1 Chapter One

This is my first part-time job. God bless, since it was quite difficult at first. Didn't really fit in well. But afterwards, I was enjoying my time there. So, here's a little book to talk about the moments at the workplace.

I worked as a waitress, for The Providore, in Singapore. There were many things to learn from there, the different types of coffee, food and what not a cafe can hold. I was hired by sweet, little Filipino woman called Abi. She was quite short, but had very uplifting and cheerful personality. My friend, Ryan, had recommended me to go to that cafe, since he'd worked there for a few months.

The odd thing that happened was I did not went through the interview. I had waited one whole week for that one interview call, preparing how would answer. But when met up with Abi, all she gave was instructions and certain rules that the company upholds. Then, boom! I was hired, and asked to do the work straight away. Left me confused, but at least got the job. One of the rules was that I could tie my long hair in a ponytail. Due to hygiene purposes, I had to bun it up or braid it. For that day, it was braids. I didn't know how to back then, so a senior staff helped me. Another rule was that I had to wear a white, long-sleeved shirt with a collar. That was fine, since it was in air-conditioning area. For pay-wise, I had placed on the form as $8 per hour, but since I was starting out, Abi could only give me $7.50 per hour. I agreed on that. Next, it was about my break time. As a part-timer, I am granted free 15,min break for every 7 hours I work. I can request for more, if I work for more than 8 hours, but it won't be free. It will deduct my total hours combined at the end of the month. Filled out some admin stuff, and off to work I go!

Firstly, I was taught by two lovely girls, Sandy and Melissa. Sandy was outgoing, embraced the newcomers with a warm smile. She was funny as well, quite crazy. Mel, on the hand, was much more calm. They were best friends. Sandy taught me how serving works. First, you asked them how many are seating in, you sit them based on how many there are and you give the menus to them. After a while, they'll call you for orders. We were required to have a small notepad with us to take down orders from the guest. You note them down; then you proceed to the Ipad. They used a system called Revel, to keep track of orders and tables. You would a need a pass code to enter in. From there, you pressed on the table which that guest is at and keyed in the orders. Be sure to press send. Any special requests, ask first. One thing I've learnt from there; never be afraid to ask. Better be safe than sorry. But, think your question through first.

Apparently, Hadi, who is Ryan's friend, who also working there. He turned the 'don't be afraid to ask' thing a bit too truthfully. He asked Gab, another manager, if chili was spicy. That kid's going places. Another funny moment happened before I joined that involved Hadi and Devi. Devi was a manager as well. She was more strict and hard to please when I first started out. But, we were fine later on. Anyways, a customer wanted to order cakes. Two, a strawberry shortcake and a chocolate tart. The tart was basically a thick disk, the top is flat. I had no idea what that poor boy was thinking, but he'd thought it was a good idea to get a tiny box and put these two cakes in. By stacking the strawberry shortcake on top of chocolate tart. Devi, with every right, screamed her lungs out at the boy. The best thing was that no one bothered to get rid of that; allowing the person who was opening the next day to see that monstrosity in the fridge. Bar staff was not pleased.

Back to my first day, I had met a new staff; Kellyann. She had worked in many jobs before this one, and was just doing it for the holidays. The basics was taught, how to handle customers and stuff. Around late afternoon, I was told by Devi to study the menu. I was still new to the job, so I didn't know certain things that you are not supposed to do. One of this was sitting. During work, I was not allowed to sit, unless break time. When I sat, Devi quickly pulled me up. I found it odd; when it was Ryan's first day, I had visited to get a meal. He sat down in front of me during his work. But that was a minor issue. Then, Devi came to me and did a quick run through on the drinks menu.

And boy oh boy, that was one hell of a drinks menu for a cafe. I was aware on the fact that specialize in coffee, but not that huge of an amount. Okay, you ready? For coffee they had; Cappuccino, Flat White, Latte, Piccolo Latte, Long Black, Americano, Short Black, Babycino, Mocha, Mochaccino, Macchiato, Affogato and Single Origin Pour Over. For iced coffees; Iced Cappuccino, Iced Mocha, Iced Black and Iced Latte. Yes, these are only for the coffees. Wait till you see the teas' section. Its amazing.

Right, for all, hot, coffees, size Regular, has one shot of coffee. Unless it is Long Black, which has two shots. For Large, it adds one more shot to the previous size. So that means, Long Black would have three shots if it is a Large size. Sounds a lot, but I had customers asking for another shot on top of the triple shot cup of coffee. Short Black is basically espresso. Americano is like Long Black, but has only one shot at Regular size. For the iced coffees, there is only a standard size, in a tall glass. They have 2 shots. For the iced coffees, you can add a scoop of ice cream if you are willing to pay extra. But the ice cream scoop size does not disappoint. Its even bigger than the 3 Gelato scoops of ice cream on the menu.

There was an altercation later on during my time working there on this topic. This Caucasian man wanted his Regular Latte to have a scoop of ice cream. He was angry at me when I said we could not allow that. First, we follow Headquarters rules. Second, who the hell would want to eat that mess? Gab saw this and immediately stepped in. The man was brash as he went behind the counter, which all our valuables were at. He then kicked up a fuss at Gab and Azalee, the head barista. He threatened us to make our revenue go down. Let me just emphasize this. He tried to lower down a Saturday revenue sales by canceling a plate of pasta and only buying a coffee. From a cafe which have other outlets at Downtown Gallery, Mandarin Gallery and Raffles Place. I swear, some people's threats are just plain hilarious. That matter was resolved as his wife felt bad for making a scene.