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
Sunday, 29 May 2011
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
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