I haven’t always relied on coffee as my energy to start my day until I hit freshman year. My brother started my coffee addiction by always going to Scooter’s before school. He also made sure that every first day of school, we would get coffee, so I had to carry on this tradition even after he graduated. The tradition just sort of turned into me getting coffee whenever I was craving it. I used to go to Scooter’s a lot before I got a job at Starbucks.
Additionally, my brother was also the one who introduced me to working as a barista. I started at Starbucks in July and I’m currently still working there. When you first start, you have to go through all the training, and I got super lucky because a person named Molly trained me. She is super sweet and made the experience so fun. You have to go through each station of the store, such as the order-taking, food warming, cold bar (which is your infamous strawberry acai refresher and frappuccinos,) hot bar (which will be all your iced and hot coffee drinks,) and then lastly, drive through. I find drive through to be the easiest of all the positions. If I had to rank what I liked best, it would be cold and hot bar. Once you’re able to learn how to make the drinks as well as how to be efficient at it, it becomes super fun. I would compare it to playing a game of Papa’s Freezeria.
Luckily, I got super lucky with the store that hired me. I’ve heard some horror stories from other store locations, but at mine, it feels almost like we are just one big work family. Everyone gets along very well together, helping us all to have a good time at our shifts. I personally click more with the teens that work there, but all the adults are also very sweet. My manager is also a super sweet person too and has done an incredibly good job with working with my complicated availability during my softball season.
Overall the job itself isn’t super difficult. You do have to clean and deal with the occasional unhappy customer, which isn’t fun. You’d be surprised how upset some people get about their coffee. You also have to deal with running into people you know but normally it’s not too awkward.
My favorite part about my job would be being able to talk to my coworkers. It’s always fun to gossip about what happens in our lives. Honestly, it is what makes the job worth being there. I know we are working, but when you get so into conversations and stories being told, you forget you are at work which makes time go by faster. Additionally, all the benefits from Starbucks make it so worth it as well. I love that I can go to my store, sit in the lobby to do my homework while enjoying my discounted coffee and food.
My coffee addiction has grown even more while working at Starbucks, but I think it is hard to blame me with my ability to try so many drinks for free. I think coffee is the best option when it comes to getting caffeine from drinks. I do love an occasional Tropical Red Bull, but I always feel better getting coffee every day instead of an energy drink.
