Hi all!
Just to round it all off: I've quit Starbucks.
Various reasons, but the main one was that they couldn't offer me a job at the ARP (no budget, however, it's very strange I met a new barista when I came by for a visit :/ ...weird).
Anyways...that's a closed chapter :)
I still love Starbucks.
Paul has had a hip replaced on July 18th and because of my remark "I wish I could see the operation!", I started thinking that maybe I should do something with that feeling (because most peoples' reaction was EWW!!!).
Browsing the internet I found out that I was able to apply at various hospitals to train for the position of operating assistant! Strangely enough: my mother was operating assistant, BUT she had been a nurse for quite a number of years, which made me think that one had to be a nurse in order to be able to become an operating assistant: WRONG!!! Maybe this was the case in the past?
It's a high level education (HBO), just under university. Three years combining school and work, but the first 6 months is full time school after which one has to pass various exams to be able to continue.
Sooo, I applied at two hospitals in the vicinity. They both have different selection procedures. My first choice invites people for an interview after a selection of the application letters and the other one invites everyone for a selection day.
I have already been to an interview at the first one!!! Seven people were invited and there's only one job... Today (a week after the chat), I will receive a phone call either inviting me to the next step (an afternoon in the OR)...or not. This is done to make the final selection and will only be done with one or two applicants.
IT'S NAIL BITING TENSION!!!
IF I get selected, I may have to start another blog :)
Thank you for reading about my Starbucks "adventure"
Love,
Joanna
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Sunday, 29 May 2011
A day at the office :)
Another posting already?! Yes :) I'm not sooo tired anymore!
After having agreed upon going down to one day a week (until the Beethovenstraat opens), Helene wrote to me, asking whether I would like to do the second shift at the ARP (Amsterdam Roasting Plant) store.
I thought it would be nice to learn more about the company and agreed :)
THAT was a GOOD decision!
I was there waaaay too early (what's new) and the drive after having dropped Maeve off at school, went very smooth. Obviously, starting at 10:30 has the advantage of no serious traffic problems :D
The two ladies that were working at the time of my arrival were Photini (Greek lady - my age - store manager - has been away on maternity leave for one year) and Dorothea (Hungarian girl - 20-something), both whom I had never met.
Daniel followed soon after (we had the same shift times), but I'd met him before during training.
First, Photini brewed me a lovely tall sugar-free vanilla latte and I went upstairs to the offices to say "Hi" to the people I'd met when we were using the office building for training purposes.
When it was time to start my shift, Daniel, and later on Photini, took me on a round to all the areas I'd be using. After that, Dorothea was to show me the ropes and I was her shadow till she left at 15:00.
Don't think I needed much teaching, cause the only thing I couldn't do (but that had nothing to do with not being able to do so!), was using the till.
Funny thing is, after the 10 o'clock "let's-all-get-our-coffees" rush, ALL the employees use the espresso machine themselves if they want a warm drink! During lunch I did make a few cappuccinos, etc., but nothing really fancy. By the afternoon, when I volunteered to make the ordered Frappuccino, it turned out the coffee base was being pumped for the first time that day and by the time Daniel and I were cleaning everything, it had only been used that ONE time!!!
I won't bother you with a re-cap of the day, but I WILL tell you what a wonderful time I had there!
One of the big differences between the two stores is not so much that at the ARP canteen it's less hard work (there's a LOT more use of the dishwasher for instance!), but the atmosphere has a "we" feeling to it, instead of a customer/server one. That feeling made me feel at home right from the start.
Mayor difference: I wasn't dead tired when I was done for the day AND I didn't want to race back home either.
Who knows what the future holds in store for me...(oh, OK! HE does!!! :)
Love, health, happiness & blessings,
Sundae
After having agreed upon going down to one day a week (until the Beethovenstraat opens), Helene wrote to me, asking whether I would like to do the second shift at the ARP (Amsterdam Roasting Plant) store.
I thought it would be nice to learn more about the company and agreed :)
THAT was a GOOD decision!
I was there waaaay too early (what's new) and the drive after having dropped Maeve off at school, went very smooth. Obviously, starting at 10:30 has the advantage of no serious traffic problems :D
The two ladies that were working at the time of my arrival were Photini (Greek lady - my age - store manager - has been away on maternity leave for one year) and Dorothea (Hungarian girl - 20-something), both whom I had never met.
Daniel followed soon after (we had the same shift times), but I'd met him before during training.
First, Photini brewed me a lovely tall sugar-free vanilla latte and I went upstairs to the offices to say "Hi" to the people I'd met when we were using the office building for training purposes.
When it was time to start my shift, Daniel, and later on Photini, took me on a round to all the areas I'd be using. After that, Dorothea was to show me the ropes and I was her shadow till she left at 15:00.
Don't think I needed much teaching, cause the only thing I couldn't do (but that had nothing to do with not being able to do so!), was using the till.
Funny thing is, after the 10 o'clock "let's-all-get-our-coffees" rush, ALL the employees use the espresso machine themselves if they want a warm drink! During lunch I did make a few cappuccinos, etc., but nothing really fancy. By the afternoon, when I volunteered to make the ordered Frappuccino, it turned out the coffee base was being pumped for the first time that day and by the time Daniel and I were cleaning everything, it had only been used that ONE time!!!
I won't bother you with a re-cap of the day, but I WILL tell you what a wonderful time I had there!
One of the big differences between the two stores is not so much that at the ARP canteen it's less hard work (there's a LOT more use of the dishwasher for instance!), but the atmosphere has a "we" feeling to it, instead of a customer/server one. That feeling made me feel at home right from the start.
Mayor difference: I wasn't dead tired when I was done for the day AND I didn't want to race back home either.
Who knows what the future holds in store for me...(oh, OK! HE does!!! :)
Love, health, happiness & blessings,
Sundae
Thursday, 26 May 2011
A twist of fate
Hi all!
Well, it's been a while, so you definitively deserve a post, right? :)
To be honest, during my first few days of work (ALL public holidays!), I was sure I'd died and gone to H*LL. My mind was telling me it was bound to become better once everybody - including myself - would get into the flow, but my heart screamed to abandon ship.
On my second morning, Jeroen (one of the assistant store managers or shift supervisors - I'm not quite sure which) asked me what my thoughts on the previous day (Easter Sunday) were and I told him I was still thinking about that...
Why? As previously mentioned, the store is extremely busy and there is hardly any way to connect to people (either customers or partners - Starbucks colleagues) which was the reason to start working in the first place.
The process of learning (which takes longer if you only work 2 days a week) AND the fact that just about every day, previous agreements (on numerous things!) would change again, made working very energy draining.
Now we're into the third week when the following happened:
Combined with a) Aunt Flo's visit b) Mother's Day (which, due to "a" made me miss my mum badly) c) having received an e-mail the day before, stating that our Beethovenstraat store opening is postponed two months, made me break down during my lunch break.
I practically ran out the door with tears already streaming down my cheeks and spent all of my time crying on the phone with Paul (poor guy!).
To tell you the truth: had it been during my trial period, I would have left there and then. Or, knowing me: I would have told the person in charge and finished my shift with a heavy load lifted from my shoulders :)
Back in the store, my red eyes betrayed my feelings and unfortunately everybody was so sweet and asked me if I was OK... BAD!!! It only made me cry more and I just told everybody to ignore me and that I would be back to normal real soon! Which obviously happened soon after, with the help of some ice cubes that I held under my eyes! :)
After some time, that horrible feeling left and during my 10 minute break I was able to let Paul know that I was doing better.
I knew I had to have a chat with Helene (one of the store managers and the one who, together with the HR manager, hired me) and about a week later, she pulled me out of the busy (what's new?!) store for a heart to heart.
She really made me feel I was a valuable partner and asked me what she could do to make things smoother. We agreed upon bringing down my contract to one day a week and not scheduling me every weekend, but every other week at max (at Paul's request :)
She understood my disappointment concerning the postponement of the opening of the store I had initially applied at and hinted that I would most probably be asked to go there. Helene has a very intuitive personality, people wise, and I guess she felt I'd leave if I'd be asked to stay at the Leidsestraat store.
Now for the twist of fate :D
A few days after our talk, Helene asked me if I would be interested in working one of my shifts at the Starbucks store in the office!!!
Starbucks ARP - Amsterdam Roasting Plant - has a little store in the canteen of the office and we have had part of our training there. It's a little different, with more variety of food for all the partners and as Helene stated, I would be able to "re-connect with coffee" and "meet up with the office people I'd met during training" :D
I was very happy that I would still be working two days (otherwise the money is hardly worth the trouble) and I'm really looking forward to seeing how things are run at Sloterdijk.
Tomorrow's my first day (Friday May 27th) and I'll work from 10:30 to 18:30, which means I'll be closing. By coincidence, Daniel (an Australian guy that works at the ARP store and who I met during training) came by yesterday and when asked if he was scheduled for Friday, because I'd be working there, replied: "Oh yeah! We'll be closing together!".
Will be taking the car and on the look out for careless bus drivers...
Good! On Fridays, we can sleep late, because Maeve doesn't need to be at school at 08:30 but 50 minutes later, so tomorrow I'll drop her off and drive to work.
Need to go shut my eyes (after reading a bit :) so I'm through withyou writing!
Blessings, sweet friends!
Sundae
Well, it's been a while, so you definitively deserve a post, right? :)
To be honest, during my first few days of work (ALL public holidays!), I was sure I'd died and gone to H*LL. My mind was telling me it was bound to become better once everybody - including myself - would get into the flow, but my heart screamed to abandon ship.
On my second morning, Jeroen (one of the assistant store managers or shift supervisors - I'm not quite sure which) asked me what my thoughts on the previous day (Easter Sunday) were and I told him I was still thinking about that...
Why? As previously mentioned, the store is extremely busy and there is hardly any way to connect to people (either customers or partners - Starbucks colleagues) which was the reason to start working in the first place.
The process of learning (which takes longer if you only work 2 days a week) AND the fact that just about every day, previous agreements (on numerous things!) would change again, made working very energy draining.
Now we're into the third week when the following happened:
Combined with a) Aunt Flo's visit b) Mother's Day (which, due to "a" made me miss my mum badly) c) having received an e-mail the day before, stating that our Beethovenstraat store opening is postponed two months, made me break down during my lunch break.
I practically ran out the door with tears already streaming down my cheeks and spent all of my time crying on the phone with Paul (poor guy!).
To tell you the truth: had it been during my trial period, I would have left there and then. Or, knowing me: I would have told the person in charge and finished my shift with a heavy load lifted from my shoulders :)
Back in the store, my red eyes betrayed my feelings and unfortunately everybody was so sweet and asked me if I was OK... BAD!!! It only made me cry more and I just told everybody to ignore me and that I would be back to normal real soon! Which obviously happened soon after, with the help of some ice cubes that I held under my eyes! :)
After some time, that horrible feeling left and during my 10 minute break I was able to let Paul know that I was doing better.
I knew I had to have a chat with Helene (one of the store managers and the one who, together with the HR manager, hired me) and about a week later, she pulled me out of the busy (what's new?!) store for a heart to heart.
She really made me feel I was a valuable partner and asked me what she could do to make things smoother. We agreed upon bringing down my contract to one day a week and not scheduling me every weekend, but every other week at max (at Paul's request :)
She understood my disappointment concerning the postponement of the opening of the store I had initially applied at and hinted that I would most probably be asked to go there. Helene has a very intuitive personality, people wise, and I guess she felt I'd leave if I'd be asked to stay at the Leidsestraat store.
Now for the twist of fate :D
A few days after our talk, Helene asked me if I would be interested in working one of my shifts at the Starbucks store in the office!!!
Starbucks ARP - Amsterdam Roasting Plant - has a little store in the canteen of the office and we have had part of our training there. It's a little different, with more variety of food for all the partners and as Helene stated, I would be able to "re-connect with coffee" and "meet up with the office people I'd met during training" :D
I was very happy that I would still be working two days (otherwise the money is hardly worth the trouble) and I'm really looking forward to seeing how things are run at Sloterdijk.
Tomorrow's my first day (Friday May 27th) and I'll work from 10:30 to 18:30, which means I'll be closing. By coincidence, Daniel (an Australian guy that works at the ARP store and who I met during training) came by yesterday and when asked if he was scheduled for Friday, because I'd be working there, replied: "Oh yeah! We'll be closing together!".
Will be taking the car and on the look out for careless bus drivers...
Good! On Fridays, we can sleep late, because Maeve doesn't need to be at school at 08:30 but 50 minutes later, so tomorrow I'll drop her off and drive to work.
Need to go shut my eyes (after reading a bit :) so I'm through with
Blessings, sweet friends!
Sundae
Friday, 29 April 2011
And THIS is how it was...
Phew...that's the word for it...
I've worked on Easter Sunday and Monday and it was BUSY!!!
Busy? Busy?! Busy!
My partners and I were actually looking around, totally in shock, the extremely few times that there wasn't a queue!!! And at the same time, we realized that we had to run to re-stock!
If my perception is right, I think more than 90% of our customers were tourists who were already familiar with - at least the name - Starbucks.
Menu items were ordered, but it did strike me as odd, that some didn't want their drink if it had whipped cream, for instance, and wanted the same beverage without the cream.
One would think that, ordering straight from the menu without maybe asking for advice, people would be familiar with what they're ordering!
Also found out that my countrymen are difficult-to-please customers: large groups all calling out their choices at the same time, changing orders AFTER payment, complaining about a) waiting b) correctly made orders c) not being understood (they hardly speak anything else but Italian!) and d) "fill in the blank".
I was ashamed.
My station was mostly CB (cold beverages) and my work mainly consisted of cooperating with a partner in making our famous Frappuccinos by adding the suitable amount of ice in the blender pitchers (before the base & taste syrups are pumped in by my colleague), blending the mix and pouring it into the right cup.
My only direct contact with customers was during my time as line caller (the one who calls to the cup marker what beverage has to be prepared) and that's also were the "problem" lies: my talents are not being exploited.
I certainly hope that I can use my communicative talents in the Beethovenstraat, otherwise I'm afraid I'm not going to be doing this for a very long time!
Now it's time for me to turn in. It's only 21:40, but my alarm clock will be screaming at me at 05:00 :S
Tomorrow's Queens Day here in The Netherlands, which means our capital will be flooded with people of which a percentage will drink too much booze and will end up puking in the streets.
To be totally honest: I utterly hate Koninginnedag!!!!!!!
We usually stay home and watch the royal family on television, visiting a gorgeous town somewhere in this country.
I'm happy my shift starts at 07:30 and my only problem will be getting through the masses on the way back home...
Welterusten!
Sundae
I've worked on Easter Sunday and Monday and it was BUSY!!!
Busy? Busy?! Busy!
My partners and I were actually looking around, totally in shock, the extremely few times that there wasn't a queue!!! And at the same time, we realized that we had to run to re-stock!
If my perception is right, I think more than 90% of our customers were tourists who were already familiar with - at least the name - Starbucks.
Menu items were ordered, but it did strike me as odd, that some didn't want their drink if it had whipped cream, for instance, and wanted the same beverage without the cream.
One would think that, ordering straight from the menu without maybe asking for advice, people would be familiar with what they're ordering!
Also found out that my countrymen are difficult-to-please customers: large groups all calling out their choices at the same time, changing orders AFTER payment, complaining about a) waiting b) correctly made orders c) not being understood (they hardly speak anything else but Italian!) and d) "fill in the blank".
I was ashamed.
My station was mostly CB (cold beverages) and my work mainly consisted of cooperating with a partner in making our famous Frappuccinos by adding the suitable amount of ice in the blender pitchers (before the base & taste syrups are pumped in by my colleague), blending the mix and pouring it into the right cup.
My only direct contact with customers was during my time as line caller (the one who calls to the cup marker what beverage has to be prepared) and that's also were the "problem" lies: my talents are not being exploited.
I certainly hope that I can use my communicative talents in the Beethovenstraat, otherwise I'm afraid I'm not going to be doing this for a very long time!
Now it's time for me to turn in. It's only 21:40, but my alarm clock will be screaming at me at 05:00 :S
Tomorrow's Queens Day here in The Netherlands, which means our capital will be flooded with people of which a percentage will drink too much booze and will end up puking in the streets.
To be totally honest: I utterly hate Koninginnedag!!!!!!!
We usually stay home and watch the royal family on television, visiting a gorgeous town somewhere in this country.
I'm happy my shift starts at 07:30 and my only problem will be getting through the masses on the way back home...
Welterusten!
Sundae
Saturday, 23 April 2011
Tomorrow...C-day! (Coffee Day :)
Hi family, friends, countrymen & foreigners!
Well, tomorrow's the BIG DAY: I will be part of the team serving legitimate :) customers.
No idea what will be my station! It could be:
- p.o.s. (point of service - cash register)
- cup caller (the one who marks the cups and calls out to the bar which beverage needs to be made)
if it's not busy, these two stations can easily be combined
- bar (hot drinks)
- c.b.s. (cold beverage station - cold drinks DUH!)
obviously, these two can also be manned by one person at non-peak hours
- something else?
I'm rather nervous about it, to tell you the truth :/
p.o.s. training wasn't possible (due to software problems) at the times that I was assigned to it when we'd invited customers to come in and "be our guinea pigs". I could dedicate all my time to advising and cup marking.
Last Wednesday (the day before the official opening), we had Family Event Day for which we could bring someone along to show the store, sample coffee (and more!) and introduce colleagues.
I picked up Maeve from school and took her along. There was a meeting first, so I put her in a corner of the store and made her do homework :D
During the meeting, last minute questions were answered and points of improvement discussed, after which Helene (one of the two store managers) handed out flowers to key people.
Sooo many have put in an amazing amount of hours to get everything in order in time and you could see the lack of energy on peoples' faces.
Thank goodness we're borrowing three "star-team" partners from the UK (Mark), US (Ryan) and France (Olivier) for three weeks to help us get on our way!!!
The store was packed during the event (it was the second edition of three that day) and it was fun to see Maeve actually sampling coffee at Jeroen's table. She enjoyed it, especially with the caramel/nut cake that was offered as a food-pairing with this type of coffee :D
We then got a tall Strawberry Cream Frappuccino for her and a tall Raspberry Blended Fruit Juice. For insiders: S / CRM and RJ ;)
I think I'll go over the recipes one more time tonight...or maybe not... aaarghh!
Everybody was sooo sweet to Maeve :) THANK YOU LOVELY PARTNERS!!!
We were also offered champagne with a (verrrry sweet) pink cake pop and we got to raise our glasses with the president of Starbucks EMEA, Rich Nelsen.
On our last day of training, Silvi'd also noticed my talents concerning customer communication and we talked a bit about the possibility of these being put to use in the other store that's going to be opened within a few month's time. That store (in the Beethovenstraat) is expected to become more of a social gathering spot with a great deal of regular customers.
We'll just have to wait and see how things are going!
Finishing off by wishing everybody a blessed Easter (yes, He lives!),
I remain, faithfully yours,
Sundae
Well, tomorrow's the BIG DAY: I will be part of the team serving legitimate :) customers.
No idea what will be my station! It could be:
- p.o.s. (point of service - cash register)
- cup caller (the one who marks the cups and calls out to the bar which beverage needs to be made)
if it's not busy, these two stations can easily be combined
- bar (hot drinks)
- c.b.s. (cold beverage station - cold drinks DUH!)
obviously, these two can also be manned by one person at non-peak hours
- something else?
I'm rather nervous about it, to tell you the truth :/
p.o.s. training wasn't possible (due to software problems) at the times that I was assigned to it when we'd invited customers to come in and "be our guinea pigs". I could dedicate all my time to advising and cup marking.
Last Wednesday (the day before the official opening), we had Family Event Day for which we could bring someone along to show the store, sample coffee (and more!) and introduce colleagues.
I picked up Maeve from school and took her along. There was a meeting first, so I put her in a corner of the store and made her do homework :D
During the meeting, last minute questions were answered and points of improvement discussed, after which Helene (one of the two store managers) handed out flowers to key people.
Sooo many have put in an amazing amount of hours to get everything in order in time and you could see the lack of energy on peoples' faces.
Thank goodness we're borrowing three "star-team" partners from the UK (Mark), US (Ryan) and France (Olivier) for three weeks to help us get on our way!!!
The store was packed during the event (it was the second edition of three that day) and it was fun to see Maeve actually sampling coffee at Jeroen's table. She enjoyed it, especially with the caramel/nut cake that was offered as a food-pairing with this type of coffee :D
We then got a tall Strawberry Cream Frappuccino for her and a tall Raspberry Blended Fruit Juice. For insiders: S / CRM and RJ ;)
I think I'll go over the recipes one more time tonight...or maybe not... aaarghh!
Everybody was sooo sweet to Maeve :) THANK YOU LOVELY PARTNERS!!!
We were also offered champagne with a (verrrry sweet) pink cake pop and we got to raise our glasses with the president of Starbucks EMEA, Rich Nelsen.
On our last day of training, Silvi'd also noticed my talents concerning customer communication and we talked a bit about the possibility of these being put to use in the other store that's going to be opened within a few month's time. That store (in the Beethovenstraat) is expected to become more of a social gathering spot with a great deal of regular customers.
We'll just have to wait and see how things are going!
Finishing off by wishing everybody a blessed Easter (yes, He lives!),
I remain, faithfully yours,
Sundae
Friday, 15 April 2011
Phew, it's a lot to learn!
Sorry it took so long :(
I have been overwhelmed by all the knowledge and my body is protesting from time to time!
Wow, never thought I'd feel stupid in not being able to get all that information in my head quickly enough. I'm not the dumbest, right?
I passed all my tests (even though I'd missed 2 days of training), so it's not bad, but I get really stressed for not knowing all the recipes yet and for not being able to find the orders on the cash register fast enough for my own liking :/
When I lay my head down to rest, the mochas, lattes and frappuccinos are buzzing around so loud, that I have trouble falling asleep.
Silvi (our assistant store manager) is sooo patient with all of us and when we get something wrong or get a black-out (in my case my brain screams "black-out" whenever I hear the word "mocha"!), she gently nudges us in the right direction :) We are very lucky to have her as our trainer!
She's always in for a laugh too, which really helps lighten the atmosphere :D
Introducing my team (the blue team), we have:
Silvi (Indonesian, assistant store-manager)
Angie (British, shift supervisor)
Mina (Dutch, student, barista)
Hania (Polish, student, barista)
Robert (Dutch, barista)
and undersigned (Dutch/Italian, homemaker, barista :)
Nice international group, right! I feel so at home in this ambience.
The plan is for us to all speak Dutch, but we all tend to switch to English.
Only Andrew (US, district manager) is very consequent in speaking Dutch and I must compliment him for the fact that he's managing quite nicely in this horrible-to-learn language!
I have two days off now (if you can speak of "day off" when being a fulltime homemaker too...) and have LOTS to do, so I'm signing off :)
Blessings & mocha love!
(Brainwashing has begun...)
Sundae
Saturday, 9 April 2011
Day three (the part you missed because I was too tired to write :)
Day three started off with me being at the office nice 'n early (45 mins to spare), becoming 007
and catching the last part of the speeches done by the visiting presidents.
We also learned that Starbucks lost one of it's partners in the Japan earthquake/tsunami. The store she worked in as a part-time shift supervisor was destroyed and will be rebuilt in time. Lots of branches have substantial damage, but I'm relieved to have heard all partners will be receiving salary as normal, whether they are working or not.
Both Starbucks global and Starbucks Japan have donated large amounts to the Japanese Red Cross and if I understood correctly, in every branch, partners (and customers) can donate to aid the Starbucks families affected.
Now THIS is a company I'm proud to be a part of!!!
Then the rest of my team arrived and we all waited till the end of the speeches/questions for us to resume our training. We needed the canteen area, you see :)
As we were preparing everything for our first coffee tasting of the day (House Blend, French Roast, Kenya & Sumatra), Lucy (responsible for the Starbucks Experience part) came in to join us and to finish what she had started the day before.
She also answered the questions some of us posted on the board and I was thrilled that my question - even though I'd heard from Angie (my shift supervisor) that the answer WOULD be negative - got a positive answer:
As an exception - being the starting team - we WILL be given a tour of the roasting plant!!!
I remember visiting the roasting plant my uncle Chris had on Tenerife, and I thoroughly enjoyed that :D
Silvi (the assistant store manager) continued our training and by the end of our long day, we all had prepared the espressos needed as a base for 85% (I'm guessing!) of our products and made frothed milk. The latter is soooo much easier than both Angie and I had learned previously, as the machines are well designed! The pipe that steams up the milk is NOT hot and weird enough, the steam isn't either...
However, the milk obviously DOES heat up and there's a built-in safety for the temperature, so we don't destroy the proteins.
I must admit, that everything taught after 22:00 hasn't stuck well and I only remember fragments :)
We finished with the sampling of the 10 teas Starbucks has and it's funny to see that (just as with the coffee) everybody has his/her likes and dislikes.
The Rooibos was a big hit!
I'd been filling my tumbler with that one on the days before, so it certainly is my favourite (at least in the afternoon!).
At 23:05, we all rushed out as my partners had to catch the last bus going from the office to the Sloterdijk station.
Then...I got stuck in an awful traffic jam and it took me double the time to drive home :S
Welcome to working outside the home again...
Sooo, now you're up to speed and I can get ready to celebrate my sister-in-law's 40th wedding anniversary which will be held in the Arnhem Zoo (Burger's Zoo).
Have a great weekend!!!
Sundae
 |
| :) |
and catching the last part of the speeches done by the visiting presidents.
We also learned that Starbucks lost one of it's partners in the Japan earthquake/tsunami. The store she worked in as a part-time shift supervisor was destroyed and will be rebuilt in time. Lots of branches have substantial damage, but I'm relieved to have heard all partners will be receiving salary as normal, whether they are working or not.
Both Starbucks global and Starbucks Japan have donated large amounts to the Japanese Red Cross and if I understood correctly, in every branch, partners (and customers) can donate to aid the Starbucks families affected.
Now THIS is a company I'm proud to be a part of!!!
Then the rest of my team arrived and we all waited till the end of the speeches/questions for us to resume our training. We needed the canteen area, you see :)
As we were preparing everything for our first coffee tasting of the day (House Blend, French Roast, Kenya & Sumatra), Lucy (responsible for the Starbucks Experience part) came in to join us and to finish what she had started the day before.
She also answered the questions some of us posted on the board and I was thrilled that my question - even though I'd heard from Angie (my shift supervisor) that the answer WOULD be negative - got a positive answer:
As an exception - being the starting team - we WILL be given a tour of the roasting plant!!!
I remember visiting the roasting plant my uncle Chris had on Tenerife, and I thoroughly enjoyed that :D
Silvi (the assistant store manager) continued our training and by the end of our long day, we all had prepared the espressos needed as a base for 85% (I'm guessing!) of our products and made frothed milk. The latter is soooo much easier than both Angie and I had learned previously, as the machines are well designed! The pipe that steams up the milk is NOT hot and weird enough, the steam isn't either...
However, the milk obviously DOES heat up and there's a built-in safety for the temperature, so we don't destroy the proteins.
 |
| Espressos!!! |
I must admit, that everything taught after 22:00 hasn't stuck well and I only remember fragments :)
We finished with the sampling of the 10 teas Starbucks has and it's funny to see that (just as with the coffee) everybody has his/her likes and dislikes.
The Rooibos was a big hit!
I'd been filling my tumbler with that one on the days before, so it certainly is my favourite (at least in the afternoon!).
At 23:05, we all rushed out as my partners had to catch the last bus going from the office to the Sloterdijk station.
Then...I got stuck in an awful traffic jam and it took me double the time to drive home :S
Welcome to working outside the home again...
Sooo, now you're up to speed and I can get ready to celebrate my sister-in-law's 40th wedding anniversary which will be held in the Arnhem Zoo (Burger's Zoo).
Have a great weekend!!!
Sundae
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)