I've been making coffee for about a year now, and while I am not very good, I do try to do my best. I am patient and careful, only rarely making mistakes, though they do happen. Recently I've begun to experience increased pressure from my boss. I work in a kiosk inside of a Safeway. The customers treat us like ****, and although we are friendly and relatively consistent in our drink quality, people manage to ****. They will find a reason.
Today our closer called in sick. Our hours were cut this week, I've gone from 30 down to 20 and yet our new hire has 24 hours. I shrugged it off and allowed for the fact that our business hasn't been very good the last few months, owing in no small part to our managers incessant blundering. We also recently 'lost' one of our oldest employee's, an individual who helped me continue in my pursuit to make coffee. She was written up for a number of inane issues. Our SBux manager wanted her gone.
As I was saying, our closer called in sick and at first it appeared as though I Would be closing, which is nothing unusual. I am prepared. I am the best closer we have now, which is distressing to say the least. However, store management was able to find someone to cover the shift.
Our newest hire. She had not been trained on closing and our other closer is absolutely awful anyway, and she has been given several nights training, which has never been enough in my opinion. You cannot address all of the issues that may arise from closing.
I was given 30 minutes to train this new barista. We were busy the entire time. A 'Church Rush' which our Sbux manager never schedules anyone to help with. It's a simple matter of bringing someone in 2 hours earlier or having someone stay 2 hours longer. So I was stressed out from an endless tide of church goers bombarding me with requests for Caramel Frappacino's...which I abhore. By the time my co-worked arrived I was frustrated...our rush continued. I Was unable to give her the time we needed to develop a strategy so she might close with some modicum of efficiency, at least to the point where the opener would not be royally ****.
Several women came up to the Kiosk and I said to them "You want two caramel frappacino's". They Marveled at my display of clairvoyance, little did they suspect that every fat cow wants 'their' caramel frappacino. Plus a shot of espresso in each frappacino. Our coffee base ran out and we had to make more. I neglected to tell them and I Suspect I was a bit too brief with them. I probably came off as being rather rude. I've been angry with myself the entire day for that.
A persons weight has nothing to do with their personality. Those two women could have been extraordinary individuals. I'll never know, because they became tired of waiting and walked out of the store just before we finished making the drinks. I had explained to them in passing that I was training my co-worker to close, I tend to be rather honest and forthright with people in such matters, so they understand to remain patient.
So, having lost all time that had been meant to teach someone how to close our kiosk, and it was wasted for now reason. By the end of my shift I Was absolutely livid. I am still angry and I'm not sure I have any right to. Certainly it was an impromptu situation and given the time constraint, frustration is inevitable save for those who have a steel, unshakeable calm. I do not. After clocking off I went back to the kiosk and continued teaching her how to close. She probably got the basics down just fine. She's a clever girl, I have trust in her ability. However, I don't know how much longer I can handle being in an environment that so easily damages my calm.
I'm worried that my frustration and anxiety over my job security may very well cost me my job. I work hard and I try very hard to maintain a happy, welcoming environment...but my boss is a ****. A selfish, arrogant ****.
When my old co-worker was forced to leave I am told that the conversation she had with our manager was rather...well I am rather upset over it. He established his claim that he carried all the weight in our kiosk and that he alone was picking up the slack. I find myself in a position where I am picking up an increasing about of slack and it is coming from him. I am picking up what he had dropped off on my favorite co-worker. I'm so tired and frustrated right now. I needed to get this out. I Don't have anyone to talk to anymore. Staying on with this job means eventually pissing someone off.
I can't decide if that's a bad thing or not.
