Coffee!!!!!

“If the weather had emotions, this day was raging. Swish, swish… swish, swish… windshield wipers have a way of rubbing the dreariness in. Dark, damp, and dismal…Rain showered down, almost tearing apart a once beautiful world. Swish, swish… life seemed to echo the sadness of the day. Glancing about her, Nancy could not find anything to lift her spirits… driving to another day of work, same as yesterday and the day before. Just as the upcoming mortgage was looming in her mind, Sagle came into view and with it the lights of a small coffee shop. Glancing at her watch, Nancy gave her first smile of the day… she had time! Envisioning a steamy mocha she decided on decking it with peppermint, and what harm could a little whip cream do? She turned her blinker on… perhaps life could go on after all!”

Dramatized as this “story” may be, the truth remains… there is something amazing about coffee. Something about it warms more than people’s hands and bellies. Even with the economy heading down the drain, people are still willing to pay the price of a small luxury... coffee!

Pour espresso shots, steam milk, add flavor, and serve with a smile: a Barista's life may sound pretty repetitive. To me, being a Barista is so much more than just making a delicious cup of coffee; as a barista, I get the awesome responsibility of making people happy as well as providing their great cup of Joe.

One day a guy drove up to Java Bear and asked, "How do you always stay so happy?" I smiled at him and thought to myself, it's my job to be happy! I love that aspect of being a barista because I love to be happy. Just because I go to work doesn't mean I am automatically happy. There are days when I am driving to work and the last thing in the worlds I want to do is smile, let alone make other people smile. Yet, when I walk into the shop, just like sweeping, wiping the counters, and making the coffees, I know that I must put on a smile and be the best barista I can be. This can be a blessing, because I get to be forced into being happy, whether I want to or not, and so far it hasn't taken but two customers before my smile is genuine and I stop my acting.

I love making people smile, always have, always will. As a barista, I am given just a minute and a half to make a person’s day better than when they drove up; I accept this challenge whole heartedly!