Thursday, March 22, 2007

The purple haze in Hogwarts

Boy, do I ever love Analysis class. The Conservatory looks like Hogwarts, and there's always a medley of music floating down from the windows. Perhaps some day I will teach in just such a conservatory, or at least sit in it and write music. Mr. Brown was playing Purple Haze on the piano to demonstrate chords. But then he said "You don't need me anymore," and that we'd only have a few more lessons :'( How tragic.

The new store opened almost on time yesterday, and the pace picked up some more today. My job is now much more like the ideal coffee-place job I had always envisioned, but training people really sucks. Mostly I tell them how to do something, then I show them how to do it, then I notice that they never do it or even check if it needs doing again, then I ask them to do it while I'm out on break, then I come back and do it myself instead. I had to cover up for so many mistakes and general negligences today that by the time I left I felt like the grumpy snappy lady who occasionally takes my bus. I also hate closing; today was the first time I had ever been there for closing, and did one heck of a lot of mopping. The day also felt 5 hours longer than usual. I much prefer interacting with customers (shockingly!). The new store is extremely beautiful, and I like it a lot, but I acutely miss working with the old-store crew.

2 comments:

Amy said...

Yeah, that's the crappy part of management, having to be responsible for other peoples' mistakes. I'm glad it's going okay though. And way to analyze.

Lapsura said...

I wouldn't say I'm responsible for their mistakes, just that they would wander off to giggle in the kitchen and then people would come back and say "I just paid $20 for a coffee and didn't get any change back," or "Where's that bagel I ordered," or "Um, I think your coffee maker is still on" (meanwhile 1] a coffee fountain is forming behind me because someone thought it would be a great idea to make coffee without putting the tap off perma-pour, or 2] hot, scalding water is pouring everywhere because somebody thought it would be a great idea to make coffee by leaving the beans in the grinder and putting in an empty filter). Things they could easily fix themselves, or do in the first place. Some of these are honest mistakes, but sometimes they've long wandered off where I can't ream them out.