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Looks like I ruffled a few feathers with my last blog post. I just like to reiterate here that I don't blame anyone for everything that has happened to me for the last few months. I made all the decisions that took me to where I am today and the fact is some of my decisions has had a negative and positive effect on me. Blaming anyone else for some of the bad things that occurred to me is like blaming MPSJ for giving me a parking ticket or getting mad at the bank for asking me to pay my bills. I should have known and planned better.
At the end of the day, it's all up to me. My decisions, my choice, my life. This blog is a journal of my life's journey. What I experience at that particular point in time and what I was thinking around that time. It is mostly personal so like it or not, it may involve my family, my colleagues and some of my closest friends. It is inevitable that I might hurt someone's feelings sometimes. If you think I'm wrong and what I said hurt you in anyway, I am sorry. Perhaps I should make this blog private and keep everything to myself and only make it public again when I die. Would you like that? Perhaps I should stop blogging altogether and revert to my old school journal ways like before.
Anyway, back to the present day. Today marks a new milestone in my life. The day I begin work as a Starbucks barista (cue fireworks & confetti . It is not the most glamorous or high paying job in the world but it will pay some of my bills and for once, I am not the loser in this family anymore.
I've had some experience in the fast food and customer service sector before. For four years, I was a part timer at McDonald's. I was also a cashier for another 2 years at IKEA Damansara. So working at Starbucks is not something entirely alien to me. I got the middle shift today. My store is not open until later next month so for the time being I'm stationed at one of the already opened stores in Seri Kembangan. The store manager there was kind enough to slot me in to her schedule and let me train at her store.
The first hour I did pretty much nothing. The manager was too busy doing her work that she didn't have the time to deal with me. I guess this is part of the module where you learn to be very patient. I think I handled that well.
Thankfully after an hour she finally got time to start training me. Today was most theory. I was kind of overwhelmed to learn that there are so many different type of coffee and drinks available at Starbucks. There's a few dozen standards one and many-many more customized coffee and drinks served at the store. But of course she said I don't have to know or memorize all of them at once. Slow and steady is the way to go. Besides, if a 17 year old can be a master in this why can't I? Yeah we have 'partners' as they call the crew/workers here from 17 to late 30s.
Today also I had my first taste of coffee frapuccino. Yes, that 14 ringgit drink that could feed me for a day with regular meal. As full time partners we get two free drinks per day and one free meal. I get to choose just about any drinks on the menu and one food item that costs less than RM7.90. That would go perfectly with my diet plan. Free drinks and fresh healthy, non-rice food. That said I have to go easy on the cold blended stuff because they're like one way ticket to obesity and diabetes. The amount of calories and sugar in them is unbelievable.
Starbucks is much different than McDonald's. We don't have any of those greasy burgers or fries, most of the food served here are like pastries, sandwiches, cakes and salads. While the food is limited in numbers, the amount of drinks and their variety is almost as many as all the menus at McDonald's. One thing I could say is working and serving the food at Starbucks is twice as difficult than regular fast food restaurants.
I think I had a good first day. The staffs and manager there were very friendly and helpful and were more than willing to teach me stuff around the store. Unlike my previous job at McDonald's which I spent most of my time lepaking in the kitchen, I had to stand and move around for like 7 hours straight which is okay by me since I do go jogging for about 1.5 kilometers every morning. So at least that has helped me in my new line of work.
Do I regret not accepting my previous employer's job offer? Absolutely no. Personally I think going back there is a step backward for me. Furthermore Starbucks has this policy of hiring internal staffs first for most of the support and administrative positions at the HQ. They will always circulate vacancies within the stores and hire inside people first before considering outsiders. And once I got my diploma next year, I think I'll have a good chance of getting into administrative work at HQ, hopefully. For now, let me concentrate on my job as a Starbucks barista.
This is like working at McDonald's 10 years all over again minus the hot grill and greasy fryers. This time it felt more like Ben and Fecility at Dean & Deluca sans the complicated love triangle. Let's hope I made the right choice and decision here. Here's to a start of something great.
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