Working at Starbucks - was one of the best experiences I have ever had in my life. No regrets, indeed.
One afternoon, I checked my phone and I realized that I'd gotten two missed-calls from an unknown number. I didn't call back immediately because I was thinking that if it's really important they would call me back. lol but anyway, I asked my mom to call the number back as I wasn't able to use my phone at the moment (I was working at another restaurant). To my surprise, it was a call from Starbucks! They asked me to go for an interview. omg I couldn't describe the feeling I had when I got the news. I was surprised and yet, excited! Later on, I made an appointment with the manager for the interview.
Needless to say, I was really nervous to get ready for the interview. I didn't know what to prepare for it. Anyhow I googled about Starbucks and found something really interesting and useful for the interview. There were people giving advice on the interviews as a Starbucks barista since they had been through that. There's one common thing from each advice, you don't really have to get ready with anything. Because the questions they're gonna ask are mostly about common sense and some real life situations. What they wanted from the interviewees was the way they handle the situations. The manager who interviewed me, her name was Sarah. She didn't really look friendly at first because she rarely smiled. But after a few questions she did and she told me not to be nervous. I guess the nervousness was kinda obvious on my face, wasn't it? Anyway the interview lasted for almost an hour. So many questions had been asked! But well, I did answer all of them very honestly. I think I did well hmm. The only question that I was very sure they would ask was, "why do you want to work in Starbucks, as a barista?" and my answer was, "because I want to know more about Starbucks. I want to know how every single drink is made here as I'm one loyal Starbucks customer myself." I wasn't sure if my answer was convincing enough but that was the sincerest answer I could give. That's the true reason why I wanted to work in Starbucks.
After the interview, Sarah asked me to come to the store next week for the "first impression" session. I had no idea about what's gonna happen, I thought that it was something like ice-breaking. But, it wasn't. I was given an envelope with some books in it. Barista learning journals, the green apron book etc. Sarah explained to me about the history of Starbucks and the rules and regulations applied for a barista. I must say, the book was thick with a few thousands of words. Anyway, I read through all of them when I got home though.
20 February was my very first day to put on the uniform - a black tee, a pair of black long khakis, black socks, black shoes, black cap and lastly, the green apron. Besides, we were not allowed to put on any accessories such as watches, earrings, bracelets and necklaces. On the first day, I wasn't able to make drinks yet. This was understandable. I was asked to do sliding - walking around the cafe to clean the tables. On a side note, I was so happy that my friends came to visit me on my first day! Thank you karyee and ginnie! :D I wanted to make drinks so badly but well I kept reminding myself to be patient as the day would surely come really soon.
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| Green Tea Latte & Green Tea Cream - my favourites! |
Before I could really make drinks, I had to study. And by study I mean I had to memorize the markings for each drink and the recipes of making the beverages. I wrote down all the notes in my barista learning journal and studied them after work. And in just two weeks, I was able to make all the cold beverages already! I was so happy hehe most of my colleagues there addressed me as a fast-learner. But in fact, I was not. I was just ... erm maybe ... a little bit hardworking. Anyway, later on, after the bar class, I got to make hot beverages. The espresso machine "La Marzocco" was an interesting machine. I was so glad that our machine wasn't the same as the ones in most of the other stores in Malaysia. This machine we had was more to a manual kind of machine. We had to pull the espresso shots and stamp the powder manually. Unlike the new espresso machine, the coffee made by our machine tasted better according to our customers. Learning about making beverages with the espresso machine was kind of a new skill to me. Besides that, I got to learn to make latte art! And soon I fell in love with it. I always enjoyed making latte because I wanted to make the art even though I didn't succeed every time. But when I did, I would be soooo happy and my day would be made. There were customers whom saw my art and smiled, and after all that's what mattered the most. :)
Customer service - one thing that is strongly emphasized in the f&b (food and beverage) industry. I'm glad I learned a lot about it. Serving customers wasn't just about the amount of money we received, it was all about making someone's day better. We shouldn't prioritize our tasks over customers' needs. Customers always come first in this industry. We're not given a chance to complain about our customers no matter how bad or rude they are. Instead, we must fulfill their requests and try our best to make it as good as we can. I had to admit that most of the customers there were nice and friendly. But of course, there was also some who weren't that nice. I could actually recognize the regular customers there and address them by name once they walked into the store. This was an achievement to me. Some customers really appreciated it when I could remember their names by writing them down on the cups without asking them. They were even happier when we could remember their drinks. (some customers did order the same beverage every single time they visited the store) After some time, I finally understood what customer service was really about. I realized that my mood got lifted up after talking to the customers or just by smiling at them. Their smiles and greetings made my day. Never think customers as a disturbance. This was one of the never's in the list for a Starbucks barista. Whenever I had a bad day or didn't feel like smiling, I would think in another perspective - do I want to be treated this way if I was a customer? - NO. So I did what I was supposed to.
Alright, now let's talk about the colleagues I met there. If I was allowed to use only a word to describe them it would definitely be AWESOME. They were beyond awesome, in fact. They were the best colleagues I could ever ask for. Friendly, helpful, hardworking, cheerful ... they were definitely a bunch of nice people you could make friends with. I was new but they didn't treat me differently. In fact, they taught me a lot. They would find an absolute answer to all of my questions every time. Moreover, they never failed to make me laugh. Working time wasn't boring at all with them around. I really enjoyed working there a lot. To be honest, every single time somebody asked me about my job, I would say it's fun and enjoyable. I always give positive comments about it. Well, they were true ... they were spoken from the bottom of my heart.
I feel so lucky ... so lucky to have an opportunity to be one of the partners in Starbucks. Although I didn't work for a long time (only 5 months), it was definitely something that I will never ever forget. I did work in an office once after graduating from Form 5, and I knew it wasn't something I wanted to do again. So, this time I insisted to work in f&b as I knew it would definitely be very interesting and challenging. I was right. I had no regrets at all. I'm so proud to say that I was once a Starbucks barista. I will surely recommend my friends and family members to work as a barista whenever they have long holidays. I was very benefited working there as I learned a lot and I can say, I grew up a lot. I realized that I have changed, changed for good, of course. I'm able to talk to strangers now, even though it's the first time we meet. Like, I'm not that shy to voice out my opinions anymore. I learn to understand and respect others more. Plus, I know how to cooperate with others better. If I could turn back time, I would undoubtedly work as a Starbucks barista again.
