Workdays with Adam

Happy at Work

2010-07-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was my birthday. I made it a conscious effort not to draw any attention to myself with customers. Typically I'd mention it for some pity or for at least a little attention, however I managed to say nothing. One of my coworkers did mention it to a table of customers when I was nearby but I gracefully avoided them their entire visit.

What amazed me was how nice everyone was to me, even without knowing. Of course I was nice to everyone as well (perhaps more so than usual) but it seems to me that it is all state of mind. If you are happy and you go out of your way to smile and be kind to others, they just might return that kindness.

Sabbatical

2010-04-03T22:21:00.000-07:00

Adam is on a Hiatus from this blog. He will return when he either finds a different job with new interesting stories, or he starts caring about his current job enough to regale readers with tales of happenstance. Or he receives comments and/or donations prompting him to continue.

Revelation

2010-03-20T22:52:00.000-07:00

A good friend of mine told me that if you are just living through each day with the goal of getting through it to the next one feeling a sense of relief when it's done, then you're not really living life, you're just getting by.

I wonder what it would take for me to live life?

We're not in Hong Kong anymore Dorothy

2010-03-19T22:36:00.000-07:00

I just have to share this story. It was so cute, and something I never thought about before yesterday.

An Asian couple came up to pay for their food. They didn't speak to me so I didn't assume they were anything but American. The woman was counting out her money silently and put down the dollar bills first. Then she reached into her change purse and pulled out some change. She looked carefully at a dime, at first it looked like it was dirty, so I thought maybe she was examining it thinking it might be a penny.

Then she pulled out a nickle and studied it intently. She flipped it over looking at both sides carefully trying to decide something.

"That's a nickel." I pointed out trying to be helpful. She smiled at me and put it with the other change on the counter.

"We don't recognize the money yet," she explained to me in broken English.

I smiled at her and an American behind her that was with the couple reassured her.
"That's how I am in Hong Kong when I try to pay for things." She looked at me. "They just got here from Hong Kong."

A lightbulb came on over my head. It not only made perfect sense but it was one of those cultural differences I never really thought about. Sure I'd seen international currencies in different places, but never did I associate those currencies with what it would be like to try to pay for something in another country.

"I hope you have a safe and happy visit." I said as I handed the woman her change. They smiled and walked away.

Honest Mistake

2010-03-18T22:29:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been to a restaurant and mentioned to the order taker that last time they made a mistake on your order so please don't do it again only to find the same exact mistake was made when you get your food? Well don't take it personally. They didn't do it just to annoy you, in fact they probably didn't even do it intentionally. In fact odds are if you hadn't said anything they wouldn't have made the same mistake twice. But there's just something about mistakes like that, once you start thinking about it you're a lot more likely to make it.

One of the most common mistakes we make deals with tomatoes. People often order bagels with cream cheese or egg mit sandwiches (it's like an egg mcmuffin) with only tomatoes as a topping. I can't count how many times the tomatoes are forgotten. Again, not on purpose, but when you make a sandwich without tomatoes 90+% of the time odds are you're going to forget them at least once out of that other 10% just out of habit. In a perfect world it wouldn't happen of course, but last time I checked...

Your best bet if you've had something come out of the kitchen incorrectly in the past is to be very clear and concise when you order. Don't bring up past mistakes, just specify exactly what you want. And then when you receive it, for the love of God, check it right away. If there was a mistake made take it to the counter and have it remade. They won't make it wrong a second time, well usually not.

Senior Discount

2010-03-17T22:27:00.000-07:00

I'm often amazed at how many people don't take advantage of the senior discount at our store. We offer a 10% discount automatically off any purchase made by customers over the age of 55. Actually I believe it's 55 and older so anyone over the age of 54. I would say a pretty significant percentage of our customers are over that age, but very few of them ask for it. Of course our policy is not to mention it and not to give it to them unless they ask for it. Sometimes when I get octogenarians in the store I give it to them anyway. As a rule though, I maybe give one or two discounts during the course of the day and usually those are regular customers that come in every day.

What a nut

2010-03-16T22:20:00.000-07:00

"Are these how your salads come?" Asked a customer who had just purchased two salads with a couple other items. She was in the store with her family and they were seated at a table already having received their food.
"Yes..." I said slowly, not sure where she was going with the question. I looked closely at the salad to see if maybe there was something wrong with it, but the container was still closed so I couldn't make out much.
"You don't have any other way to serve them?"
"I'm afraid not, they all come in those containers." I felt like I should suggest something to her but I still didn't know where she was going.
"Well I won't eat it like this. I didn't realize this was how your salads came."
"Oooookay." I looked at her calmly still wondering what in the world she was thinking.
"If I knew they came in a plastic container I wouldn't have ordered it."
Ahah! That's what the problem was.
"Well I'm sorry, I can refund your salad if you want." I pulled up the order on one of my cashier's tills and noticed she had bought two salads and the other one was being finished up.
"Do you still want the other salad? I can refund that one as well."
"No, well maybe. I don't know if my husband will eat it either."
I almost pointed out that the container wasn't completely plastic, only the top. The bottom was a kind of Styrofoam product but I felt it wouldn't have gone over any better. She walked over to the husband and asked him then walked back.
"He'll still take the other one so just refund that one."
"Would you like to order something else instead?"
"No."

I gave her the refund and she went to her family's table and just watched them all eat their meals.

Monday Morning

2010-03-15T22:14:00.000-07:00

I've told this story a few times by now. Not because it's terribly entertaining, but rather because it was just so startling.

Monday Morning a coworker and I were opening the store together. He did the prep - of which there wasn't too much - and I opened the front like we usually do when we open together. It was Monday, and people on Monday morning are in a hurry to get their food and coffee and get out. It's amazing just how moody some people can be on Monday so the unsaid understanding is that if we get a customer he steps away from his prep in the back to come up and help. We keep conversations with the customers to a minimum and try to get them out the door and on their way.

Our first two customers came in at the same time. The first was a conservatively dressed older business woman with gray hair and very well kept clothes. The second was a younger Asian businesswoman who came in wearing nice clothes but no coat. It wasn't particularly cold, but she stood out for another reason.

As she came to the order station behind the other woman I noticed her shirt was unbuttoned over halfway down her front. At first I thought maybe she missed a few buttons so I made sure not to stare hoping not to embarrass her. As she stood there though I noticed not only was the shirt half unbuttoned, she was actually holding her blouse open with her hand. Not spread chested like Superman ripping off his shirt but open pretty far. It became VERY hard to focus on the first customer.

She was in the store for maybe five minutes so I got a pretty good look at the shirt, and the buttons were there in case anyone is wondering. Her bra was also very covering, so while her shirt was held back it was not all that revealing.

Just the same, it was a rather interesting way to start off a Monday morning.

No Whipcream!

2010-03-14T21:53:00.000-07:00

We get a lot of people in the store that probably have pretty questionable diets. As a fan of the TV show The Biggest Loser I don't judge these people because I know with hard work they can change. Sometimes I'm a little sad, when a customer comes in that clearly weighs over 300 pounds and they order two six cheese bagels with extra cream cheese. As an employee what can I do? As a person I question whether or not we're enabling their choices by doing nothing.

What always amazes me are people that are relatively fit, maybe not necessarily fit but certainly not obese, that come in and order drinks rationalizing certain splurges in their diet. I get it, in the Pacific Northwest everyone drinks coffee. Starbucks must have done a number in this area years ago to brainwash everyone so thoroughly. Or perhaps it's the dreary weather for 9 months a year the dark skies, the cloudy afternoons and rain all day. Maybe people need the caffeine to keep themselves going under those conditions. As someone who has never enjoyed coffee I have no clue.

There's the Mocha with non-fat milk so they can have whip cream. There's the skinny Latte with sugar free vanilla so they can rationalize eating a bagel with regular cream cheese. We get a lot of people that get a drink non-fat no-whip because they don't want to ruin their diet. But what's the point of getting the drink if it's not going to taste very good? Wouldn't you rather just get a coffee with some skim milk? It'd be 2 bucks cheaper.

What drives me CRAZY are the young girls that refuse to get whip cream because it's too fattening. There was a customer that came in today, she ordered a drink - a strawberry and cream frozen drink. This drink by itself is 430 calories. It's not exactly something you would want to drink if you're on a strict diet. When she placed the order she specified "no whip cream". I didn't hear her give the order as I was on the other side of the room. And the person that entered into the system didn't know where the "no whip" button was. So as I finished making the drink I reached into the fridge and pulled out the whip cream can. The girl was watching me by that point as she had already paid and was just waiting for her food by the counter.

"I said NO WHIP CREAM!" She flipped out.
"I'm sorry I won't put any on."
"I told them no whip cream!"
"Don't worry I didn't put any on the drink, you caught me in time. Are you sure though? Whip cream makes everything better." I said with a smile.
"No it doesn't. I'm trying to watch my calories."
I handed her the drink and she stormed off.

A regular customer waiting at a table nearby for his food looked at me and rolled his eyes.
"What a bitch." He said.
I shrugged.
"I guess she didn't want whip cream." I replied. He cracked up.

After finishing the drink I went into the back of the store. Another employee came back and joked about the customer. I didn't realize just how much of a scene she had made until he told me he could hear her from across the room.

I pointed out to him that the girl clearly knew what she wanted. Sure the drink is over 400 calories without the whip cream, but she can't afford the calories she said. I mentioned to my coworker the whip cream probably only had 20 calories per serving anyway, but whatever.

He went and looked and I was right - exactly 20 calories. So her drink ended up only being a small 430 calories instead of the terrible 450.

Sundays

2010-03-13T11:07:00.000-08:00

Yes, today is Saturday. If you read my Thursday post you'll understand, so I'm not going to go into the whole calendar versus work week days. I will say this though, the only thing that sucks more than the first day of the week back at work, is the night of the last day of your weekend. No matter what you did or didn't do it always feels like you should have done more, should have slept more, could have prepared more for the work week ahead...

It's not that I dread going back to work - again earlier posts have addressed this issue. So long as I can keep focused on the tasks at hand the dread stays away. It's more a bemoaning of wasted opportunity. Regretting how I spent the days allotted and wishing that there were more of them and less work days.

Sadly weekends melt into weekdays, days off into work days, work days into days off and weekdays into weekends. It's amazing to me how one week can just fade into the next. I remember almost two years ago thinking to myself I would break out of this pattern by the summer. Yet two years later here I am and it feels like that was yesterday. Everything has just flown past without anything really happening. It's almost like I'm just on autopilot. Like I'm watching a tv show of my life with my job as the central theme and family and home life are the commercials.

I hate my life's central theme. Does that mean that I hate my life too? Two years from now will I still be on autopilot with the feeling that today feels just like yesterday?

Declutterizing

2010-03-12T11:02:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty sure that's not a real word. But that's the focus of my weekend I hope. It takes a lot of work to declutter. You have to be impartial and go through things with steadfast resolve and the true desire to get rid of things. My tendency is to go through the big piles of stuff that have just accumulated, sort them into smaller piles. Maybe put one or two of those smaller piles away and then save the other piles for further action later. The problem with this is those smaller piles then turn into big piles as time goes on. So instead of remedying the situation and eliminating them altogether I end up breeding piles of crap that never seem to completely go away. One big pile turns into four big piles by the next time I deal with the piles.

Then there's the motivation to actually go through and finish the job. Sure it's easy for us to work at getting a couple of our small tasks done. Go through the stack of mail, do some dishes and a couple loads of laundry and you feel like you've accomplished something. Sure there's a list of 10 other things you wanted to get done, but at least you did some of it right?

That attitude always disgusts me. At work and at home. For some reason I am a huge hypocrite at home when it comes right down to it. I expect those I live with to start and finish things they set out for themselves, but for me as long as I get one or two things done I'll just call it "good enough." So frustrating!

Fridays

2010-03-11T21:55:00.000-08:00

Today was Thursday as far as calendar days of the week go. But since it is the last day of my workweek I usually refer to it as "my friday." I don't think I'm alone on that, everyone tends to think of the last day of their workweek as Friday. Maybe because going back to when we were in school friday was the last day of the school week before the weekend.

Maybe kids that grew up working at home on the weekend on farms or at a family run business think of it differently. I'd be interested to hear the opinion of someone that fits that description. As for me, Fridays are usually my sloppiest work day. To be fair I still get everything done above and beyond what is "required" but at the same time I don't have as high attention to detail as the other days of the week. Probably because even though I've almost never got "huge" plans for the weekend I still look forward to having a couple of days off.

Of course there are a bunch of goals/tasks I plan to do over the weekend, that could be part of it too. They are already taking up some of my thoughts even as I have hours of work left before I get to go home. Will I finally apply to a few more jobs? What should I clean in the house this weekend? Should we try to find an inexpensive place to go for fun with the three of us? Will I work out tomorrow and the next day on my days off? Should I go for a run?

It's not that I'm eager to leave work on my last workday. Though if I said I wasn't I probably wouldn't pass a lie detector. When I'm at work I do try to focus on the tasks at hand, if I didn't I probably would have gone down a deep spiral of depression over the fact that I'm not where I want to be in my life, how much I'm wasting away the years I have left, etc. If you focus on the tasks at hand those bigger picture items usually can be avoided.

Maybe next Thursday I'll try to focus a little more on work and save my weekend thoughts for the drive home.

Complaint

2010-03-10T09:14:00.000-08:00

I found out we received a customer complaint on Sunday. This was kind of a shock to me because as I posted I felt Sunday was a pretty good day. We did amazing numbers, the customers seemed pretty happy overall and even though we ran out of bagels a few times they were less than 5 minutes out so none of the customers complained to me. Customer complaints are fairly rare in most stores, unless you have a problem employee or bad management. At my last Noah's we received a few of them but not more than 1 or 2 a period at most. And even those were typically not anything the crew had control over, they were based on decisions (mostly poor ones) made by our General Manager. He's a great guy but everyone makes mistakes.

This particular complaint was a pretty pathetic one. The customer didn't complain about not getting the right order (which is a typical complaint), she didn't complain about us being out of product, she wasn't even complaining about an insulting or terrible interaction she had with an employee. No, this complaint was that she wasn't treated well enough. Our cashier was short with her, not rude, just short. And instead of thanking her for coming and asking her to come again the cashier moved on to the next customer.

Apparently there was also a mix-up with what the order taker had entered into the system and what the cashier saw. But since the woman was only getting a half dozen bagels it was just a matter of pressing one button to enter the transaction before hitting total. This irritated her as well though, she didn't feel she needed to tell someone else what it was that she was buying.

I'll admit this is a pretty lame complaint. But since everyone from the Regional Manager to the Head of Operations sees it - it has to be taken seriously and it's a black mark on our store's record. I completely agree with the customer that the interaction should have been a more positive one. And I'm not saying she shouldn't have filed a complaint, I'm glad she did. The employee in question has been under-performing in the customer service area and I hope this will open her eyes a little bit.

Sadly it changes my perception of the day. It was one where we blew last year's numbers out of the water, did great in terms of employee output and performance, but because of the complaint none of that matters. It makes the day count as a negative one. I'm still proud of the crew and how well they performed, but I guess it tells me there is a lot of room for improvement.

Music

2010-03-09T17:45:00.000-08:00

I've avoided talking about it thus far but I can't help it anymore. When I worked in a shoe store the MUSAC was one of the reasons I thought the job would be kind of fun. Every time I'd gone into the store I enjoyed what was playing in the background. Little did I know at the time those same 20 songs were played over and over again every hour sometimes in varying order. After the second 8 hour shift you either learn to mindlessly just go with it, sometimes humming or singing along in your head or you learn to ignore it.

At Noah's we have a satellite radio setup. There are about 80 different channels each with a different genre of music. Most of them are quite different ranging from bluegrass to electric. If you want to listen to Salsa music, BAM it's there. If you're feeling a little bit more traditional there's a classical station. Or if classical's crescendo's and decrescendo's are a bit much for you (if you ever sit down and really listen to most classical music sometimes it is incredibly loud and sometimes so soft you can't even hear it) there's even a light classical station. The great thing about the satellite radio is that there is no talking. Some of the stations are incredibly repetitive playing the same song two or three times during an eight/nine hour shift but when that happens you can just turn the station.

In the back of the restaurant, however, we have a stereo near the baker's station. This is so they have something to listen to if they want early in the morning before anyone else arrives to keep them awake or at least content to be baking at 2 o'clock in the morning. We let the baker choose the station or play the CD's music of their choice only stepping in if the volume is too loud and customers can hear it.

What I've come to notice when the bakers listen to stations I'm not a fan of, is that a lot of the popular music stations out there are worse than Musac. If that's even possible... They play the same damn songs over and over and over again. For example two of the artists that I can't stand (mainly because their music just annoys me) Lady Gaga and Rheanna get more play time combined than every other artist put together. If you listen to an hour span you will likely hear maybe two or three Rheanna songs and at least the same amount of Lady Gaga.

There are days when I would be willing to go back to the shoe store, if only because I'd learned to tune it out so well.

Dream Girl

2010-03-08T20:31:00.000-08:00

"What were you guys talking about?" She asked hopefully and with a smile on her face.

The girl was cute. Maybe early twenties with long dark hair and minimal make-up on her face. I could imagine her hanging out with her guy friends each one of them wanting to ask her out but all of them too timid because she's so pretty. She's the kind of down to earth pretty girl you always pictured ending up with.

"Oh, that last customer was one of our employees. She comes in on her day off and usually I give her a funny name in the system. Usually something bad like Spoiledbrat or Onlychild last time I think it was Highmaintenance. Today I was feeling nice so I put in Dreamgirl."
"Oh." She looked a little disappointed. I think she heard us saying dream girl and thought we were talking about her. Even down to earth girls that are pretty know it. They just don't flaunt it or expect the world to kowtow to it.
"No one's ever called me dream girl." I could hear the disappointment on her face and I genuinely felt bad that we hadn't been talking about her. Happily married and trying to keep the customer/server relationship unburdened I didn't want to flatter her too much.
"Well I'm sure someone will someday soon." She smiled at that and walked off.

Here we go again

2010-03-07T08:26:00.000-08:00

Sundays... Sundays at my old store were one of, if not THE, slowest days of the week. At the new store that's not the case. This past week we earned more money today than we did on every other day except Friday. Which for some reason always seems to be the busiest day. The amazing thing is that none of it was catering. Catering can spike the numbers pretty quickly and easily. Someone gets lunch for a meeting it's about ten minutes of work and a hundred and fifty bucks in the till. During a normal hour, even on a busy day, we typically won't hit more than 300-400 dollars an hour.

Today though we hit that just about every hour. I got in at nine o'clock and from then to about noon there was a line to the door from the counter. I was amazed at how many people came through the door. Especially since we're in a business park area, a place where typically you see a large lunch crowd on a weekday but not so large on the weekend because everyone is home.

I was pretty proud of everyone at work. They all did an excellent job keeping up with the demands. We got the food out, we had the orders correct and most importantly we did not run out of bagels for more than a few minutes at a time. People are typically more willing to wait for bagels on a weekend, but if it's longer than a 7 minute wait they are just as likely to walk out the door as to sit down and chill for the duration.

Tired

2010-03-06T08:21:00.000-08:00

*Another day off*

How is it that even when we are exhausted, sick, miserable and just plain out of it we can still find the will and the energy to go to work and get things done? Yet at home, all bets are off. Sure we still feed the kids, take them to school, etc. But we do what we HAVE to do, just the bare minimum. Is it because when we are paid to do things we feel a stronger sense of commitment? Does money motivate us that strongly?

What about when we're not feeling bad? I always find that at work I get everything I need to finished. It may not be the most fun stuff in the world (though don't let me fool you, brewing a new pot of coffee can be mind bending!) but we get it done. Yet me at home, dishes pile up, papers pile up, dust piles up... Why is there such a dichotomy between our work lives and our home lives? Especially when it seems like the work we put in at work and the work we put in at home lead to such different results. I feel much better when I finish things at home, and it can be so much more rewarding than the ten bucks an hour I make at work.

Family

2010-03-05T08:16:00.000-08:00

*Day Off*

My family was in town last weekend. This weekend it's just my wife my son and me. I've found that I rarely talk about work when I get home. One of the reasons I started this blog, I thought perhaps I actually have stories and interesting things to say about work just not the right forum to share them. The conclusion that I've come to though is pretty much what I wrote about yesterday.

Family, however, can be a wonderful respite from work. Bringing a parent, or loved one to the office or them coming by and visiting you can make the workplace a little bit easier to deal with. I think it stems from trying to tie in people you know and love with a place you are required to go. You can build connections, introduce the people in your life at home to those at work and vice versa. Giving faces to names and personalities that you've talked about time and time again.

I don't talk to my family about work. And aside from taking my new born son to visit one of my old co-workers because she's like a second mom to me the rest of my family has never set foot in a store that I've worked. My dad showed interest in seeing my store on his last visit, but we didn't go. Partly because it's so out of the way, and partly because I had no desire to introduce them to my coworkers or my coworkers to them.

Interesting Idea

2010-03-04T08:11:00.000-08:00

The well has run dry so to speak. After yesterday's post I feel a little bit like I'm just repeating myself. And truth be told I probably am. It's not every day we have interesting enough interactions with customers to write about. Most of our experiences in a bagel shop are pretty mundane. We take an order, we make the food, we cash them out, we deliver the food, they walk out the door. Sometimes there will be a little more drama than that, but most of the drama is the same even when it is different people.

So, I'm trying to think of things that change from day to day and so far the best I can come up with is me. Every day I go to work I try to keep a positive attitude (though from some of my blog entries you can probably tell it doesn't stay positive once I leave the building - but come on who wants to work in a bagel shop their whole life?).

What I've found is that every day even when I'm the most positive I feel a little differently. More specifically I tend to have an overwhelming sense of... something... each day. Whether I'm feeling hopeful, empathetic, sympathetic, disappointed, depressed, angry, sad or whatever I have an underflow of emotions caused by either something at work or the fact that my "at work" is still me stranded in a bagel shop five days a week.

My plan now is to write about the emotion I felt that day if there are no interesting interactions to post about said day.

Out of Patience

2010-03-03T19:57:00.000-08:00

Sometimes when you get a difficult customer it's too trying on even those with the best good will. Usually I can tolerate a customer being difficult much longer than my fellow employees but even I have limits. I've mentioned before how you can get away with saying anything so long as you keep a smile on your face and a polite tone in your voice (sometimes playful) well almost anything. Backhanded insults can be a delightful way to deal with difficult customers that push you past your limit. In most cases you have nothing to lose as they will not be happy no matter what you do. You just have to understand the line and not cross it, or they will complain above your head which is never a good thing.

"How can you be out of Blueberry bagels again! Every time I come in here you never have them." This is a common complaint as we do often run out of blueberry bagels. We try to keep a lot of them on hand to avoid this but somehow even if you bake off a bunch of them you'll get two or three customers in a row that want a dozen of them.
"I'm sorry, we do have some coming out of the oven in a few minutes if you can wait just a little bit. Or if you have some other errands to run and can make it back I'll hold some aside for you."
"I'm not coming back this way and I shouldn't have to wait around."
"Well we do have some other sweet bagels would you like some cinnamon sugar or cinnamon raisin?"
"I want blueberry... Can you tell me how you're always out of it when I come in?"
"We try to keep bakes up throughout the day and we usually have it, I'm sorry you've found it so difficult."
"If they are popular you should know people are coming in to buy them."
"We had over two dozen of them a half hour ago but several people bought dozens."
"You are a bagel shop, you should expect people to buy them."
"You're right we are a bagel shop. I thank you for coming back and giving us a chance even though we always seem to be out when you come in."
"Excuse me?"
"Well if I go somewhere and they are out of something more than once I probably wouldn't go there again. So it shows that you really like us and I want to share with you my appreciation."
"Well... You're welcome."
"If you like, before you head in next time give us a quick call and we can tell you if we have some, or better yet make some up fresh for you."
"That's what you guys always say." And that was the setup I was looking for.
"Well it's still true, and had you called us today we could have saved some for you ten minutes ago when we still had over a dozen and you would have had them! Of course the customer that just walked out with the last dozen five minutes ago would have been disappointed, but I don't think that would matter to you."

I left out a little bit of the conversation. There were a couple times when I tried to apologize and send the customer on their way. Of course it didn't work. I did several things there, pointed out the customer is lying or just stupid for coming back if we're ALWAYS out of the bagels they want chiefly among those things.

A bagel by any other name

2010-03-02T23:17:00.000-08:00

"Can you remember that?" The elderly lady asked me with disdain in her voice.
"Yes m'am I think I can remember it just fine. Small non-fat vanilla latté extra hot." Externally I exuded calmness and confidence the odds of me forgetting a drink on my way to make it are remote. Especially when it's a very simple order and there are no other customers.

Internally I wanted to bite her head off. Sure I work at a bagel shop so I clearly made some poor choices somewhere but I'm not an idiot. And how dare she presume someone in my position incapable of such a simple mundane task.

It reminds me of another pet peeve I have. People who spell simple names for us. I mean really. B-O-B and J-A-N-E do I have the word idiot spelled out on my forehead?

I know I am taking it way too personal. They don't know me or that I have a BA in English. I'm sure they don't mean anything by it. Sometimes a bagel is just a bagel.

Are you going to buy something?

2010-03-01T21:40:00.000-08:00

A young woman came into our restaurant about an hour before closing. She had on very tight leggings, carried an iphone linked to a bluetooth headset she was speaking into, and had 200 dollar frames for her glasses. She came in, nodded politely to me as I greeted her then proceeded to sit down at our bar facing out to the parking lot. I watched her for a moment as she started up her conversation again and realized she was talking to someone.

It's not unusual to have someone come in and order while holding another conversation. Personally I would never do it. I consider it to be completely rude and I don't care how important the conversation is you can take a minute away from it, hang up the phone, and make your order/request. I understand you may think that your life is incredibly important, your job a much higher priority than anyone taking your order but your narcissism can take a break too.

She sat at her computer trying to connect to our wireless network. A task all but impossible as it is not an open network for customers, nor an open network for anyone else for that matter. After trying unsuccessfully for about 5 minutes she turned back to me and asked if it was possible to connect to our network. I said no. She turned right back around and continued guiding the other person on the phone through some sort of ordering process.

I miss the days when cell phones weren't widespread. I'm far from a technophobe, but I refused to carry a cell phone for a very long time. I didn't want to be reachable all the time - in fact the thought of always being "available" was a turn off. It wasn't until I moved to Boston where I decided it was a good idea just for safety issues and just in case public transportation fell through (which if you've ever lived in a city you know happens a little more often than occasionally).

I still refuse to speak on the phone while having a conversation with someone in person. Even if it's in a restaurant or store. This is not to say I'm against calling someone to find out what their order is or what their opinion about a purchase is, I'm all for that. I also refuse to answer my phone while I'm driving. Even though I do have a hands-free microphone/headset that came with my phone.

She stayed for about another half hour, never ordering anything just chatting on her phone the whole time and staring out the window. She had a very bubbly laugh and seemed very high maintenance. I'm glad she didn't order anything because I know if she had she wouldn't have paused her call.

Well enough alone

2010-02-28T21:24:00.000-08:00

"I asked for this not toasted."
"I'm sorry, would you like us to make another bagel for you?"
"Yes, not toasted this time please." She said the word please but her tone made it clear it was not a request.
"Okay," I turned to another employee as I was on my lunch break "can you please do a remake on this, the bagel untoasted?"
"Sure."
I turned back to the irate customer.
"Sorry about that, they'll get that out to you in just a minute."
Usually the situation would be resolved at this point. The customer, however, knowing full well she got the LAST bagel of the type she chose went back to her table to sit down and complain about the attitude of my employee. I could hear her from where I was sitting and she mockingly repeated what she had said with a look of disdain on her face and complained to her compatriot about her attitude.

While this was going on I looked back behind the display case and saw another employee point out that had been the last one. As a manager I relish moments like this. You wonder how the crew is going to react, what steps they are going to take, whether or not they'll step up to the minor challenge. The employee that took the bagel back came out and enthusiastically told the customer that we'd love to replace the bagel with another one of her choice. She was positive, sympathetic and very polite.

The woman got up, walked over to the bagel case and chose another bagel. As I watched they took the new bagel and covered it with cream cheese then a different employee walked it out to the guest who was already seated back at her table. This employee also apologized, politely handed her the bagel took responsibility for toasting the bagel and told her if there was anything else we could do to let her know.

Watching the entire interaction I wasn't proud of my crew. They behaved just as I expected them to, as I have trained them to. If they hadn't been as busy as they were I know full well they would have bad mouthed the customer behind her back. I don't have a problem with that, so long as she doesn't hear it and never knows. It's only fair, she did the same thing. The remake did take a little longer than I would have liked, but overall they did an excellent job.

I'm sure the woman went back to work and had a much different story to tell. There are some people you just can't please. I saw her bagel though and while it was toasted it was VERY lightly toasted. It might have had just the tiniest bit of crunch to it but overall the bagel was still very soft. What she saw and what I saw were two completely different things, and I have to say I like my version much better. She may complain, but I know full well that she'll be back.

Gardeners

2010-02-27T08:36:00.000-08:00

On my last day of my weekend and with family in town we went to a local botanical garden. Well that was the plan anyway. Instead we ended up at the Portland Rose Garden where visitors are often overwhelmed by hundreds of varieties of roses. In the winter it's not so pretty or scent filled. The rose bushes are all cut back with not a blossom in sight.

It made me think about being a professional gardener. Spending all day caring for plants that bloom for such a short time. All that work for a garden that in the winter is nothing but a well organized bunch of dirt patches with paths weaving too and fro. That first day when all the flowers start to blossom must be worth it though. And the smell as you walk through, the faces of visitors as they admire the beauty, the magazine covers or spreads, the awards for the perfect hybrid. I'm sure there are tons of ups to being a gardener. A lot of hard work though, and a lot of training and experience. Cutting back the roses to just the perfect length isn't something you'd want a summer intern doing.

A day off

2010-02-26T12:48:00.000-08:00

Rain falls, cars zoom, puddles form and splash. People busy coming and going no one content to just be.