Brianna Oddo



Brianna Oddo

December 2, 2014

UWRT 1102-021

Becoming a Barista

When I was about 16 years old, I never thought that I would encounter the secondary discourse of becoming a barista. To begin, my best friend at the time, Rachel, informed me that her job at Starbucks had currently been hiring. Rachel then persuaded me to send in an application while she would put in a good word for me. A few days later, I received a call from a lady named Gail who was the manager of Starbucks, asking me to come in for an interview later that afternoon. I shortly was offered the job as a barista, with a pay of 8$ an hour and I was more than excited because it would be my first job. On my first day I took note of the atmosphere: the Starbucks consisted of a small counter space, with a pastry case filled with delicious treats, an espresso machine, a milk cooler, endless boxes of ingredients and the continuous smell of fresh coffee grounds. However, when I got the job as a barista I never expected the obstacles I had to endure in order to excel. I had to learn endless recipes, coffee talk and how to deal with costumer service in order to earn the title of a barista.

“I’d like a venti soy chai latte with no water at 180 degrees please.” Most people would look at you in confusion if you didn’t learn the secondary discourse of being a barista. I learned many new coffee “lingoes” that I had never even heard of before. Words like double tall, dupio, venti, and an upside down caramel macchiato. All these meaningless words were the basics to learning my discourse. These word were used not only by me but by the customers, regularly, therefore I had to learn the “coffee talk” to understand what drink they wanted and how to make it how they want it. For example, one specific lady came in every afternoon and ordered the same drink, “I’ll have an upside down caramel macchiato,” she would demand. Her drink is a caramel macchiato made completely backwards or “upside down” then the recipe states. Therefore before I had remembered all of the new vocabulary I would make this drink wrong until I was told what “upside down” meant. In addition, in part of taking peoples orders we had to mark their drinks cups’ with abbreviations of what they orders: more lingo that I had to memorize. Amiee Gotth explains in her recent article that as a barista we would have to,” translate what a customer is saying into “Starbucks speak” and call it properly:” this article goes on to clarify that baristas have to prepare drinks according to the customer's specifications. Therefore, learning the new lingo helped me further in this secondary discourse.

On another note, as a barista we had to be in uniform at all times which consisted of khaki pants, black polo shirt, a black hat with the Starbucks logo, a green apron and a name tag. However, our uniform was more then just a uniform: it was how we were recognized as a Starbucks employee. It was how we acted, and our overall attitude we had while standing behind our tiny counter. A recent article by Katie Halpin expressed that “Starbucks baristas are expected to have extensive knowledge of the coffee they sell and make as well as a friendly, accommodating demeanor.” When we wore our uniforms we had certain expectations and responsibilities to make sure each and every drink was made to perfection and our customers were always satisfied. In addition, Joseph Michelli’s recent article, The Starbucks Experience expresses how important our attitude must be “welcoming” along with the proper way to deal with customer service. Learning my secondary discourse of being a barista, I had to learn a lot about costumer service. Michelli discussed a Starbucks leadership concept of “connect, discover, and respond.” The articles suggest that baristas use this idea to give well customer service by connecting to the customer on a common subject, discovering something about the costumer then responding. I used Michelli’s concept continuously while working at Starbucks. It helped me create a better relationship with my customers making them want to return in the future: which was a huge part of being a barista. On the contrary, it wasn’t all the time that every customer was easy to please; I had to deal with rude customers daily. I would always try to be as nice as possible by attempting to connect with them, and make their drink quickly so they wouldn’t get impatient with me; so I can provide positive customer service because that’s what I was really there for.

Along the lines of learning the proper attitudes of a barista, our performance was the most important aspect of becoming a barista. I had to learn endless amount of recipes and how to make each one of the drinks on our menu by going through four weeks of “crafting” training. Crafting training was the expectation of Starbucks employees to learn how to make the drinks perfectly like an art or a “craft.” At the beginning of my training I was in charge of brewing and changing out the coffee pots, staying on top of which ones are decaf, light and bold roasts, while rotating using 2-minute timers and grinding the beans, then having them all prepared to brew. Further on in my training, I was able to train with Rachel for a while. We would goof around and make work fun as she would teach me how to open and close the store. We would make samples of all the drinks so I knew what each one tasted like and so I would be able to describe it to customers when asked. Rachel also taught me how to steam milk to the right temperature, easy ways to remember abbreviations, and how to use to the register swiftly. As the four weeks were soon to come to an end I had to train with Gail for a few days so she could make sure I was actually learning the drinks. Training with Gail was no where near as entertaining as it was training with Rachel. Gail was mean and persistently standing over my shoulder making sure I did everything she asked correctly. I can remember making one Mocha Latte wrong and I got a lecture on how to properly steam milk for an hour. Gail explained, “You have the steam the milk to 180 degrees first, and don’t forget to swirl the cup so the chocolate doesn’t just sit at the bottom!” Then later that shift the most devastating part of my training occurred. Gail told me she wasn’t feeling well and had to leave the store: I was forced to close the store by myself for the first time. I wasn’t nearly prepared for this night. After Gail left, I had a tsunami of customers as they stood in a line out the door. I had to take orders, make their drinks and make sure that all the customers where satisfied with their drinks: all by myself. It was a disastrous afternoon; I made mistakes, made messes all over the counter, had impatient customers and had busted open a bag of mocha powder all over my khaki pants. On the other hand, closing the store that night alone was a benefit in the long run. It gave me the intuition to study the recipes, practice making the drinks till I made all correctly and I increased my speed of the process.

In the next week I had to take my official barista, which was required by Corporate for all new employees. The test included making every single drink on the menu to perfection as well as correctly reciting recipes. My manager, Gail set me behind the counter and instructed me, “You have two minutes to make a Mocha Latte, a Caramel Macchiato, and a Hot Chocolate, go.” Nervously, I proceeded to make each drink carefully and precise as possible. Shortly after, I was ecstatic when I found out that I passed. Now I could officially be called a barista.

To sum up my ideas, after weeks of slaving away behind the espresso machine and getting through long hours of disastrous training, I finally perfected my secondary discourse of a being a barista. By learning a new vocabulary, endless amounts of recipes and the proper way to handle customer service; I had perfected the “craft” of coffee making.

WORK CITED

Groth, Aimee. "Why Working At Starbucks For Three Weeks Was The Toughest Job I've Ever Had." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 15 Dec. 2011. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.

Halpin, Katie. "How to Be a Starbucks Barista." EHow. Demand Media, 10 Oct. 2009. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.

Michelli, Joseph A. The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007. Print.

Natiq, Zoha. "Starbucks Barista Duties." EHow. Demand Media, 10 May 2011. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.

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