Our church has just opened a new community centre and part of this is a café. They were looking for volunteers to work there so I volunteered when they first asked. Initially the café was going to open the day after the official opening of the centre, but this was changed so the volunteers could be trained and so the workmen could complete the final touches.
So I went for my training…….. Where things are, was not too hard – but can I remember? The till was fairly straight forward, but I expect it will take a while to get used to it and not get confused with the other tills I have used. Why are they all different?
The major problem will be the coffee machine.
We not only have to remember all the instructions on which buttons and levers to use, how to grind the coffee, how to load it and to rinse between each use – there is also the problem of the types of coffee. In my day coffee was black or white! So I am trying to learn the types of coffee and how to make each one……. Then there will be the problem of not scalding or burning myself on the steaming handle (that makes the milk frothy), let alone using it properly. It all seems a lot more complicated than I expected. I am sure that learning new things is good for me, but it is all a bit scary. There should be three of us plus the (paid) manager, so maybe we will manage? But I bet we are really slow to start with.
So on our first morning we arrived early (me feeling slightly sick with nerves again!) and put our belongings in a locker and put on our uniform of “lovely” lime green T-shirt (!) and black apron.
We reminded ourselves and each other of what to do and waited for our first customers………
We were very fortunate in that we had very few customers at the start and had time to try things out – especially as the first people there were from the church and so understood that we were just learning! We did one or two things wrong, but nothing serious. Half way through the morning we had further instruction on the coffee machine, from someone who explained more how it worked, so I realised that we had been doing worse than I thought! No doubt we will improve….
Fairly soon after midday we had a bit of a rush of customers – a women’s meeting at the church had just ended. We did tend to get in each others way a bit and were rather slow, but again that should improve with practice – I hope. Remembering what people have ordered, when there are several things is quite hard, too. Perhaps it would be a good idea to write it down?
I also need to remember the small things. It is very easy to concentrate on the coffee machine and forget things like putting out a teaspoon, or a knife or fork and table napkin with the cake or knife, fork and table napkin with the sandwiches and baguettes (they have a little salad with them). So much to remember…….
Do I think I will enjoy it? Probably, if everything gets more familiar and if we get a few more customers – but not in one rush! Otherwise it could be a bit boring after a while when we know what we are doing. The café looks really nice and there is a good variety of seating – I like the rocking chairs and the sofas best.
But I suppose the main aim is to become an expert barista (!) and make people welcome, not to sit on them myself…….