A coffee a day keeps cranky mum at bay.........

I'm really into my coffee. I think I may have said this already a couple of times on this blog. I have one espresso a day - if I'm out it's a strong latte and if at home it's more of a macchiato. I'm so into my coffee that one year I even convinced myself that it was a good idea to buy a cafe. What a mistake that turned out to be. The cafe that is, not the coffee. That of course was the shit year.

I've been thinking about when I start teaching how am I going to get my espresso fix? This probably seems really inane but I get anxious about this. One of our lecturers was giving us some practical advice for when we go out into schools. She talked about putting money into the tearoom kitty. Not that I expected schools to have an espresso machine, but the thought of having to drink bad coffee everyday sends shudders down my spine. Or even worse, having to make use of the dreaded urn!

I have thought of a way around this dilemma. I have an old espresso machine - that makes a great coffee - that I can take with me to a school. It's portable enough. I think I will probably do just that when I actually start teaching at a permanent school. But, I'm a student teacher. This means I have to be ballsy enough to turn up to teaching rounds carrying my espresso machine with me (and all the accoutrements that go with of course). I think the other teachers will think I'm insane! As I'm studying part time I won't need to worry about this until next year when I actually do my teaching rounds - see I told you I get anxious about this and I'm already worrying. I'll let you know later down the track how the other teachers react to the appearance of my espresso machine. Because of course I will have to take it.

In the meantime I thought I'd share some places that I really enjoy a coffee at when I'm out and about. Not that that happens much nowadays with two very young children. I like to go to Boheme cafe on Bridge rd and another good one is Kojo Brown. Chimmy's bakery does a great one also. Some others I've discovered is Kanteen, Hektor Woodley's and when I'm in the city Journal and Degraves espresso bar.

Degraves espresso bar


Hektor Woodley's


Kanteen

My shit year continued

Well in my last post I mentioned that I was having staffing problems and that Amy was part of all that. One thing I did forget to mention about Amy, is that she was often late to work. I would arrive expecting her to be there or turn up soon after, and I would get a phone call an hour later saying she was at the doctor's! One time she didn't even call and turned up at 11am, rather than 8am, when she was supposed to start, saying that she had been to her friends house because her brother had just died. I know that sentence sounds callous on my part, but there are three reasons for that. Firstly, I was at the end of my patience with her. Secondly, she could at least have rung - she does have a mobile phone. I was beginning to worry about her, then when I found out she was ok, I got annoyed. Thirdly, a few days later I asked her if she was going to the funeral, and she replied that she was not. I would have greater sympathy for what happened if she had at least attended the funeral. By the end of the four months that I put up with her, I went through my diary where I jot down who was in for work for pay etc., and realised that this sort of behaviour was averaging at least once a week! I don't know why I put up with it for so long.

In addition to this, I had another staff member who worked every Thursday. His name was Joel - the wanna be actor/producer. He was the sort of person where if you told him to do something, you would have to ask about three times before it was done. I had come from an environment where if I asked a staff member to please do a job, it was done immediately, or at least prioritised accordingly.
Joel was often at least a few minutes late. This I don't mind so much, but there was one afternoon when he had come in and was busily talking to one of the other staff members. Being fairly quiet, I said to him that I was going to send him home. The time was ten minutes past two. He looked at the clock, turned to me and very cooly said, I'll work till 2.30pm and then go. He then turned back around to the other staff member and continued his conversation. That was it. I told him very calmly but forcefully, that no, he was finishing up now, and if he was concerned about the extra ten minutes past the hour, that we can put that down for all the times that he's late. Lucky for him he didn't answer me back, because I think I would have fired him on the spot.
Well, I'm going to unfortunately admit that I put up with this kind of behaviour from him for far too long.

One day I told him that I wanted to let him go, he actually pleaded with me and set about making a case as to how badly he needed the money etc. Me feeling sorry for him actually relented. I know, very bad management on my part! I will admit to that.
When I did finally make a firm stand and say that I was letting him go and there were going to be no 'buts' about it, he came in for his final pay check and walked into the back area where one of the other girls was cleaning the floor using bleach. Joel is the type of guy who wears his jean trouser legs well over his shoes dragging along the ground. You can guess what happened. The next day he brought in his jeans, nicely folded in a plastic bag, and proceeded to show me the damage the bleach had done. He then asked me to cough up $250 for them, as this was the amount he had paid for them. I told him no, and that because he had walked into the back area on his own accord, that was his bad luck. I well and truly had had enough of him by this stage.
To cut a long story short, I eventually did offer to pay him for it, but he didn't bother coming in for the money, so that was the end of that.
This all happened towards the end of our stay at the cafe. So, for the first four months I had to put up with Amy and for the latter part I was putting up with Joel. I think the final three months I was fairly stress free with regards to staff. Except for Tanya, who wasn't a bad worker, and is a lovely person, but she suffers from depression and that made things difficult. She would often use her children as excuses, and it's very hard to argue with that. How can you argue that work comes before family? Particularly as I don't believe in that.

On a personal note, one of the things I found hardest to deal with, was the fact that people thought I was stupid. It was an attitude that came from people time and time again. Just because you work behind a counter does not mean you are stupid and uneducated. I constantly found that I was justifyng myself. Richard and friends kept on telling me to just smile and take their money. In my previous job, I was always talking to borrowers. They respected my opinion. They would come and ask me for advice on what to read. I would help them with their research. I found at the cafe that I was not getting anything out of it. I would go home each night disatisfied with my job, with an aching body because I had been on my feet all day. Considering all my previous jobs were all government positions, I suppose I was a bit spoiled. I just didn't know how spoilt I was until I went into business for myself.

Well, a year went by,and we finally sold it!

Looking back it all seems a bit surreal. I literally have to ask myself, did I really do that? Did I work myself to the bone that much
Now, two years later, I am working a very comfortable job at a university library and I am studying an undergraduate degree to become a teacher. It all seems a world away from the cafe. So, that's the story of my shit year. I went into it, with optimism, excitement, big stars in my eyes, only to come away, deflated, sad and fairly teary. But, as they say, when a door closes a window opens, and that's exactly what's happened to me. I had been thinking of doing teaching for quite a few years, and that whole episode propelled me towards it.

My shit year

I've been meaning to write a post about this for ages, although I try to put it to the back of my mind as much as possible, pretending it didn't happen.
Halfway through 2002, Richard and I had the opportunity to buy a cafe. We went spent all our hardearned money, everything saved, to take this opportunity, that really should be described as a whim. Big, big mistake!! Firstly, neither of us had made a coffee in our lives. My background is in libraries and he's an engineer. We decided that it would be best if he keeps his job (thankfully this was the brightest decision through the whole mess), and I consequently handed in my resignation where I was working and embarked on what I thought was going to be a great adventure.
At the end of six months I began to think, mmm, maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. At the end of eight months, I was literally crying, saying I can't do this anymore! At the end of eleven months, I couldn't wait to get out of there, especially as by then it was up for sale, and I just wanted it over and done with.
To make matters worse, I also had staffing problems. My cousin's girlfriend (now fiancee as of last weekend), has worked in hospitality all her working life, and I thought it would be a good idea to bring her on board. Someone experienced who knows what they are doing. There were a couple of other part time staff members I also kept on, after buying the business. A few weeks into it all, I noticed that these two girls were getting irritated with, (we'll call her) Amy.

After spending a few days watching Amy, I noticed that she was extremely slow. Just before she started working for us, she confessed that she had a hearing problem. Knowing this, the penny suddenly dropped, it explained quite a lot over the years. Why, when you would be talking to her and she would have this blank look on her face. Well, this was what was happening at the cafe. Customers would ask her for something, and she wouldn't hear and stand there with a blank look on her face. I know that it's not her fault, but it was very frustrating to watch. Also, the set up we had was very different to where she had come from. Previously she would take down an order, give it to the chef, get people's drinks, and once the meal was ready carry it out to the patron. We had a sandwich bar, as part of the cafe, so if you took an order you had to make the sandwich and give it to the person. She was taking one order after another and not making anything! I think she expected the food to appear out of thin air.
As well as the problems with her work, I found that I was spending much more time with her. She began to tell me things. That she had a whole lot of money and in the next year she was going to buy a car for my cousin, her boyfriend (now fiancee!). What sort of house she was going to have. What sort of wedding, once they got engaged. That she could play the piano, as in she just has to listen to a song and could immediately play it by ear.
Now, I have always admitted to being gullible. If you tell me you have a yacht on the harbour, I will believe you. Why the hell shouldn't I. I ask you this, why the hell do people lie?
The way Amy talked, it became obvious to me that she must have quite a lot of money stashed away. One day, I said to her, if you don't mind me asking, how much money have you saved? Do you know what she told me? $200 thousand. I was flabberghasted! My response to her? Congratulations I told her. It's very hard to save that kind of money. You must be very disciplined. And on I went.....even now writing it, two years later, I sound so bloody foolish!
Anyway, the working situation didn't improve and we consequently had to let her go, especially as one of the other girls we had kept on was proving she was worth her weight in gold. At the same time, I happened to mention to my aunt, (her future mother-in-law) that Amy had all this money and was going to buy her son a car next year. You know what my aunt's response to that was? Bullshit! Yep. And then, I began to see the light. I felt like an absolute goose. I began to think of all the conversations that I'd had with her - everything that I believed, and then I got angry. Well, the shit hit the fan, so to speak. As well as the problem regarding her work at the cafe, she now had to deal with my family, as to everything she had been saying. And, she became belligerent about it. It's none of your business is what she would say when questioned. I had a phone call from her where she ranted to me that she didn't know that I was that kind of person. Hello?? That kind of person? She's the one going around telling porky pies!!
I've fully digressed from the rest of the story with the cafe, but now, in my retelling, i'm getting angry all over again! I think that the worst part, is that she didn't come to any family events anymore, and went on holiday with her family soon after. As a result I didn't get to vent. To tell her off and get it off my chest and then move on. Well, I'll have to do another post to continue the story about my shit year, because Amy was only part of it.