Hi. I'm Rocky and I'm a Barista. In addition to that addiction I've run into a problem. I haven't had a job in coffee since last September (2010, who knows how long posts stay up) and it's driving me nuts. After leaving Seattle's Best Coffee back then (Borders store) I took the first available holiday job that I could to pay the bills and then the first job that came after that in January- both in retail. As I'm settling back into a position where I can spend my free time looking for work in coffee I find myself drawn into a dilemma. Retail Coffee vs. Specialty Coffee? After a few weeks of sending out resumes and talking to a few people I understand that it might be a little harder for local independent cafes to take a risk hiring a barista thats spent most of his time at an SBC - especially in the city of Stumptown where baristas run wild in the streets and are easily caught tagged and wrangled behind counters to be put to good use. I'm pretty sure I can get myself into a Starbucks or Peet's but I'm not sure that's what I want. I love coffee, I love cupping and timing out 15 seconds to a perfect shot, Hell I loveuur cleaning up the cafe when it's all done....so here's the big question, do i sate my addiction to making coffee by joining a company who's coffee i usually avoid and hold out for the right cafe, or do i give in and join the company?
If your a Starbucks employee and reading this let me know what you think.Is Starbucks 'the dark side'?
If your a hiring manager and reading this...yes. I really do love coffee so much that I stay at home on Friday nights watching 'Black Coffee' and other coffee documentaries, I love coffee so much that it's made me enjoy 4am morning alarms and cleaning up grinds, and more than anything, i love customers, grouchy, happy, angry, impatient, mellow customers.
-Rocky F
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