Ex-beanie i am, and i cant help comparing the two coffee bars. Im expecting the unexpected during this journey to becoming a... whatchamacallit... starbucky? No wait. Buckie. Sounds like a horse name. The official term for calling a barista working in starbucks is Partner. But thats too mundane for me. Im a saggitarian. I like bombastic nicknames. Buckie would do for now.
I think i need to becareful on some info cos i signed the contract right, so i cant say alot of stuff. You know, just in case the president of whichever country reads my blog, you know. And they dont like starbucks, and they would like to exterminate all chains in their country, or something.
Im actually reading this book, its called Starbucked by... wait let me get the book... Taylor Clark. Its not too chim, but chim enough for me cos many a time i wanted to check the dictionary but too lazy to. Its about starbucks, duh, and also about coffee. The first part of the book i think i was sleeping cos they wabble alot about how coffee began and shit i dont want to know. But the middle gets fun cos this Taylor guy really knows how to put things in humor. He even got footnotes.
And i think any idiot reading that book can so see that the author is trying to put starbucks in a bad light. Like seriously.
Its like they put stuff like... the founder, uncle Howard, is like this evil entrepreneur trying to conquer the world with starbucks. And that starbucks dont care about the people who grew the coffee beans, and people actually tried to bomb.. well not a big bomb, cant remember what they used, like those tiny DIY flame bottle bombs... a starbucks.
Im not Taylor Clark, i speak english, so put it this way. Im Tarzan. Or Tarzan's wife. Or whatever. And i love my jungle to the hardcoreness. And then, this asshole hunter, decided to live in the jungle and built a house made of brick and concrete. And so, no more jungle specialty.
So, to avoid this said house from actually finish building, i got a bomb.. and some other tarzans or animals.. with picket signs that says "I dont want your shit concrete house here!" and camp in front of the house.
HAHA.
Seriously the book is like so cool. It has really surprising facts about how coffee began in brazil. And france. And stuff like that. Really! I forgot this one fact.. this french? guy.. he built a like portable greenhouse inside his ship. It was the year 1816? or dono what.. and he stole a coffee seed/tree from some garden, and brought it back, inside the portable greenhouse, back to his country, and 10 years later, 20 000 coffee trees sprouted all over france. Or something like that.
Yah. So. Just now was the first training, it wasnt like WooHoo Fun! It was ok... it was nice harmless fun. I mean, my definition of fun consists of me making a fool of myself in public. And when i had training as a beanie, it was actually pressuring. And just now wasnt.
You see, being a beanie, is like being in school.
"Tuck your t-shirt IN!".
"No SOCKS? Why didnt you wear any SOCKS?! Dont come for training!".
"I simply do no accept a barista wearing shoes other than all-black into my training! Attitude!".
"If you're late for training, im going to LOCK the door!".
"If i see you smoking in public with your work shirt, we will immediately terminate you!"
And more. I cant help comparing. The trainer who trained us beanies, have this stuck-up air around them. Like, a look and a body language that says 'im an expert coffee taster, dont mess with me'. Not to mention, what with such divine rank as 'expert coffee taster' they sure have the worst english in the world. Seriously.
How do you say 'paper'? Its 'pay-per'. Right? PayPer. Paper. But no. They had to resort to a foreign accent unbeknownst to me. 'Pay-pel'. PayPeL. LLLLLllll. And they say it like they have an american accent. But thats not important.
You know, when those trainers/other high ranking office people come around to our outlet, we get scared of them. Like REALLY scared of them. Oho, but wait. They'll say 'hey loosen up, im just here to check on your outlet, thats all'. Oh, but back at the office, with their noses high up in the air, they'd tell the whole world how shitass our outlet is and the baristas suck dick. Or something like that.
And the beanie trainer even bad-mouthed about starbucks. On the first day of training. Imagine that. My buckie trainer didnt even badmouth about nobody.
Maybe its too soon to compare. Like i said, i cant help it. I didnt quit being a beanie bcos i dislike the system. None of that sort.
And being a buckie, the dress code is quite relaxed compared to being a beanie. Starbucks managers dont have to worry about their staff wearing undesireable attire and scolding them vulgarities.
Vulgarities arent even allowed in my buckie outlet.
The good thing i salute and support about the training is that, we care about our partners (buckies) cos they are hardcore important. Like really really care.
When i was a beanie, when a newbie came, everyone was like .. "eh, i dont want to teach him. You go teach arh." ..... "Dont want arh to teach slow slow people!".
They tend to forget, that when they were newbies, I was the one who taught them cos nobody else wanted to. Cos i really feel responsible, i want that newbie to learn fast, adapt fast and i dont want the poor thing to feel left out. Which was what the others would do. Stare through the newbie, like theres a wall behind the guy.
Im not even exaggerating.
Well, like i said, too soon to know whats the real deal. Signed my contract just now. Officially a buckie! As of 12 december 2008. *joget*.
My partners/manager thinks im a shy person. Well of course lah im shy, i dono anybody! Wait till they see my true colours.
Well, au revoir. Sleep. Tomoro, work. Slamat.
Ninja SB-OF
