My First Paycheck

I worked through college and kept that job the summer after I graduated, thinking I wouldn't be able to get a gig otherwise with them knowing I was about to leave again for more school ... then plans changed.

My first post-school paying gig was coffee shop barista. I made more than minimum wage until the state decided that a "living wage" was higher than $5.15 and in fact, higher than what I was being paid. Which was true.

The tips were shitty but I was excited just to be making my own money. It meant being on my feet six hours straight, dealing with snotty and strange customers and co-workers that didn't shower. Some that started conversations with me about all of their tattoos and related stories of how when she moved into her grandmother's house grandma left grandpa in the closet. (His ashes were bagged, sealed and stashed on the top shelf.)

The owner was psycho. He was about 5'4" and a body builder. Yep. He didn't much like coffee shops, his wife hated them, but he was an "entrepreneur" which meant he was going to put up with the pain, bitch at us and end up fat and rich. Which might have happened if he hadn't laid off the manager (too expensive) and told the senior barista on duty to do the books whenever they were on. That's when I quit. I didn't sign on to be your manager and I was most certainly not going to get yelled at when your books got screwed up because you had eight different people doing them at once! (I'm serious, there were eight of us editing one spreadsheet.)

While the manager was still there I had a good time. He was easy going and had a similar sense of humor. And in general was a good guy. The kind of person who you actually wanted to work for because he understood that life happens and he didn't take it out on us. Oh, and unlike the owner-boss-guy, he didn't state the good/bad in terms of male/female genitalia. Yeah.

I can still make pretty awesome espressos, cappuccinos and lattes though. And I'm an expert in what coffee grind to use given your machine and filter. Oh and if you ever find coffee that is Tanzanian Peaberry - buy some! I think it's better than anything that starbucks brews (too dark and often too bitter if you're not careful) and even better than Kona coffee. Other than the fact that Kona is the only US grown coffee (yea Hawai'i!) I don't see what the big deal about the Kona coffee is.

Just now do I finally have a job that allows me to buy into a health care program, and that's being a sub-teacher/sub-secretary for a public school. I also have a 401(k) for some of my measly earnings to roll into. The coffee shop sure as hell didn't offer any of that. You had to work 40 hours consistently in order to qualify with that coffee company (Starbucks at least has a better corporate ethic and lets anyone buy in). And, lo and behold, no one was allowed to work seven days straight, therefore, at most you could work six six-hour shifts ... and clock out right under the moment when they had to offer you benefits. Bravo, bravo, dirtbags.