometimes he just starts laughing at me when I talk, and apparently finds my chattering entertaining because he wants to record it one day. Lol. I just take that all as a compliment.

So that is my Coffee Shop Family in a nut shell...or a coffee bean..sorry, that was just too lame. But too late. Lol.

Story time...I’ve decided there’s basically only two approaches to rude customers: approach #1: Give up entirely, and be only as civil as necessary. Or appraoch #2, my approach: “I am going to make you be nice to me!”, aka killing them with kindness....Take the Grande extra pump white mocha frappichino blended coffee for example. Every time she comes in it’s either one of, but most of the time two of three things: She’s either on her cell phone or so wrapped up in her boyfriend (which over the last six months three different guys have come, totally violated the PDA (public displays of affection) to the point where you want to yell or, and pretty much all the time she is masked behind sunglasses. Seriously, Corey Hart’s sunglasses at night could be the theme song of her life. I’m not sure she even has eyes...at least that was until I “broke” her. Yes, I, actually managed to get her to take her sunglasses off, not that I actually asked her to remove them but I tried my hardest to strike up even the smallest amount of small talk. As shallow as a conversation it may be, I just had to get through to her...and I did ! Even though, EVERY topic I tried she rained on with her pesimissim.

“It’s a beautiful day out today.” ... “And of course I have to work!” Seriously...there’s wasn’t one thing that she couldn’t find wrong! But that wasn’t the point...I was getting somewhere, she was talking to me, and now I knew she had eyes!

I’ve also decided to promise to end off every blog with something positive or funny, cause to just blog in order to complain about customers would be so lame...
This one was from a while ago, like maybe two years. But, still just as funny. Apparently maybe something wasn’t working well with our dishwasher one day because this young guy, with uber long hair, and talks like a surfer came up to the counter and displayed his in-store use (ceramic) cup to us and said, “Um, I don’t mean to complain dude, but there’s like some lipstick on the ceramic mug you served my coffee in. I’d take the blame for it, but y’know...it’s not really my shade.” What could I do but burst out laughing? You’ll learn that’s what I do about pretty much everything. Lol!

Coffee-less Coffee Shop

So I decided to try and keep notes of my day while at work. Cause honestly I'll have these crazy days, be so tired by the end of them that I completely forget what all happened by the end of my shift!
Saturdays are pretty busy at the store, especially as we draw closer to Christmas.
Let's just say we had a really rough start for a Saturday morning.
Problem #1: The coffee grinder broke! Try running a coffee shop with no coffee; I did, and it's no fun. Thankfully there is another Starbucks in close proximity to us, so my manager took the bags of coffee and ran down the hall to grind it, but that meant I was left alone at the store! Normally we get a rush of customers first thing Saturday morning but for some reason, some wonderfully blessed reason, we didn't!

Problem #2: While pouring the iced green tea, the tea bag broke the first time, and we let it overflow two times after that! We finally got it right by the fourth!

No tea. No coffee. Not a good start.

Then this lady's little son somehow dropped his mom's debit card in throuh the tiny ventihilation slots of the "ready to eat and drink" case at the front. How he did that, I'll never know! I tried to squish my hand through the tiny hole with no luck. However, Esteban (I will introduce you to all the staff in a blog coming soon) had the genius idea of wrapping tape around the end of a pen and then sliding it through,...it worked! and just in time too, the line was ever growing!

So I've promised myself I won't use this space to complain...too much. But here and there I must throw in, what I will call "How not to be an Annoying Customer 101" otherwise known as DBA 101 (Don't be Annoying 101)

Lesson #1: When your barista says "Hello, how are you?" it means they are greeting you and sincerly asking you how you are, this phrase does NOT equate to: What can I make you. That comes next. All you need to reply with is at least a "good, thank you." I would even settle for just the hello. You wouldn't believe the amount of customers who after I say 'hello, how are you?" simply respond with a drawn out, distracted response of, "I'll have a...." or even worse "I want..." it's in those moments I just want to stop and say 'I SAID, 'HELLO! HOW ARE YOU'?!" I can't and I don't; but I'd love to.

So I don't end off today with a downer...I will leave you with what I thought was a sweet quote from a customer. He's an elderly gentlemen who is a frequent customer at our location. When I asked him how his day was, he responded with "wonderful!" and I said, "really? That's great. I didn't expect that response, most people just say 'good.'" He then said, "Everyday, if I wake up, then it must be a wonderful day." How true is that. The very fact that we are just alive and breathing should make each day a wonderful day, nevermind whether you got a hot cup of coffee or not :)