Friday, April 20, 2007

No more poopy.

I only chose that title for this entry because I want everyone to know that I will no longer clean up dookie at work. I write that here in this blog that no one will ever read, but I know that it's not true. Unfortunately, one of the shitty (pun intended duh) aspects of this job is that I really have no choice in the matter when it comes to poop. If it's there have to clean it up. I get mad though, when I'm, supervising and someone else on the shift has been assigned the job of cleaning the bathrooms (we have to do it once during every shift) and they go in, come out two seconds later and tell me that there's shit everywhere, expecting me to then absorb the task of scrubbing it off the walls just because I'm in charge of the shift. It seems strange that I have enough experience with this sort of thing to merit me even writing about it, but I can assure you that I deal with a shitty bathroom at least a couple times every month. Our cafe's pretty large I think. We have three fucking bathrooms. We serve coffee!! Some people just use our bathrooms for their morning shit. They don't even buy coffee. I know a couple of the garbage guys do it. I guess that's okay. At least they work hard and have to smell far shittier things than I do all day. But then there are some customers who come in every day to get coffee and take a huge smelly dump. I see them and I know that if I could just get up the nerve to refuse them service one morning, then maybe their bowels wouldn't be prompted to explode so soon in a place where I have to clean it up/. I mean, come on guys, save it for the office!! There is this story that I have that involves more dookie than you can shake a stick at. I've been waiting for the perfect time to write about it. I have to be in a specific mood, and I have to be awake and coherent enough to write it well so that you'll feel just an ounce of my pain.
I'll give you a little taste- this guy one time crapped all over the bathroom and spread it on the walls and mirror and sink with his hands (which he didn't wash afterwards just so you know). He was drunk and it was at nighttime. I hate him. We had to call the police. I'll tell you more juicy stuff some other time. love dani

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

MTV thinks we're boring!

Well folks, sorry to dissappoint, but it looks like you won't be seeing any of Cafe Nasty on the small screen anytime soon. I honestly am a little disappointed. It would've been fun to watch some of my lamer co-workers duke it out over random, stupid things. Now that Jane is gone, so is a lot of the in-store drama, so the excitement level has been taken down several notches since those producers were milling about a couple months ago.
I still have theatrical hopes for our cafe though. I want to make an espresso training movie with a couple of the other coffee trainers at the store. I just don't know how to execute the project. David Schomer has really informative videos that we watch every now and then at staff meetings, and I highly recommend them to anyone who works at a cafe or is just curious about coffee. But the movies don't quite tackle the way we at Nasty brew our joe, and Schomer's words are thus rendered less than useful, though still interesting and insightful. I think that Nasty needs its own line of videos because our methods are extremely unique and I've never been to any other cafe that came close to approximating what we do. SO no use trying to confuse our poor workers with training supplies that won''t really serve them at their jobs. It's time I got in front of the camera and showed all those bitches how it's done.

Friday, April 6, 2007

Nothing

Today was one of those days where every customer, even the regulars who are typically nice, acted pissed off. I guess it's a common thing for people in my line of work to serve as punching bags for customers who are experiencing some dissatisfaction in other areas of their lives. We're just the humble servants behind the counter. We can't snap back, even if the customer is completely out of line and blatantly rude. I don't feel like I'm a slave. I take pride in my work, and want to be treated as a professional- I try to dress somewhat well, wear make-up and radiate a sense of pride and confidence, just hoping customers will pick up on it and give me some credit and less attitude. That's about all I can do. This renders me helpless in the face of everyday crabiness that I'll inevitably run into at least once during any given shift. I must allow a certain amount of rudeness and be willing to put up with it, or else I'll crumble beneath it and go home feeling so shitty about myself every day. The only way I've been able to tolerate people's crap is to drape myself in a thick cloak of impermeable confidence before each shift. Though I'm confident enough naturally, the emotional strength that's required to devote more than four full years of my life to serving cappuccinos is far beyond what's inherent in my being. I do, however, have a strong appreciation for the art of service, and that has certainly helped me carry on. I can embrace the theatrical aspect of customer service. That thick cloak I was discussing is really just my usual facade- my workplace persona that is more outgoing and talkative and eager to please than my normal self. If I can enjoy putting that mask on day-in and day-out, then I'll have no problem keeping up with this job. Days like today truly test my passion for Cafe Nasty. So far, I'm still having fun.