I had a very weird day at work today.
Work wise, nothing was that much different than anything else. Same junk as we just served customers and did whatever. Yet, it was as I was finishing allocating the tip money that things became real interesting.
Amy, a fellow barista, came and wanted to converse with me. Eventually discussion shifted as to why I didn't want to work another saturday night again (it will be the 4th week in a row this saturday and will have been the 5th if I got scheduled for next week). I stated that I especially didn't like Mary Katherine closes.
My opinion is simply that often times closers get relegated the really terrible grunt work of the store. It's a lot of cleaning and a lot of restocking. I recognize that there's nothing necessarily wrong with this picture; it has to get done sometime. My biggest problem is that Mary Katherine likes doing stuff on top of the regular closing duties. The extra stuff being chores that won't really count for much in the long term (like cleaning the inside of a cabinet for instance). That and I will usually only get one 10 minute break for a 4-6 hour shift when she's working.
Anyway, all this aside, eventually I voiced some of my complaints and the discussion suddenly shifted to a "let's talk about what fred needs to work on session." Now, I'm the biggest fan of constructive and helpful feedback, but today I just felt like there was a lot of tension in the air about things people wanted to say but just didn't have the balls to do it.
Apparently the biggest criticism about my work is that I'm too slow. That is, I do a really great job at everything that's expected of me...I just don't do it fast enough. This is problematic given that Starbucks is growing more and more concerned about how fast people get their drinks. The concern compounds when you take into account that I don't do the monkey work chores very quickly either.
I got pretty upset the rest of the day. I couldn't make sense of the fact that I was being singled out on the one attribute I was average at. And I don't really think it's fair to hold me accountable at something that isn't a strength of mine. It's like asking a bad typist to step up their game and type faster. Why not instead of working on a weakness, delegate it instead? That is, if I'm not good a typing (but I'm good at editing), just pair up with a good typist while I do all the editing? More stuff gets done and both people don't go crazy trying to do something they aren't good at.
I'm still unpeaceful about this but whatever. We'll see what happens.
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Your blog brought back so many memories. I worked at a coffee shop/bookstore for 9 months. I talked the manager into letting me open everyday instead of closing because I hated it so much. No one was allowed to leave until everyone was finished. They accused me of being slow all the time, but they'd praise me for doing such a good job. One time a girl was sitting there asking me, "how much longer will it take?" "When will you be finished?" I was so upset that I told her she could come help if I wasn't going fast enough for her. Of course she didn't help, but it got her off my back. I also worked with people who could be difficult at times as well. Unfortunately, you'll go through this at nearly every job you get. There was one thing I told myself everyday that helped me make it through: This job is temporary. When you get frustrated, keep that in mind. God has wonderful things in store for you. This is only a piece of the puzzle. I don't know why He placed you there, but just know there is a reason for it. Hang in there. It will get better!
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