Manager. Me?!?!

When I first started working at the coffee shop, some very interesting things happened with customers.  Foremost among them being asked the question, "Are you the new manager?"

Let me state for the record I am not the manager of the store.  I wouldn't mind it - this is the easiest job I have ever had.  Eventhough it is retail, it is the easiest industry I have ever worked in.   After dealing with doctors, attorneys, pharmaceutical firms, and the various federal agencies that regulate access to medical treatments, pouring coffee is a piece of cake!

At first I was quite flattered that people would automatically expect me to be the manager.  But then it dawned on me - I'm older than everyone in the store, I am white, and I am male.  "An older, white male must be the manager".  Hmmmm......

Several customers talked to me about the management and customer service of the store, and some of the comments were not exactly complimentary of the current team.  When I explained I was not the manager, they were a bit disappointed.  I did, however, direct the customers to the comment cards and the toll-free customer service number if they had a complaint or comment.  Apparently no one in the store had ever directed them to the feedback tools.

For the record, most of our regular customers are professionals.  Our store is located in a residential/business high-rise with lots of City attorney offices, union offices, and medical offices in the building.  

The customers' comments about management made me wonder, "Just how deeply rooted are stereotypes in people's perceptions about who can lead?"

Happy Thanksgiving (Belated)

A belated Thanksgiving greeting to you all!

This year was interesting for me...I hosted a dinner for the first time in about 15 years.  There were five people including myself and we had a very nice meal.  The company was wonderful as some of these people have known me for about 20 years.

During the meal, I thought back on what I had to be thankful for and then I thought about some of the more difficult customers and co-workers I have encountered over the years.  I came to think the difficult people break down into six basic types:

• The "Know-It-Alls" - These people are never wrong and always get defensive when they are called out.  Needless to say, these types of people are difficult to work with almost impossible to please from a customer service perspective.
• The "Passives" - These people are the kind that drive everyone crazy because they can't (or won't make a decision).  You can never really get a bead on them and eventhough they never know exactly what they want, the decisions you make are never right for them
• The "Dictators" - Bullies.  enough said.
  
• The "Yes" People - These people, while appearing to be friendly and on your side, always say "yes" or agree with you aboput whatever you're proposing.  Unfortunately, you just can't trust them.  How can you trust someone who will never tell you no?
• The "No" People - These people are just the opposite of the "yes" folks.  They are inflexible and again, can't be trusted...
• The "Gripers" - These people just like to complain and fail to offer solutions.  For example, co-workers who complain about management or policies but never take the risk or time to talk to the manager or address the policy.  Or the customer who simply can not be satisfied for any reason whatsoever and refuses any reasonable customer service solution.

Then I thought about the customer who comes in every day who is a paraplegic.  I'l call him "Dave".  He always smiles, has a great attitude and tips generously.  everyone in the store loves him because he is truly like a ray of sunshine.  The energy in the store lifts when he comes in and lasts a little while after he leaves.  Thinking about him made me truly thankful for my friends, family, and situation in life.

I began to wonder:  If any of these six types of people swapped places for a day with Dave, would they still be as difficult to deal with?

Team Members

Some of you have asked me about my co-workers.  At the risk of being impolitic, let me tell you about the people I work with and their nicknames.  You already know about Drop Dead Fred.  Who else is on my team?  Here are some of the players, but not all of them (the names have been changed to protect the innocent/guilty):

Big Mama - she's the manager of the store.  Smart, bright, and in many ways like a mom.  (I suppose if you are having to manage a bunch of Millenials, you'd better have some ability to parent.)  However, she will do what it takes to cover her butt if needed.

Wonder Woman - she's the assistant manger of the store.  Incredibly unflappable, she's the epitome of coolness.  She'd be the cool kid you would want to hang out with in High School, or a sister you'd like to have.  she'll tell you how it is and what you've done wrong as well as what you've done right.

Groucho - He's one of the supervisors.  A Millenial, he has yet to develop a set of people skills that will help him.  Sometimes moody, but he is always doing the right thing when the rubber meets the road in tough situations.  Overall, he's good to work with.

Yogi- A big bear of a guy, he's tough on the outside, but extraordinarily kind-hearted.  He's another supervisor.  If I was ever in a life-threatening situation, I would have no hesitation to call on him for help.  He also always does the right thing and supports his co-workers.

Goucho - (Not to be confused with Groucho) is from Argentina.  He is a new supervisor, and English is his second language.  He does not like confrontations and is generally passive-aggressive in his approach to managing people.  It's not uncommon to be called into Big Mama's office for a disciplinary write-up from something that happened on his shift he failed to address or failed to talk to the individual about as it happened.  

ADD-Boy - He's a young kid.  Very young.  He suffers from ADD and as a result, he tries to do everything but can follow-through with nothing.  He acts like Michael Jackson and spins around "whoo-hoo"-ing all the time.  Multi-tasking is extraordinarily difficult for him and working with him is an absolute joy when we get busy.  Honestly.  (OK, that's a bit of sarcasm)

Anxiety-boy - He's also a very young kid who suffers from anxiety disorder.  Always a good thing when the store gets slammed with the morning coffee rushes and lots of people are demanding attention at the same time.  (I went into the store room one morning to get something and found him on the floor in a fetal position crying because it was "just too much".)  

Dorothy Gale - She's a new member of the team and quite fun to work with.  From the midwest, she brings a couple of things to the table immediately: 1) a fluency in English and 2) manners coupled with an excellent work ethic.  Working with her is a genuine pleasure.  She communicates effectively and gets the job done smoothly and efficiently for everyone.

Joe Solly - He's a new kid and again, English is his second language, too.  He does not communicate well to his co-workers and when he does, it's always, "Sorry" when he's right behind you or trying to get past you.  Either that or when you try to reconfirm an order, he barks, "Got it".  He also has a hard time understanding customers who speak when it's loud or when it's fast.  We've already lost one regular customer who had to explain his drink order to him three times.

Sarge - She's an ex-Marine and incredibly easy to work with.  She knows there are rules and standards, and she follows them.  She communicates well and although she jibes the co-workers a bit, underneath she is an incredible woman whom I respect a great deal.

There you have it.  Those are the folks I work with - well, some of them, at least.  Diversity personified.  My company makes a big stand supporting diversity.

However, working with this disparate team made me wonder, "Do you have to sacrifice competency for the sake of diversity?"

Post-Election Post

It's been about a week since I have posted anything to this blog - and it's certainly not because I didn't have anything to post about, but there has been SO much to sort through.  Plus it has taken about a week to recovermy energy from the election day coffee give-away...

You would think that on the West Coast, everyone would have been happy with the election results.  Oh, no, Mary.  It was very easy the day after the election to see which customers and co-workers are the "closet Republicans" here in Oz.  The only time I have seen such a dichotomy is after the O.J. Simpson trial (the first one - you know, the one where he was acquitted of murdering his wife?  Not this latest snafu about him allegedly roughing up a collector).

For example, a regular customer, let's call him George, was in such a foul mood because he made it clear to us he was a Republican and was quite upset about the results of the Presidential election. (of course he's kind of unpredictable - maybe because he smokes Ice?)  Now mind you, he is holding down a job as a waiter.  Why a working-class man would be upset because a Democrat was elected made me curious.  When I asked him why he was upset, he said it was because his taxes would go up.  I had no idea waiters made over $250,000.00 a year......who knew?

Now there is a flip side - some people were happy about some of the election results.  I have a co-worker - I'll call him Drop Dead Fred (because most of us in the store would like to see that happen, to be quite honest).  Now, here in the Golden State we had a voter initiative called Proposition 8 which passed and eliminated the Constitutional right (as established by the State Supreme Court) of same-sex couples to marry.  Regardless of how one feels about that issue, when one is wearing a uniform, they are representing the company they work for and should remember that simple fact.  DDF was quite vocal about his relief that Prop 8 had passed and why couldn't the "boys just admit defeat" (not the girls, just the boys - my guess is he has thing about girl-on-girl action, but that's a discussion for someone else's blog, not here).  He went on to talk about all kinds of crap - while the store was full of customers, some of whom clearly did not share his opinion.  One of the customers  said the following to me:

"I will never be back in this store if management does not put a muzzle on that bigot."

It just so happened that the customer who told me this was part of a post-election lawsuit trying to keep Prop 8 from being implemented.  This customer walked out of the store and hasn't been back since.  Translation:  lost customer = lost revenue.  He was about a $20/day customer - that's about $400/month at 5 days a week.  I wonder how many other customers were lost because he might have shared that experience?

Now, DDF is non-white.  When asked by his co-workers to be quiet, he went on about his "freedom of speech" and freedom to express his opinion, was he being asked to be quiet "because he was non-white", yadda, yadda, yadda.  Well of course anyone is free to have an opinion, but there is a time and place for this opinion to be shared.  His favorite phrase is, "Are you against me now?"  Talk about a victim mentality!  Oy!  And he's probably quite angry about something or other because he frequently starts an arguement about some controversial issue or another.  But I digress...

Don't people know when they are shooting themselves in the foot?  Do they care?  Can they really see how their comments impact others?  What happens to businesses in this economic climate when people in company uniforms express controversial opinions like that?  I'll tell you:  The business goes bust.  And today, my company announced a 97% decrease in earnings...

Perhaps it is because I am so much older than most of my co-workers, but I wondered, "Doesn't anyone have the sense to know when to keep their mouth shut anymore?" 

--------------

Post Script:  The customer who left the store wrote World Headquarters about this incident and showed me his correspondence.  The letter was incredible well-written (he's an attorney, I would have expected nothing less)!  Unfortunately, it doesn't look good for either DDF or store management because an explanation has to be forthcoming from both parties to someone in Customer Relations...I'm just glad I'm not in that fracas!

The Election Day Grind

First of all, you had to know that some kind of coffee pun was going to creep in here sooner or later...

The company I work for offered every voter a free cup of coffee.  Needless to say, it was a madhouse!  Between the hours of 5AM and 12N we gave away 585 cups of coffee to conscientious citizens who exercised their civic duty.  That's about 1.4 cups of coffee served every 60 seconds.  This is in addition to the other beverages people ordered such as mochas, lattes, and hot chocolates!  So we were cranking it out big time this morning...It really seemed like it was grinding us down at times 

But so what?  It meant that a heck of alot of people were engaged in the voting process.  And that translated into a very exciting day!  I have not felt this excited about an election since 1992, and even so, this is very different...There was a real tangible "vibe" happening in my city today.  You could actually feel it in the air!  

I have to say this:  I am awfully proud to be working for a company that rewards citizens for exercising their civic responsibility!  Some may say it's only a cup of coffee, but it is much more than that - it is Fortune 500 company walking its talk.  It is a multinational corporation engaging and encouraging social responsibility.  Do you know how rare that is?

Today made me wonder:  If we could get so excited about this one day, what could we really accomplish as a country if we remained this excited about participating in our democracy throughout the year?

Mars and Venus

This is my very first job in retail.  (unless of course you count the almost two decades I was in the airline industry)  But it really is the first time I have seen just how differently men and women handle money.

It amazes me that a little thing like financial transactions can highlight the differences between the sexes.  I first thought that all this "Mars" and "Venus" stuff was marketing crap.  But now I get to see it in action every day.

Now understand my comments are in no way meant to be sexist.  However, like Kathy Griffin says: "In my own narrow observation, it is my experience that..."

• Men have their minds made up on their beverage selection before they arrive at the counter
  
• Women generally do not
  
• Men have their money in their hands ready to pay
  
• Women generally do not
  

What is it about purses that cause women to stuff, tuck, fold, wad, and otherwise hide their money so that it takes three or four times as long to complete their transaction?  Men thrust their cash right at you before you even can say the total.

Believe it or not, there is indeed something Freudian about this.  You think I'm kidding?  Read this article!  I'm over 40 years old and had never heard, until recently, that a woman's handbag is an external manifestation of certain anatomical parts!

Good old Freud!  He could put a spin on anything, couldn't he?

Seeing this difference in money made me wonder (especially since tomorrow is the election):  Since men and women manage something so simple as handling money so differently, how differently would they run the world?

Nancy Noshow & Tommy Truant

OK, where to begin on this one?  

I've already talked about the woman who walked out during her shift.  I've already talked about "The Millenials".

Let's face it - we all know that making coffee is not rocket science!  At the end of the day, what we do is build relationships, not only with our customers, but also our co-workers.  Sure, I work for a multi-national corporation, but I'm very proud to work for them because of the integrity to internal and external relationships they have continued to demonstrate.  

Unfortunately, not everyone seems to grasp what relationship integrity entails.  To begin with, it entails respect.  Respect for one's self and respect for others.

Today in the coffee shop, we had yet another problem with people who did not bother to respect their co-workers enough to call and say they would be late or to call and say they weren't coming to work.  In every organization I have worked with, staffing is usually based on minimum requirements, which means if people don't show up, the system gets stressed.  Is this a newsflash to anyone reading this?  

A stressed system means customers have to wait longer, employees have to work harder (because sometimes there's just not a way to work smarter), and relationships are strained.  How a stressed system manages the internal and external relationship dynamics will be a determining factor in its success.

I am awfully proud to say that - although we were under tremendous stressors today because of a lack of respect from co-workers - we rose to the occasion and maintained the best possible relationships with our customers and each other.  The stress on the system was so noticeable from our regular customers, that one of which gave each of us on the floor a $20 tip so we could "get a massage or a spa treatment to relax after this morning".

Now, I could be really bitter towards Nancy Noshow and Tommy Truant, but at the end of the day, I'm actually left with a positive outcome.  Not only did I get the overtime to cover their shifts, I also got the tip from the customer.  So was it bad they didn't show up?

HELL YES.  Today was tough, and there's no getting around that fact...So what if  I'm a little crabby this afternoon from lack of sleep?

When things like today happen and I have to work with Nancy Noshows and Tommy Truants, I begin to wonder: "Does a single raindrop ever believe it is responsible for the flood?"

"Friends" Flashbacks and Rachel Moments

Anyone remember the television series, "Friends"?  Particularly the episodes early in the series when Rachel is working at Central Perk?  Remember that moment when her customer ordered the really weird drink?  Well, I admit I had my "Rachel moments" today.  Thank God I was awake enough to keep my mouth shut!

There's a regular customer who - I would almost bet on the fact - is a fairly normal person in the real world.  However, when she walks into the shop (which is always the first morning rush, so there's a huge line of people) all of us on the floor have a collective GroupThink, "What's it going to be today?"  Let me explain:  she always orders some type of precise customization that is impossible to perfect.  Her drink today was exactly as follows:

• Small Iced Mocha
  
• No Ice
  
• 4.5 (not 5 and not 4, exactly 4.5) pumps of mocha syrup, because "I can taste the difference" (sic)
  
• 2 Splendas blended (with the electric blender) into the drink, not simply added
  
• Topped with Whipped Cream

So if we ignore the contradictions apparent in this drink (an iced drink with no ice and Splendas with whipped cream), there's the acute fact there are to only be 4.5 pumps of syrup in her drink.  How that last .5 of a pump impacts a drink like this I'm not too sure, but I expect there must be some complex chemical reaction with the artificial sweeteners that would somehow cause the drink to bubble and fizz like something out of Shakespeare's Macbeth and turn it into poison.

On the other hand, there is that ever-so-rare phenomenon where people just have to be difficult to customer service personnel.  (OK, it's not so are, but you should know by now there's bound to be a little bit of sarcasm in my postings) Now this phenomenon is not news to me.  I was a former flight attendant and saw more than my fair share of difficult people.  But I never really understood it.  (Oh, and make no mistake, I am very clear about the fact there are certainly rude customer service people out there, too, and there's rarely an excuse for rude service)

There was also this drink from someone else.  He was so belligerent and he kept asking customers to taste his drink  -  "Does this taste right to you?" then he began screaming that the baristas could never make his drink taste right...his drink of choice was:

• Large Decaf Latte
  
• Plus a regular shot
• Half Soy Milk /Half Whole Milk
  
• 1 Equal
  
• 1 Splenda
  
• 1 Sweet and Low
  
• 2 Raw Sugars
  
• 3 Pumps of Cinnamon Syrup
• Shaken, not stirred ("'cause that's how James Bond likes his martinis and that's how I like my lattes")

Huh?  Just how should that taste?

The first customer had us make her drink again because there was "just a little too much" mocha in it.  The second customer, well...So these two incidents today caused me to think about what Rodney King said and I wondered:  "Why can't we just keep everything simple so we can all get along?"

The "Millennials"

If you read my last posting, you know I was wondering about the societal work ethic we've developed, especially in younger people...well, it seems I have found an answer.

Just as I am a "Baby Boomer" and have generalized demographic characteristics, I discovered there is a new demographic, "Millennials".  There's a great article about this group and how they work.  One of the most interesting excerpts from the article talks about this demographic's liabilities:

• distaste for menial work
  
• lack of skills for dealing with difficult people
  
• impatience
  
• lack of experience
  
• confidence (apparently the author implies overconfidence) 
  

I can't imagine how any of those liabilities would be problem in a retail environment dealing with the public!  (OK, that was a bit of sarcasm again)

There's also a great blog about The Millennial Generation here...

One truly amazing thing is that corporations are going out of their way to recruit and retain this demographic!  GE, Proctor&Gamble, and the Wharton Business School have all set up a "reverse mentoring program" so these kids can teach middle-age managers what to learn...apparently a good idea, but then again, these organizations are just a little different than a coffee shop, aren't they?  Reminds me of the phrase, "Better be nice to your kids, because they pick your nursing home."

After reading the articles and blogs and learning about how these people prefer to work and be managed, I began to wonder:  If everyone believes they are genuinely special, doesn't that mean that no one truly is?

Welcome!

Wow!  What a day to launch this blog...

Thanks for taking the time to stop by!  Before I tell you about the day I had, here's a little bit about me:  I'm a middle-aged guy starting over in life working for a major coffee purveyor...can't tell you which one.  I love this job - it is by far the easiest and best I've ever had, and trust me, I've had some really spectacular jobs!  Most of the people I work with are in their 20's or early 30's...

But anyway, about today...

I generally open the store, which means I am at work at 4:15AM.  Yep, you read that right.  I get up to go to work in what is essentially the middle of the night to everyone else.  So to all you 9-5ers out there, my heart bleeds for you because you have to catch a train or bus by 6A.  OK, I know sarcasm is not my strong suit.  But hey, I have to try to make this funny, right?

This morning, someone was late - well, more than late.  She was three hours late without so much as a call!  In addition to her being late, another person just decided not to show up.  So there are two of us  (plus the manager who has admin duties to do while she's helping us at the bar and register) running a coffee shop in a major metropolitan area.  

Can you say, "Busy"?  

But you know what?  We really did an exceptional job today even with the impromptu staffing difficulties in terms of pulling together to get the job done and keep our customers happy.  We were fast, friendly, efficient, and legendary!  We have a damn good "core team" in the store and it is nice when everyone pulls together, kicks it up a notch and we get into the "zone"...we work like a finely-tuned machine.  

So back to the one girl who was  late:  not only was she late, she just decided to walk off the job and not tell anyone right in the middle of the 8A-9A rush time.  Believe me when I tell you she did not make any friends today.  Eligible for rehire? Hmmm...probably not...but that's not for me to decide.  And the other woman who did not show up didn't make any friends either - eventhough  it was for a good cause.  The problem with her not showing up is that she didn't bother to call anyone to say she wouldn't be in.

And these events come on top of other things like someone getting a lip ring piercing knowing there are specific appearance standards and refusing to take it out...or the person who showed up at work high on E...or the person who refused to come back into the store unless the manager apologized for "yelling" at them because they had to be coached for a chronic attendance issue...or the person who showed up drunk for a training meeting and made no bones about the fact he had vodka in his "water bottle" and offered to share because the meeting, in his opinion, was "damn boring"...for the record, none of these people are still my co-workers, and I've only been there three months!

All of this makes me wonder: do we as a culture  have any remnant of a  work ethic or have we developed such a sense of entitlement when it comes to employment that we don't care about pulling our own weight on a team?  And if we have developed that sense of entitlement, what's going to happen to us?

Well, I'm off to take a nap...more later!