Hell Week is Over

I don't guarantee that I'll be posting more but maybe. I call last week Hell Week because I worked roughly 30 hours at Headstart and well over 20 at Starbucks. Headstart is a program on campus for incoming first years. It runs on random days in May, June and July but last week it was five days in a row (I worked four of them). My roll was largely directing traffic and making people parked in the proper lot. I did that morning and afternoon for two-ish hours each time. In between I helped students with online registration for classes and then led tours in the late afternoon. It was exhausting but a lot of fun. It has helped to break up the summer but I am sure glad it's over. Being on your feet for eight hours at a time at Starbucks is one thing because you're generally always moving and doing things. Being outside in the HOT sun and standing mostly in one place is a different kind of exhausting. It it has been HOT. And humid. It makes me question my sanity regarding moving to Georgia. I keep reminding myself that I'm going in January though. Hopefully it won't be too hot.

Anyway, Headstart is done and I'm back to just working my 30ish hours a week at Starbucks. It's almost like being on vacation! LOL

Attitude of Gratitude V4#6 - A Job I Love

I originally uploaded these pictures at the end of August but somehow never got around to finishing the entry. The drinks on the left are old news now. They are the Salted Caramel Mocha and Pumpkin Spice Latte. I opened one morning and made them as test beverages. They were so cute and little (they're in short cups) that I had to take a picture. It was around that time that I got this MUG award from our assistant manager. He has since transferred to another store but it was nice to be recognized.

It has been just over a year since my original hire date at Starbucks. Because of my two month hiatus to go to Quebec in May/June, I am considered a "re-hire" but I can still tell people that I've been around for a year. There have been changes, in addition to the ASM moving we also had the manager who hired me move to another store and the original ASM was promoted to manager. It's been a good change. Jon is young, as are most of the partners at this store. In fact, I am actually the oldest! It's a weird feeling. I'm used to being the youngest! Jon does a good job of managing though and, most important for me, he listens. We're kind of understaffed right now, so it makes scheduling difficult. From the day he took on scheduling duties he has been fantastic about not scheduling me at all on Sunday's or Wednesday's (both days I have church or classes and church so there's just no time to work). Recently he's been putting me down for four shifts a week amounting to 24 hours a week. I don't mind working over 20 hours but I need it to be only three shifts a week. I know it doesn't sound like much of a difference but mentally, having two days were I don't have to go in to work at all (not to mention Sunday and Wednesday) does a huge amount for my mental well being.

As for the job itself, I really do enjoy it. I can't see myself doing it for years on end, but I do hope to do it for a few more years. It can be stressful and very physically exhausting but it's such a change from school work that I look forward to going in. Plus it's just a fun place to be :) I am grateful to have a job I love at a company I am passionate about!

Attitude of Gratitude V4#5 - Sleep

(And yes, I realize this is following a post about pillows ;))

Between work, school and church I typically put in some long days. This last week was a crazy example, and definitely explains why I'm under the weather now.

Sunday morning I went to church and the out for lunch with my friend Jess. Normally I attend the potluck that the church hosts but I knew I needed to get home and do some school work so Sunday evening was relatively quiet.

Monday I was up and at the school by 9:30 in order to meet with one of my profs about one of my papers. I only have one actual class on Monday's (French) so I went to that from 12:30-1:20 and then hit the library for a bit. From there I headed home, ate a late lunch and then got ready and headed out for the church Harvest Party. It was a blast, I posted a bit about it on my first Attitude of Gratitude post. I was home by 11ish that night.

Tuesday morning I opened at work. That means working from 5am to 9:30am and classes from 10-11:30am and 2:30-4pm. You do the math. That's not a lot of sleep. I did manage to go home and get in an hour long nap between classes and then I was in bed around 11pm again.

Wednesday I have classes at 8:30am but, no surprise, I was late by just over a half an hour. I just couldn't get out of bed. Wednesday night I was again at church and then Jess and I went to Tim Horton's (all the local Starbucks close too early ;)) There was a massive crash on the 401 so I had to re-route on the way home and it was close to 1am by the time I got in bed.

Thursday and Friday I left the house around 9am in the morning and didn't return until after work at 11pm. Long. Looooong days. I won't go into details but suffice to say I was pretty much moving non-stop. By the time I finally fell into bed on Friday night I was EXHAUSTED. Thankfully, Saturday morning I was able to sleep in, and I did, till after 11am. When I finally woke up I had a leisurely couple of hours before heading in to work again. Even though I had an eight hour shift I felt a million times better after actually getting some sleep.

Yesterday was Sunday, the first Sunday in the month so we had a late service. That meant that I got to sleep in again. With the time change it wasn't as late as Saturday but it still felt good. Sleep is awesome, and you really, really appreciated it when you don't get it!

Fun at work

I closed last Friday and we decided to leave a little "surprise" for our boss who was opening. Brian took every garbage in the store and put them by the espresso machine. Not a big deal and really an easy fix in the morning but it made us giggle.

I asked our manager about it the next day and he just smiled, shrugged and replied "initially I was scared that they were undergoing some weird cleaning procedure so I was happy to find out that they just needed to be moved!"

To "make up" for our minor prank we made sure to make sure the rest of the store was in tip top shape. We even left out aprons for the openers complete with till tags and sharpies.

And lastly, a quick shot of the front of the store as seen from over the pastry case. This was at about 12:30 am just before we locked up.

Family Day

I'm still getting used to stat holidays in Ontario. It seems like everything closes. Not so in BC. I mean the government offices and the libraries close of course but all the stores are open and most other places. In Ontario though all the grocery stores are closed, all the malls, AND all the expected government places. It's weird. Almost eerie. Anyways, I'm off of school this week for Reading week and the school in all their wisdom made sure it corresponded with the staturtory Family Day (a holiday we don't even have in BC, although I hear there's talk of introducing it).


First off, let me tell you that celebrating "Family Day" when you're homesick, isn't really my idea of fun. That said, I made the most of it. My wonderful friend Jess and her family "adopted" me for the day and we went for a walk in the snow :) Going out wasn't exactly high on my list of things to do but I'm so glad I did. We met at the Spencer Gorge Conservation Area which is just outside of Hamilton (somewhat central for the three vehicles that were meeting up). It was cold and windy but a beautiful day for a walk.

Not far from the parking lot is Webster's Falls. It isn't all that tall but there's a senic bridge over them so it's very pretty. There's also a set of stairs that go down to the base of the falls but under the fresh snow was a layer of ice so we decided to leave the stairs for another day. I was speaking with a coworker later that day and he said that those stairs are tricky even when there isn't snow and ice on the ground. I'm glad we avoided them!

There are actually two falls in that same area. It's part of the Niagra Escarpment so the one is just a little shorter than the famous Niagra Falls. Of course there's not nearly as much water going over them, and definitely not as much in the middle of winter. This is Tews Falls, the one that is 41 metres high, only slightly shorter than Niagra. The ice formations formed by the falling water were beautiful. Lots of different kinds. It's hard to say exactly how far the water actually falls down. I'm looking forward to going back in the summer when everything is green and the water is flowing more fully but it was beautiful to see it in this state.



The Gorge is sort of Y shaped but it opens up to a view of Hamilton. Not the prettiest city to look on, especially at this time of year, but still kind of neat to see. A few of us even saw a hawk flying down in the gorge.

Even though it was Family Day, it was still Monday and I was scheduled to work. I made it back with plenty of time and put in a five hour shift. I was scheduled for six but this worked better because it meant I did't have to take a half hour unpaid meal break, and I got home and hour and a half earlier than I had expected. After all that fresh air and exercise in the morning, and lots of phyiscal tasks at night (sanitizing, washing floors, etc) I was absolutely exhausted by the time I got home. I was in bed, asleep around 11pm and slept right through till almost 10am this morning. It felt good! Today (Tuesday) I have nothing specific planned other than working on the three papers I have to write. So, for now, I'm off to the library.

A Happy Story

Yesterday, as part of the "great car shuffle" that happens most days on our driveway, I ended up on the end. This turned out to be a good thing because when I got called in to work by a very desperate co-worker, I could just drive instead of catching the bus. I was only supposed to be at work for two hours. Just covering until someone else finished an exam and came in. It turned out that her exam was done early so I wasn't really needed. I was there for about a half an hour but I'll still get paid for the two hours. Plus I got a free drink because I had been working, and this is the coworker who I closed for a few weeks ago so he's promised me a thank you. Really. It was the easiest shift EVER and a nice break from studying!

Update & #78

I just finished my last shift at Starbucks until the new year. I realized something kind of crazy. I have two weeks off. The only time I can recall having a full two weeks off in a row was in August when I quit my job!!! Even when I went to Texas in 2007 I was only off for 12 days total. In fact...yes! It's #78 on My List (which desperately needs to be updated :D) Anyways, I'm really looking forward to the break. I just hope I don't forget everything!

Tonight was an awesome shift and I finally feel like things are starting to click. We had a pretty intense rush, with a bunch of cold drinks (my weakest area) and I totally rocked it. Yeah me!

Other good somewhat work related news? One of my coworkers has agreed to buy one of my text books! I could sell it back to the school but this way I get the same amount of money, he saves a bit and I know it's a guaranteed sale. Woohoo!

Learned a Very Cold Lesson Tonight

Most of the skirts I wear to work are only knee length. I wear them with black tights. As it's gotten colder I've started wearing my winter boots to work and carrying my work shoes. Then I change when I get there. Today I was inside studying all day and didn't have to be at work till 7 pm. With all that time I was still running a bit late. I knew it had been snowing but I didn't really think much of it (it's been snowing off an on for weeks). I was ready about five minutes before the bus was due so I just threw on a hoodie, a scarf and my winter coat and dashed down to the bus stop. Problem #1: I didn't account for the fact that the bus schedule is screwed up by the weather. So, that would have been okay, IF I was dressed for waiting. I wasn't. I was dressed for catching the bus. The next one didn't come for 35 minutes. I don't know if you've had to catch the bus much but waiting is the most annoying thing ever. You don't know if you should stay or go, or if you'll have enough time to catch the next one. I knew I hadn't missed it because I was early but when weather is the variable, you never know WHEN it will come. By the time it did, I was near frozen. Well, my legs were. My upper body was toasty warm.

So, next time I have to work I'm doing two things differently.
1. I'm planning on catching an earlier bus so I'm not late for work
2. I'm dressing warmer. Proper leg covering/long skirt, etc.

In other happier news, I had my first Vanilla Rooibos Tea Latte tonight. Yummy! I'm not much of a tea drinker (aside from Chai) but I've wanted to start trying the Starbucks teas so I can recommend them to customers. I couldn't decide what to have tonight after work and my boss suggested that. I had it "sub-vanilla" because it usually just comes with classic syrup. It's really good. I'll definitely add it to my "drinks I like" list (which is getting longer by the day!)

Attitude of Gratitude V3#25 - Starbucks

I have an undated list in a note book of "Jobs that May Be of Interest to Me". I estimate that it was written sometime in 2007. I distinctly remember writing that list. It don't exactly remember what the impetus was but I remember that the parameters were "if money wasn't an object". Meaning I opened it up so that I could write down any job no matter what the wage is. It was sort of a dreaming, not conciously goal setting exercise. Here's what I put down:

• Starbucks Barista
• Tour Guide - preferably at a Historic Site
• Tourism Officer
• At a Railway company (CPR/CN etc)
• Mapping/Geography

Interesting. Some of them are really, really vague. Some require a lot more explanation. I never added to the list although I've thought about it a lot.

Notice though how "Starbucks Barista" is at the top of the list? I searched my blog and the first time that I can see that I acknowledged wanting to work for Starbucks was in August 2009 when I was considering applying for school. Anyone who has read this blog for any length of time knows how obsessed I am with the company. Now that I'm working there, I sometimes have to pinch myself to realize that it's actually happened!!!

Today I finished my official certification. We definitely identified "areas of improvement" but overall my boss is really happy with me. He used terms like "friendly, optimistic, efficient and a good communicator". I'm looking forward to strengthening my areas of weakness.

I love my team as well. There isn't a single person who, when I look at the schedule I think "I have to work with them?" And the people that aren't at my VERY top of list, are the ones who keep me really accountable and call me out when I'm not doing something right so they're actually really, really good TO work with.

We were supposed to have our Christmas party on Friday but it got put off to January because we couldn't convince anyone from the other stores to work. I'm sad. I was actually really looking forward to it. Not everyone can say that about their work parties! It shows how much I like working there. It's tiring for sure and sometimes I'm just not in the mood, but invariably when I get there, it's all good. Especially at Christmas time. Starbucks at Christmas is the best and I love being part of the joy!

I am thankful for my job and that I get to fulfill a dream of working at Starbucks!

Attitude of Gratitude V3#18 - Via

I've confessed before in this blog that I'm a closet instant coffee drinker. Well, I'm happy to report that, thanks to Starbucks, I've "upgraded" my tastes. I still drink "instant" but now it's "microground" and really does taste much better. As barista's we get a free pound of coffee a week, or, a box of Via. As you can see, I have a bit of a collection :) I *love* the Christmas blend and there's rumours of Verona coming as well. The Iced Via was my saviour this summer while I was packing in a major heat wave and while travelling. I went through a few boxes of it on the road. It worked well to stop at a gas station, buy a bottle of milk, and have coffee!

A quick Via funny, the other day one of my fellow barista's said that he keeps Via in his glove box and when he's out and about he'll drive through at Tim Hortons and just order hot water, and then add Via. Smart!

Today, and most days, I'm thankful for Via. It's faster and cleaner than "real" coffee and cheaper than actually goin in to the store (although I do that a lot too). Have you tried it? What do yo think? What's you're favourite flavour?

Attitude of Gratitude V3#17 - Last Week

So I kind of got off track with these posts. I will catch up, I just may be bit slow. My first one is being thankful that last week is over. I knew it would be in-freaking-sane and it certainly was. I closed on Tuesday and Thursday and had a group project and two book reports due. I alluded in post #15 to the amount of reading I was doing and frankly I feel kind of lazy not having to read at every turn. It's nice to have the break though. Oh, I also had a midterm on Friday but my prof delayed it to Monday for me. I know I didn't do great but I did better on Monday than I would have on Friday.

This last weekend I had a classroom training session for work in Burlington (which is about an hour from where I live. It was the most convenient time and location) and then I spent the night with my friend Jess. Sunday we went to church and then I worked again. Last night I closed and now I don't have to work again until Saturday!!! My school work is "normal" this week because we're getting down to the point where we're wrapping up the semester so it's nice. I need some time to breathe!

I am thankful that last week is over!

Attitude of Gratitude V3#10 - Stories

I kind of cheated on my 7th post: Live Music. That wasn't actually what I intended to call it but with the pictures and the recap of the concert it got too long so I renamed it. Now I'm going to blog about what I was actually trying to get at: Stories.

The premise of that evening was "Stories and Songs". It was more about the stories behind the songs than the songs themselves. I am a history major and I find I am confronted with stories everywhere, and I love it! History is all about stories, of countries, of people, of events. Genealogy is the same. It's all about stories. Even at work, in the bathroom we have a poster that says "behind every drink is a story" (or something like that, I'll have to verify it) The point is, stories are everywhere and for that I am grateful!!!

A Day in the Life

See? When I start blogging I just keep going!
Tuesday was a crazy busy day. Not exactly "typical" but at the same time, not really untypical either. I want to share what I dealt with just so you get a sense of what I have to put up with sometimes.
9:30 am - get up, get ready (rough life. I know :P)
11:03 am - catch the bus
11:08 am - realize I forgot the poster board for a group project that I was supposed to deliver. Get off bus.
11:15 am - catch bus home, grab poster board.
11:33 am - catch the bus to school again.
11:45 am - arrive in Human Geography class. 15 minutes late, I've really only missed YouTube videos. Gotta love university.
12:20 pm - class finishes
12:30 pm - Geography lab. Meet with group, deliver poster board. Work on group presentation.
2:10 pm - accompany Geography class to an art exhibit that we have to do short answer questions on for next class
2:20 pm - grab a bagel and chocolate milk from the Tim Hortons in the Science Building (across campus from where my Geography class meets)
2:30 pm - North American Studies Lecture (a political science course)
3:40 pm - get out ten minutes early from class.
3:50 pm - go to a local cafe for dinner, read book for History course while eating.
5:00 pm - Languages & Literature "Meet the Profs" night organized by the French club
6:30 pm - Work at Starbucks
9:00 pm - break, try new Caramel Brule Latte. Yummy!
9:15 pm - back to work
11:30 pm - finish work
11:38 pm - catch the bus home
At home I washed my hair and attempted to do Latin for awhile before going to bed at, I don't remember when.

So, crazy day. I was on the go for basically 12 hours straight with just over an hour for a dinner break but in that time I was reading the book I have to do a report on in the next two weeks. Like I said, not every day is that busy, and I only have that Geography lab every second week, but still. I was exhausted by the end of the day!!!

Attitude of Gratitude V3#3 - Buses

I feel like I spend so much time on buses. Unless I decide to walk to school (which I've been doing less of as I get busier and the air gets colder) I take the bus to and from school five days a week, and then often back and forth to work. It's gotten to the point that I can tell you pretty much exactly where we are in the trip (it's all of eight minutes long most days) just by the tilt of the bus, how many times we've stopped and when we turned the corner. Public transportation isn't the most convenient mode of transportation but the bus pass is included in my student fees and a parking pass is not, so I don't mind. Plus, once the weather turns really nasty, the last thing I'm going to want to do is clear off my car just to drive five minutes to school and park.

The transit system here is pretty reliable and even though my bus only runs every half hour, it gets me where I am going at an almost perfect time. I arrive at school 10 minutes before my class starts and at work about 15 minutes before my shifts. Just right. So, I am thankful for buses. They're a big part of my life and I've learned to enjoy the ride.

Farewell

I handed in my keys to the office yesterday and today I went back for my farewell luncheon. I'll go in briefly on Monday to help with the final bank reconciliations and then I'm done working there forever. I was laughing a little when I handed in the keys. I told them "this is the third time I've done this. Please keep them this time!" :) I handed in the keys to this office when I moved out to the satelite one. I handed in those keys when I quit the organization and now I'm handing them in again!

The luncheon today was wonderful. As someone who's Love Language is "encouraging words" my love tank is definitely full :) We had a wonderful "afternoon tea" catered at the office. It was attended by all the current staff and a few past ones that I have worked with as well as the bookkeeper (who came in special for it) and our current Board Chair and the past Board Chair. Some of them spoke publicly around the table and all shared best wishes with me privately. An unexpected monetary gift was presented to me by the General Manager on behalf of the Board and I will be using it towards my education expenses.

I also *finally* turned over the scrapbook I started for the office over five years ago. I've been putting off finishing it but with this hard fast deadline, I finally buckled down and completed it. I have a companion one for myself (the main one is 12x12, mine is 8.5x11) that I'll be keeping. I have been with this organization, on and off since I started as a volunteer for work experience while I was still in high school. I was 17 then. I celebrated my 18th birthday that summer and recently celebrated 29. That means I've been there for over 11 years, over a third of my life and ALL of my adult life. It's been an amazing journey full of wonderful people and many fond memories. I know they are sad to see me go and on some level I'm sad to be leaving. But, as I've said ad nauseum, I'm ready to move on :) It is nice to have such a wondeful send off though. It sure makes me appreciate the time I've spent there and be glad I've been able to be part of such an amazing team for so long.

Welcome New Guy

Congrats on the job. Now call the plumber. Okay, it wasn't quite that bad but there's nothing like a leaky toilet on your first official day of the job to really initiate you :P This guy (my replacement) was actually around last Monday and Tuesday and we got a lot of training done but there's more to do. My parents were over this evening while I was packing and I told them that I didn't realize how exhausting it was to talk all day. Dad got a kick out of that because he thinks I talk too much but I tell you, when you're training and you have to explain every little thing you're doing, it's tiring!

I get the feeling it must be like having a three or four year old. Whatever age it is where they want to be involved in EVERYTHING you do. In my case he HAS to be involved in everything I do because in six work days, he'll be DOING it. There's no point in me keeping control when he has to know what is going on. In fact today we actually gave the word for my computer profile to be absorbed into his. We'll do everything (access emails, files, etc) from within his documents and Outlook. It's kind of crazy but I couldn't come up with a reason not to. The analogy is that I'm "closing a chapter and moving on" well I am SO ready to close this chapter. I mean I like my job and I could continue doing it but I'm getting excited for what ever else is out there and I'm ready to take it on.

On the packing front, it's progressing. I'm sure I could throw out even more than I have already but this is my first major purge since childhood so one step at a time. I started packing clothes today as well. I'm putting my winter stuff in a box and I think I'm going to ship it to Ontario. I was pretty brutally honest about what I actually wear though so a surprising amount of stuff didn't actually make it into the box. I've designated it for garage sale and then whatever doesn't sell goes to goodwill. I can always accumulate more stuff in Ontario.

The last frontier is really going to be my scrapbooking stuff. I was at the SSWA Retreat this weekend which was awesome but it did remind me somewhat of exactly how much stuff I have. I got rid of a bunch in the first garage sale but I have more to do. But, like I told Dad, a little at a time and it will all get done. Slowly but surely...and I can't wait to be done work so I can pack more seriously!

July 12 of 12

I kind off got off track with the Twelve of Twelve thing. I'm going to try and get back to it because they're bound to be interesting in the next little while! This is my last one at this job though.
The first shot is of my new stereo. Yes I didn't arrive at work until quarter after eight :P. My new stereo plays cd's, music from USB's (which is what I was listening to) and I have an auxilary connection as well. I had it installed just before Aaron and I left on our road trip and I'm loving it. Not loving the faceplate thing. That's annoying, but the rest of it is great.

My second cup of coffee (you can tell it's the second because you can see the ring from the first cup, and this batch doesn't have milk in it because we're out at work)

The countdown Deb made for me :)

At lunch I had to go to Michaels for a frame for oen of my coworkers...I may or may not have walked down the scrapbooking aisle on my way to frames... ;)

Next stop was the TD Bank. Robert has to store some of his stuff in Alberta until he can go out and pick it up. He electronically transferred cash to me and I took it and deposited into my Aunt's account (she's getting the unit for him). Kind of round about but he's out of town so it was the least I could do to help him out.

In the afternoon my boss and I met with the auditor. My eyes were crossing from the numbers!!!

Beautiful roses at the library. They smelled like summer :)

Dinner at Restaurant 62 with a former coworker. It was yummy and I had fun filling her in on my plans. She's actually going to be in Ontario in October so we'll be able to meet up there as well.

The requisite self portrait taken on my balcony. It's a bit fuzzy but this is me!

This picture is slightly cheating. It was actually taken on Sunday as part of that batch at Aunty Phyllis's but I was processing them in the evening so I'm including it. It shows how far back this information goes!

I watched the original Toy Story while doing my data entry. There are some GREAT lines in that movie!

And a bonus self portrait. My sexy new sleep mask :P Don't laugh though, it really works!!!

Wordless Wednesday: Proof that I'm the first to arrive at work

My boss knows

I finally told him that I’m leaving. Initially it was harder than I thought and I’ll admit, I cried a bit but he’s so wonderful and understanding that it was okay. I’ll leave it up to him to tell the rest of my coworkers but he is the one I was most worried about telling.

It was kind of funny. I told him that I had something to tell him and that I had agonized (great word isn’t it? I stole it from someone but that’s another post) over when to do it. His first reaction was “You’ve found a better job”. I said “no, but I am leaving. Not for three months, but I am going.” Then I told him my plans and that this has been a five year plan which means I’ve known ever since I took this position. That I had very specific goals for my time here and while I still have work to do, I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot and hopefully made it easier for someone to step into my role, or at least whatever that will be.

He was very understanding and actually pretty excited for me. He’s quite educated himself so he certainly values schooling and knows it is a good choice for me. He’s understandably sad to lose me and even went as far as saying that when he took this job it was based on the people he’d be working with, including myself.

He’s asked me to assist with the recruitment process for my replacement but it seems like business as usual aside from the fact that of course there’s also the massive weight which has been lifted off my shoulders that makes it rather wonderful. It’s been making me crazy to have to keep this from him and while I’m glad I waited until now to say anything, I’m also really glad he knows.

I forgot how much I like having a boss that travels

My boss and three of my coworkers are away at a three day training session. It’s really quiet around the office and I’m forgetting how much I like it! My old boss used to travel a lot (more in the beginning when we had the budget for it) and I used to love it when she was gone because I’d get so much done. Same as now. I’m finishing up so many little tasks that I normally don’t get to when my boss is around. I love it!