I didn't want to work for a Starbucks, Peets, etc., because I did not want to work for "the Man," nor did I want to work with substandard coffee. I am addicted to the good stuff, and I want it for free. I don't care about converting people, educating people, or judging them for putting sugar in their single origin coffee. My choice to work at a third wave coffee shop was completely driven by my chemical addiction to the superior product. Now I am in five years deep, and I feel like I have made a terrible mistake for several reasons.
First off is the douche-bag factor. It is not as much the customers as it is with the employees. The customers, as it is a higher priced place, are usually pretty tame. There are certain employees however, that feel they have the right to judge anyone who puts cream in their coffee. They use words like "full-bodied," "flavor profile," and "ristretto." They try and pronounce the name of the single origin coffee pour over coffee they are trying to force on some old person who just wants a cup of joe. Worst of all, they absolutely refuse to ice their espresso. Even though an experienced coffee drinker will agree espresso tastes better hot, people who want their iced vanilla latte just want their iced vanilla latte. To quote a customer who forced me to give her an iced espresso or she would leave put it, "Grandpa don't like punk rock, and I don't like jazz."Are we no better than Jehovah's Witnesses, trying to force our belief on others who just don't care?
The inside bullshit an employee puts up with at a small business is tantamount to any amount of tall non-fat sugar-free half-caf concoctions one would have to make at a mainstream shop. By bullshit, I mean confounded, time-wasting tasks that consume much of the day. For example, we make cold brewed ice coffee. A delicious product, when you submerge coffee in cold water for twenty four hours, it tastes like magic. There are several quick, and easy to use products to make this drink of gods such as a toddy or a kyoto brewer. Simply grind the coffee, pour it in with the water, wait a day and you have the best iced coffee ever. Instead of one of these fine products, we measure our coffee into regular bleached filters (about twenty of them per batch) and individually tie them up tight with string. It takes about twenty minutes of total labor time, but usually an hour when you have to help a customer after you tie each pod. This process is also extremely hypocritical for a green business. We go through a lot of bleached coffee filters. And as a side note, I get shit when I use bleach to clean the floor drain, because it is bad for the little fishies in the ocean, but it is apparently totally OK to steep a bleached filter with your iced coffee for a day. But toddys are too expensive, says the owner.
Speaking of expenses, we all know that labor is a company's greatest expense. It makes me extremely nervous about my job stability when the employees are encouraged to leave early without doing sidework, and we are often under-scheduled. Not only is this disconcerting and has me wondering how long this business will last, but as the resident closer, I get stuck with a lot of extra work at the end of the day that has been left undone. Then of course if one dish is left unwashed because I already turned off the dishwasher, the morning crew blames me. It makes me resent my hard working nature.
The best part is that hard work never pays off. We are told that in this Capitalist country, we are rewarded for hard work. That may be true in a corporation, hard work and dedication may mean a promotion, hence a bigger paycheck. Even more hard work could mean even more promotions. However, in a small business you have no where to be promoted to. Especially because they have no money to give you a raise. This also relates to the subject of tipping. No matter how nice you are to certain customers, or how tasty their beverage is, they will never tip a barista. Hard work does not always pay off.
Now you might say, just go get a job at Starbucks. Working for a place with no efficiency issues and job security might be nice. The problem is as I mentioned before, I am completely addicted to the quality product. I also love having a boss who is also my friend. As much as I do not agree with a lot of the decisions she makes for her business, she is a wonderful, caring human who I know on a personal level. I would have a real problem working for some unknown face, and that might make me even more angry at the end of the day than I already am.
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