Hi guys, I just joined BX to get some feedback from US-industry members.  I'll try to keep it brief so it's easier to read.

 - I'm a 24yo Aussie, emigrating to the US (visas sorted)

 - I'm a coffee enthusiast, I have completed basic barista training (such as it is in Australia; 8hrs total) and can get pretty good results on domestic gear, but have no relevant experience in a commercial environment.

 - I'm friendly and polite but somewhat shy (I enjoy chatting with people but find initial smalltalk doesn't come easily to me).

 - I'd like to get into the specialty coffee industry because I'm passionate about coffee and want to develop those skills, as well as develop my social skillset and ability to talk to people I don't know. (I don't know whether that makes me inherently suitable or just the opposite)

There happens to be a specialty coffee joint in the town I'll be living in for the next year or two and very little around in my actual field (electrician/instrumentation), so I might as well do something I enjoy, especially since my earning ability will be comparatively crippled.  I'm fully aware that making coffee may be a very small part of what I would be doing; my first weekend job was in a bakery, so I know how it goes.

I won't be able to take paid work for the first three months I'm in the US so I'm thinking of getting familiar with the joint and approaching the owner in the hopes that they might consider taking me on as a trainee.  My concern is that I'm hearing a lot of "skills are easy to teach, personality isn't" around here, and I'm wondering whether I might be setting myself up to fail by attempting to use the service industry to develop social skills rather than capitalise on innate strengths.

I'm also wondering whether it might be difficult to adjust to the US service industry style; my experience (in the US) has been that service workers seem to "pander" to customers to a far greater extent than in Australia.  That's not meant offensively, just that there's an "eager-to-please" vibe that can be uncomfortably strong, coming from a country that doesn't utilise tipping (I'm assuming this is a fundamental reason for the difference).

So, to those who own cafes/coffee-houses, would you have serious reservations?