Internship Assignment C

My work environment is laid-back  In all four of the shops I work at, there is a consistent structure, but this structure has plenty of room for fun and joking around. I have noticed that even in the busy times everyone remains in a casual state, and yet, completes all of their work in a timely fashion. I found this interesting; in my experience in the food and drink business back in the States, people tend to get flustered and frantic when it becomes too busy. I have also observed that the environment is personal. The workers are always trying to get to know people, whether that be customers or other staff members. Going back to the structure, the way things are done in each shop is very precise. This has to do with health and safety as well as Coffeesmiths goal of making quality coffee every time. For example: when pouring shots, the amount of ground espresso beans has to be within .1 grams of 20.4, and is poured for 30 seconds. Another example is the various towels that are used for drying. In each shop, there are at least three different color towels, and each has a specific purpose.

The preciseness and the personable atmosphere are two key parts of the work environment that I would not get rid of. The preciseness allows the shops to run efficiently and safely, and the personable atmosphere is crucial to a successful coffee shop (it also keeps the staff happy). Two things I would change about the work environment is the allowed use of phones and eating behind the counter. This is a part of the laid-back feel of working in the shops, but I tend to think that it does not look good to the customers to have staff using their phones or eating behind the counter. It looks unprofessional. I have multiple supervisors, and their techniques are all different so I am going to focus on just two of them.

My supervisor at Speakeasy tries to style work for me in a fair and fun way. Instead of having me do dishes all the whole day, he likes to give me a chance to work all the jobs in the shop. He is looking to keep my work entertaining, and always changing. I will do dishes for an hour, then pour shots for an hour, and then work the till for an hour. He understands that I am here to learn, and he caters my work to that. He also likes to keep my work fun by simply joking around with me when the job may be boring. The other supervisor way of styling work for me is trusting. He tends to give me work that forces me to make decisions. I will be given a task with a set of instructions; however, when I start the task, I soon learn there is much he left out. 

He is a busy man so it forces me to think on my feet and make decisions, sometimes big decisions. This work is to help me learn what a true job would require of me. If I were to become a supervisor, I would like to be fun and friendly, but still hold my authority. I would also like to give work to my employees that force them to make decisions and think on their own, similar to what my second supervisor does. Through the work at my internship, I have learned a little about myself.

I have noticed that I tend to lose my casual state when I become busy especially when making coffee. This might have to do with my lack of experience, but it still bothers me. I want to work on this mainly because it does not pay off to get flustered. If anything, it causes mistakes, and it worries customers. Hopefully, gaining more experience will help. I have also learned that I take things to heart at work. If a customer is unhappy with his or her experience, I find that it bothers me. I am a part of a company, and if customers look badly on me, it looks badly on the company and vice versa. On the upside, when a customer is extremely pleased, it gives me an energy boost for the rest of the day. I have learned about myself, but I have also learned some new skills.

 The main thing I have learned while working with Coffeesmiths is how to make quality espresso drinks. Before this internship, I had no idea how to make quality espresso, but now I am confident in my shot pouring and decent at steaming milk correctly. Unfortunately, I still need a bit of work on the latte art, but in my defense, it is really difficult. I have poured a couple nice hearts and one rosetta. The other thing I have learned was through my projects with the CEO. I have been helping recreate the online shop, and through this, I have learned how to use Wordpress to create a website. I really had no experience with website creation, but now at least I know where to start and how to create a backend. These new skill will come in handy because I would like to own a coffee shop one day.

Before that day comes, I will try to get some more experience in coffee shops to help me hone my skills. As I said though, my goal is to own a coffee shop. I love the feel and overall atmosphere of coffee houses. It draws me in, and has created this love for them. I tend to do most of my homework in coffee shops, and I do not see that changing. Since starting university, I have also developed a love for coffee and espresso. I do not get the caffeine buzz anymore, but coffee is still my drink of choice. Coffee is something I hope to continue to learn about and surround my life with.    

BES Journal Five

The beginning of this week was filled with preparation for my fall break, so there is not much to tell about that. All the preparation finally paid off Friday morning when I was headed for Genoa for the beginning of a cruise. Two others and I had an early morning Friday in order to catch our flight. We wanted something cheap so we decided to fly Ryanair, and I must say that was an experience! The takeoff was great, and besides the annoying selling of items the whole flight, it went well. The fun part came during the landing.

I have flown a lot, but this was the first time I had ever been scared during a landing.

 We started coming down really shaky, and when we hit the landing strip, I am pretty sure we were only on one wheel. We were at a tilt for a while and began to swerve. To my relief, we finally came to a stop. The kicker, when we finally stopped, trumpets were played over the intercom! Wow that was a ride. I have to admit I was nervous about going to Italy. This was my first time in a non-English speaking country, and I was not sure how difficult it would be to interact with the people. My worries were put to rest shortly after arriving in Italy.

Although English is not the official Language, many people knew enough English to understand what it was I was asking them or wanted. I felt a little bad, though, because I know if the situation was reversed, I would not be able to understand them. It made me realize how catered to the English language is. Anyways, back to the trip. I was pretty tired by the time I boarded the ship, but I could not sleep. I was about to embark on my first real adventure! We left port Friday night, and headed towards Civitavecchia, Italy.

The first night on the cruise was great. There was a show in the theater, which impressed me for being a cruise show. I could definitely tell this was an Italian cruise by the risqué costumes the performers were wearing. After the show, we sat down for our first of many five course meals. I enjoy food, and one of my favorite things to do is try new foods. This cruise gave me that opportunity. Not only did I get to eat a high class five course meal every night, but the menu also allowed me to try things I have never tried before. I would say my absolute favorite was the mussels in red sauce; they were fantastic! We reached Civitavecchia the next day, and the three of us decided to get train tickets to Rome.

Being in Rome was surreal. I never would have thought I would be standing next to the Coliseum at the age of twenty. Rome as a whole was beautiful, and we saw the touristy parts and the everyday parts due to us getting off the train a stop too early. We spent two hours lost in Rome before we figured out a Metro (similar to the Overground) could take us to the Coliseum. It was all worth it though! It was an exhausting day, but I was excited to see what the start of a new week had in store for me!   

BES Journal Four

This week, we had a group trip to Canterbury and Dover. Canterbury had a unique atmosphere to it. I was transported to a different time period because of Canterbury’s medieval feel. The city still has its defensive walls, which makes driving into Canterbury a cool experience. We went to the Canterbury Cathedral, which was breathtaking from the outside. The inside architecture did not disappoint either! The cathedral was huge and displayed multiple types of architecture styles.  At first I thought this tour was going to be just another tour of a church, but there was an interesting story that caught my attention.

The story of Thomas Becket’s murder in the cathedral gave the tour a little extra something for people like me who have seen a large amount of churches and cathedrals. With the audio guide, I could follow the story and see the places in the cathedral that events leading/during the murder took place. There was an art piece at the place of Becket’s death that I found fitting. It is two sinister looking blades in the shape of the cross with two swords piercing the arms of the cross. My favorite part of this piece is how it cast its shadow on the wall, which adds to the sinister feeling of the piece. This art work really makes you feel the terrible act that took place in that very spot. Although I enjoyed Canterbury, I would have to say Dover Castle was my favorite place of the day.

Dover Castle was absolutely beautiful! The castle sits on the White Cliffs of Dover, and being that it was a clear day on my visit, I could see France from the castle. Walking through the castle, I thought they did a great job keeping the original feel (The smell of wood burning was a great addition) and mixing in some modern tech equipment (speakers playing sounds of the castle’s kitchen in action). The castle itself was great, but the grounds around it were my favorite part.

I spent a lot of time walking the grounds of the castle. I looked at the White Cliffs, and walked along the boundaries of the grounds overlooking the city and the channel. It was just a very peaceful walk, which was a nice change from London. I love London, but it is nice to have some quiet at times. There were some wartime tunnels below the grounds as well. I wanted to tour the secret tunnels, but the tours were too long for the time we were allotted. Instead, I explored the smaller medieval tunnels. We found some side tunnels, and an air vent that we climbed up a little. I liked how Dover Castle was very free to explore. I didn’t have to follow any set path or tour, and I was allowed to do what I wanted, go where I wanted, and find place other people may have missed. The only thing I would change about the Dover Castle visit would be the time we were allowed. An extra hour would have been great to explore the wartime secret tunnels.

Internship Journal Week Six

Week 6

Date: Tuesday 6^th & Wednesday 7^th November                                  Total Hours: 16

I was at Speakeasy as usual on Tuesday. I needed to finish up the spreadsheet and do a couple more little tweaks on the survey before Wednesday. I mainly spent my time on the spreadsheet. I had to weigh and measure a few more products, and I wanted to double check the work I had already done. I looked through the spreadsheet and picked out things that looked off, and I would do some research to figure out if I had made a mistake. I caught a few mistakes, but I think the majority of it was correct. I then changed the survey a little, and I let Tim know that these were both completed and ready for our meeting on Wednesday.

I was at Chancery Coffee this week, and I had an early morning. I had to be in when the shop opened so my day started at 7:30. I thought the day was going to drag on because I was tired and Chancery, being the newest shop, is one of the slower ones. The assistant manager, Ryan, wanted me on the counter with another member of the staff that was new to the shop. It was nice to have another worker that did not know where everything was. It made me feel less incompetent. We switched off working the till and preparing food for customers.

 Ryan wanted us to work on the customer touch points that he likes to use in this shop (greeting them, taking their order, taking the payment, taking their name, asking if they have a loyalty card, etc.). I had my first encounter with a hostel customer since I have started with Coffeesmiths. We asked a gentleman for his name, and he did not take that too well. He started ranting on about how taking his name for the coffee was silly, and how this is just as bad as Starbucks. Ryan explained to the man that we are just trying to build a relationship with our customers. That guy stuck in everybody’s head for the rest of the day. When you work in hospitality, you always remember the jerks. They just rub you the wrong way. We are only trying to do our jobs, and make customers feel welcome. Enough of the little rant; the rest of the day went well, and I left for Speakeasy a little before 14:00 to meet with Tim.

We started our meeting with the survey; he said I did a great job and took some initiative in picking the design of the survey. He had a couple of small things he wanted to change, and gave me until Thursday to change them. The survey should now be active, and Tim and I are meeting next week to go through some of the responses. We then moved on to the website project. He gave his approval on the updated spreadsheet so we were ready to move on. The next step in my project is to place on the information I have found into the backend of the website, as well as connecting products with related ones and suggested add on products.

 He taught me some tricks with using Wordpress, and gave me till next Wednesday to have the information in the backend. He also wants me to compile all the product images into a folder in Dropbox. This is a large amount of work to do in a week, but I will just have to work through the weekend to get it done. I do have to say that this project is making feel as if I actually work for Coffeesmiths. This is an important project, and customers will be seeing the information I enter into Wordpress. Coffeesmiths will be using my information to calculate shipping rates as well. Although it is a lot of work crunched in a small time frame, I am happy Tim trusts me to do it.      

Internship Journal Week Five

Week 5

Date: Tuesday 30^th & Wednesday 31^st October                                    Total Hours: 17

My project day started out with a meeting with Tim, the CEO, at Speakeasy. We went through the spreadsheet I had sent him to critic some items, as well as figure out what is the next step. He said I had knocked out a large chunk of the work, but he still wanted me to fill in the blanks that I could not find online. He suggested that I use a scale and tape measure from Speakeasy, and manually weigh and measure the products and their boxes. This did not seem like it would be too hard so it did not bother me. Tim also introduced the next project he wants me working on. He roughly wrote up a customer survey about how customers view Coffeesmiths’ home barista products. I was now in charge of proofreading/amending the survey, and creating the survey on Survey Monkey for online distribution. I decided that I would work on the survey on my own time later in the week. Being that I was in Speakeasy, I took the rest of the day for weighing and measuring products for the spreadsheet.

I was back in Speakeasy for Wednesday. I was supposed to come in at 6:30 and work to 16:00, but John, the manager, thought it would be best for me to come in at 10:00 and work to 18:00. I was not complaining because I did not really want to be into work by 6:30 anyways. I worked on dishes for a couple hours until the rush was over. John then put me on the counter. I was in charge of preparing any sandwiches or pastries that people order, as well as running coffees. This helped me with figuring out what sandwiches are what, and what they all have on them. I still do not know them really well, but I am getting much better at distinguishing between them. It was also nice to work the counter because I could see the whole shop, and watch how the shop and customers work from a large view. With an hour to 18:00, I went back on dish duty to finish up.

There was a big rush that started right before 18:00 and being that it was later in the day, only three of us were still working. I left the dish station a little after 18:00, and went up to help the two other staff. The rush lasted till 18:45, and I was exhausted! John sent me home with a piece of carrot cake as a thank you for staying an extra 45 minutes. Working late did not bother me, but I was more than happy to take a piece of delicious carrot cake!  I also walked away with some new knowledge.

Because it was Halloween, a few of us started talking about it, and I was informed that Halloween started as a British holiday, but died out. The states resurrected Halloween, and it made its way back to Great Britain. It still is not as popular here as it is in the states, but I still saw plenty of kids all dressed up. I also noticed that there were many more families that came in to Speakeasy on Halloween and many of the kids had brand new toys. I had not seen this in the past weeks, and I am wondering if it has to do with it being Halloween.  

Internship Journal Week Four

Week 4

Date: Tuesday 16^th & Wednesday 17^th October                                 Total Hours: 16

Tuesday, I went to Speakeasy to work on the online shop project. I was on my own to work all day, and besides a few interactions with some of the staff, I had my nose in my computer all day. This project was turning out to be difficult. Last week I took out a small chunk of the spreadsheet, and it was my job to finish it in this one day so I could send it to the CEO. Finding this information online, from a credible source that is, was almost painful. By the end of the day, I had not completed the spreadsheet; however, I had found all the information that I could find online. I sent a copy to the CEO and Ashley as a first draft.

On Wednesday morning, I was woken up at 6:30 to a phone call from Ashley. I was notified that, I will be working at Liberty this week instead of Department. I was not too upset with this because I get more time on the coffee machine when I am at Liberty. They started me on the till that morning and I also waited on some tables. This was nice because I had the chance to chat with some of the customers. I felt bad for one of the customers because I had to take his order 3 times till he ordered something that we still had left. During the busy morning rushes, we often run out of certain baked items, and it seemed that everything this gentleman wanted we were out of it. It is not my fault, I know, but as a server, I cannot help but feel a little responsible. This sort of thing comes with being in the food/beverage industry though. In the afternoon, Liberty slows down quite a bit so I had my chance to start making coffee again!

I made a few coffees before my assistant manager wanted to show me something new. He taught me about the coffee grinders, and how to calibrate them to get the desired amount/density of coffee. After running over this with me, he went to the grinder, and completely messed up the calibration on it. I was tasked with finding the correct calibration again. This is a long process because each step one has to do during calibration takes a decent amount of time. It took me a couple of wrong guess to get it back to where it needed to be, but I was happy to learn something new.

Someone had brought in a small boxed of spiced minced pies for all the staff. I had never tried this before, but I am adventurous with my food and up for it. I was informed that these spiced pies are really popular as Christmas holiday treat. This lead to discussing Christmas in the states, and my manager from Holland explained that Holland does not celebrate Christmas. They have something very similar with a character that is like Santa and little helpers similar to elves. It was not really different from Christmas just a few little differences. Back to the spiced minced pies, they were good, but when it says spiced, it is not kidding. It has a strong flavor. I would not eat them all the time, but I would be okay with a couple times around the holidays.   

Internship Journal Week Three

Week 3

Date: Tuesday 9^th & Wednesday 10^th October                                     Total Hours: 16

Finally, my project is getting kicked off! Tuesday I met with Ashley at Speakeasy to go over the project I will be working on. I will be helping Coffeesmiths revamp their online store. Coffeesmiths sells a variety of home brewing items, but Tim is not happy with the online store. I have been given a spreadsheet with all the items Coffeesmiths sells online, and my job is to locate on the specs on the equipment. This way when the time comes to change the website, all the information will be in a convenient place. I spent the rest of Tuesday searching for the product specs online and partly filling out the spreadsheet.

On Wednesday, I was at Chancery Coffee for the morning and at Department of Coffee and Social Affairs for the afternoon. The idea was to have me working in rushes all day. Chancery is the smallest shop catering to take away. I was given the grand tour when I arrived, and a minute later, I was tasked with taking inventory. This was something I had not done yet, so it did not bother me even though it sounds boring. After inventory, I helped package take away breakfast items and an hour before my shop switch I was able to get on the coffee machine again. The assistant manager of the site gave me a little rundown about where coffee beans are grown, and went back through the process of pouring shots. Although, I had heard all this before, it was still nice to have it repeated so it sticks in my head better. At noon, I was off to Department.

At Department, I walked straight into chaos. The line was out the door, and this was my first time working in this shop. The co-owner of Coffeesmiths and manager of Department, Chris, gave me really quick tour, and then asked me to do dishes and run coffees. This shop was the busiest out of all the shops I have been in, but it took me back to working as a cook back in the States. Orders were being yelled across the room, baristas were calling for runners, and me doing dishes, was yelled at to get more forks washed. Department is my favorite coffee shop looks and atmosphere wise, but it is probably my least favorite to work at. The staff was great and funny, but all I did was wash dishes for the rest of the day because it never slowed down enough for me to do anything else. It was a good experience, but I would like to get more practice making coffee.

While working on my project, I got my first real taste of the metric system. I had to locate product dimensions and weights and record them on the spreadsheet. I have not worked with the metric system much, so I found myself using a lot of conversion websites to not only convert inches/pounds to millimeters/grams, but also to remember how many zeros to add when switching from centimeters/kilograms to millimeters/grams. I felt like I should have known this stuff, but I did not. It is much easier than the way the U.S. is doing it. Anyways, that was my fun cultural experience.  

Internship Journal Week Two

Week 2

Date: Wednesday 3^rd October                                                    Total Hours: 8

Week two was a short week. I was supposed to meet with the CEO, Tim Ridley, to begin a project that I would be helping with; however, on Monday I received a call to inform me that Tim would not have time to meet with me this week. On Wednesday, though, I worked in Liberty of Norton folgate. This shop was a way different feel than Speakeasy. Speakeasy is large, and busy most of the day. Liberty on the other hand, was long and skinny; its rush was in the morning and the rest of the day was relatively slow.

Once again, I started with dishes, and clearing tables during the rush. As the day went on, I spent more time waiting on tables and working the till. Liberty has menus at every table, and it is the staff’s job to take customers’ orders. I enjoyed this because I could interact with the patrons. Accents posed a problem with taking orders at times, but I did my best; most people were understanding once they found out I was new to London. When I was working the till, I had to learn about the U.K. coins quickly. In the states, we do not have as many coins, and the U.K. currency confused me at times. When I started making change, however, I was forced to understand the coins. I am now confident when using the currency. Towards the end of my day, they put me on the coffee machine again.

This time I was not pouring shots; instead, they taught me how to steam milk. I would like to state that steaming milk correctly is difficult! Depending on what drink is being made, the amount of froth (the amount you stretch the milk) changes. The first step was understanding how much froth each drink needs. Once I figured that out, the challenge became stretching the milk correctly. I think I got lucky at the start. On my second attempt, the head barista of the shop examined my milk, and she was shocked. She asked me if this was my first time steaming milk. It was my first time. She said that she had never seen anyone steam milk that well on their first time. She then proceeded to show all the rest of the staff. It felt good to be complimented on something I was hoping I would be good at, but it also added some pressure for the rest of the day. I wanted to make the rest of the milk to that level, but unfortunately, my luck ran out. I had some really good milk, but I also had some really bad milk, which we could not use in drinks. I am just hoping by the end of my time here, I will be able to steam milk well. As a little side note, I tried my first latte art this week. I attempted a heart, which is the easiest. Let’s just say it turned out as blob. I will get it sooner or later!

 I would also like to say that sandwiches in London are way fancier than in the states! When I was taking orders, I was very confused when someone ordered a sandwich. The names of the sandwiches are very fancy, and I did not know how to pronounce some of them. Not to mention, I did not know what some of the things on the sandwiches were. This was a cultural obstacle for me! After I figured out what the customer wanted, I had to go figure out which of the sandwiches it actually was. Luckily, I did not bring anyone the wrong sandwich, but it took me a long time. It definitely made me feel like a typical American. The goal now is to learn these sandwiches and their ingredients!  

Internship Journal Week One

Week 1

Date: Tuesday 25th & Wednesday 26^th September                                 Total Hours:  10

The first week of my internship started with an introduction to Coffeesmiths Collective. I met the HR director, Ashley Lopez, at Liberty of Norton Folgate (one of the coffee shops) at 1:00. When Ashley walked in, it was clear that I was over dressed in my dress clothes, but she did tell me that it was safe of me to dress smart even though I do not need to. The introduction started with going over what they wanted me to do during my time with them and what I was expecting to get out of my internship. From there, we took a tour of all four of the coffee shops that Coffeesmiths own, and I was treated to coffee at all the shops as well as a piece of cherry chocolate cake at Speakeasy Espresso and Brew Bar. I must say, it was a great way to be introduced to the company. During our tour, I got to know Ashley, and a little history on Coffeesmiths.

On Wednesday, I worked at Speakeasy, and I was definitely nervous! The source of my nerves was in my inexperience in the coffee world, and I do not think that my nerves went away throughout the whole shift. John, Speakeasy’s manager, started me on dishes until the shop slowed down. Dishes are something I know how to do so I was okay with starting there. The only thing that sucked was the dish machine is down stairs, but majority of the coffee is served upstairs. I got a workout! Dishes are simple; however, putting away clean saucers is another story. The saucers vary in size depending on what drinks are served on them. The problem is the size difference is hardly noticeable, and I found that I was placing them in the wrong stacks. I was corrected multiple times but in a friendly way, which was nice. After the morning and lunch rush, John and I had a quick meeting to go over what I wanted to learn while at Speakeasy. Being that I have no experience as a Barista, I wanted to learn the trade. My afternoon consisted of learning how to pour a shot of espresso.

 When John started to explain how to pour a shot, I was shocked at how precise they are at Coffeesmiths. The espresso beans that go into a shot have to weigh within .1 of 20.4 grams, and the shots are poured for precisely 30 seconds. There is a certain order to how things are done during the process of pouring a shot, and I think remembering the little details and steps was the hardest part. I would often forget to purge the machine before putting the basket in, and John would have to stop me. Because these shots were being used in customers’ drinks, John had to make sure I was pouring the shots to Coffeesmiths’ standards. It was challenging, but by the end of the day, I was doing pretty well.

Majority of the staff at Speakeasy are from countries other than the UK, and their accents are rather thick at times. This made it difficult to understand the staff at times. I did not catch many of their names, and the ones I did catch, I forgot within a few minutes. If they asked me to run drinks to tables, I often had to ask them to repeat what table it was going to because I could not understand them. This was challenging, but I think the more I work with them, the more trained my ears will become. At least, I am hoping that is the case! You feel a little stupid asking ‘what’ all the time. Overall, it was a fun day, and I learned more than I thought I would on my first day!