That picture in my head... Of a lovely, airy space... Filled with funky chairs and couches... The aroma of freshly roasted coffee beans wafting with the open breeze...
...Is dead :P My first week as Rondon's oldest tea lady is over. ME - the seasoned Queen of all-night Doof-Doof raves, a hardcore mid-week drinker, a jetlagged-jet-setting globetrotter, an insomniac vampiric nightowl unphased by daylight - ME! Heartily admits I was knackered out by the end of my second day of manual labour :P
Killed by the overzealous mopping I've had to do over the past week. Did I mention how HUUUGE Yumchaa Soho is? It's TWO LEVELS. I don't even mop my own 3m2 kitchen at home! *Chagrin*
So hard had I worked during the past week, that I spent the entire Sunday in BED. Knocked out. Ok, so I did go clubbing with B till 3am on Saturday. Then had a drink or two with T and Boss Lady after my long Saturday shift. You know what? I didn't even last till midnight on Saturday. Home before the carriage turned into a pumpkin.
Yet, I savoured every minute of my social life *grin*
It's a strange rollercoaster. I wake up in the morning, and it's a good sign at least that I still want to go to work. It's a good sign that I don't dread turning up early on the Boss Man's doorstep and waking him up *grin* (it's just the mopping I dread). It's made me think about, "What sort of shop do I want to open?" Well, for starters, I can tell you it's a SMALL shop which requires little cleanup!
It's made me think, "Why aren't I working this hard for myself"?
It's not mentally challenging, it's just hard physical labour (Wtf, stop whinging about your desk job, I love sitting infront of a pooter all day!). To the point where my right arm was seriously *twinging* on Sunday. My right hand sufferred pins and needles, and today I discovered it actually hurt to write (Wicky! I was filling out your form!). Carpal tunnel anyone? Though Y* thinks it could just be a bad case of RSI ;) I hearts having med friends.
Yup, the romance of owning my own cafe is dead. Well, sort of. I still want to do _something_ of my own. Maybe just not on such a large scale atm... I will need munkey minions in that direction. It's a good thing, it's brought me down to earth.
This week has made me truly appreciate the value of my hard earnt pound. It's also made me value how much I took my social life for granted. It's made me love Rondon's public transport system. Only in Rondon could I travel 5.4-freaking-km from Soho to Chelsea, and then back within an hour break! *phew* When I make promises to friends, I don't break them ;) It's a good thing I've been running at the gym, that's all I can say.
"Do you need a tea lady?"
Gawd knows how many people I've asked that question recently. I've even asked the door-guy who looks after the apartment building *grin*
So it shouldn't really be that much of a surprise when someone actually took me up on my offer and made me into one! *lol* I'm now a proud employee of Yumchaa :)
My first day's been mixed. Everyone was full of encouragement - even when I was partially responsible for a customer spilling his espresso on his suit... In front of the Boss Lady *cringe* Five minutes later, my sausage-like butterfingers soon followed up on the faux pas, when they let slip a cup full of ice. I essentially threw ice cubes at the customer... Again, all this under the eagle eyes of the Boss Lady *double cringe* I never realised before how much of a klutz I am. Sure, I occasionally trip over my own feet. However, I'm fast learning that the rest of me is pretty uncoordinated too :P
I'm kind of surprised actually, that not only am I still employed as a tea lady, but that I was given my share of the tips at the end of my shift (all 1.70 squiddies of it *lol*).
It's been an interesting day, as I suddenly started equating the cost of everything to how much I had to work to earn it. A coffee? That's close to half an hour's work. Two coffees in a day suddenly seems like a luxury. Something that seemed like a drop in the ocean before, now looked more like a bucket in a bathtub.
Another interesting thing for me, is that I'll be working with a completely different set of people than what I'm used to. For starters, I must be Rondon's oldest tea lady. Though, except for my supervisor, I don't think any of the others I met today realised this due to my youthful-looking, well-moisturised skin *grin* So it's kinda hilarious when the young ones look at me sagely and dose out some advice for the newbie. One youngen, gave me a lengthy explanation on why her method of grilling foccacia was better than mine as she thought I would be upset about being corrected. Aah bless :) It's more likely to take a fat angry man to make me cry. Besides the point - it's a freaking foccacia! Who cares how it gets grilled as long as it gets grilled??
I'm really looking forward to my tenure at Yumchaa :) A long time ago, I use to say that I wanted to open my own coffee shop. This is just one test on whether or not opening my own cafe is something I can be passionate about in the future. I'm planning on writing up some reviews on the teas in the shop to help me with my customer recommendations. They smell and taste sooo good! The tea that is, sniffing the customers is probably a sackable offence :P
Boss Lady - If you're reading this, I may have chased away potential regulars, BUT at least I didn't break a single thing today :) Does that mean you're not going to dock my pay? ;)
Everyone else - Come visit me in Soho, and remember to tip!
