The Starbucks Barista that Never Drank Coffee

6 weeks after my wrist surgery, I still can't lift more than 1 whole pound with my right arm. This makes serving a bit difficult. So the Marriott decided to train me as a barista in the Starbucks cafe in the hotel. After having worked 5 years at the hotel, all of my work experience, and almost completing my Masters at BYU, I walked in to my first day at the cafe with my head held high and fully confident. I already knew how to use the computer system, where everything was, and how to brew coffee at the hotel.


To my surprise, when my trainer started showing me how to brew the coffee, I learner there were THREE blends of coffee: dark, medium, and blonde. As far as I was concerned there was regular and decaf; how on earth was I supposed to keep track of which was which??


The customers started coming right away, wanting their coffees first thing in the morning. The first customer ordered a grande dark coffee. I hesitated for a second, trying to remember which size was which, and then got his coffee. Easy.


Customers started lining up. They'd come to the counter and spit out their drink orders at what seemed like the speed of light and I had no idea what they were saying to me: Tall skinny latte no foam, venti white chocolate mocha with whipped cream. Then customers started ordering multiple drinks at a time. I was still trying to figure out what the first drink they were ordering was, and the customer was already on the third drink and the pastries they wanted. Next, add in hotel guests coming from all over the world, with heavy accents. For a girl that has never drank coffee before and the only thing I've ever ordered from Starbucks is a cream blended Frappuccino, I quickly found myself having to learn a new Starbucks language. Guests were getting impatient and I was feeling completely lost.

One guy stepped up and ordered "Tall double latte, 2%". So I grabbed 2 tall cups and started marking them. He asked why I was getting 2 cups. "Well, you ordered a double..." Well apparently a double doesn't mean double the order, it means double the shots of espresso. Another lady ordered a bunch of drinks and then i hear a latte with soy milk. Well, she apparently ordered a CHAI latte I found out after her drink had already been made. The toaster is suuuper slow. It seriously takes about 5 minutes to toast a single bagel. By the time the bagel is finally toasted, the guest usually has his drink, has finished his conversation with us, and walked halfway to his car before I realize he forgot his bagel. I had to chase a couple people down; I even went so far as the stairs in the parking garage to give a guy his bagel!


The worst part is that coffee people know exactly what they want and they get that same drink every single morning. It's like this ritual they have. And let's not forget the fact that they are paying a small fortune for ONE drink. So they know if you've messed up their order in the slightest. They can tell if you didn't even put enough syrup in their drink! Talk about a flustered girl! I can't remember the last time I felt so incompetent and stupid. Oh yeah, actually, the last time I tried to interpret data output in SPSS. But that's a COMPLETELY different beast. I sure hope round 2 goes a little better now that I've had a crash course lesson in Starbucks lingo 101.