With the first week of my new job drawing to a close, I finally have some spare time and energy to make a post. I have to say, the first couple days were really nerve wracking. I had no idea what I was doing, and was expected to memorize all of the deli items and their codes right away. I spent my first day working the ovens, warming up any sandwiches/wraps or cookies/scones and things of that nature. There are probably 25 different items to learn, and you have to know the codes plus where the item is listed in the ovens menu. It was a mess. Things have been getting better though, and after a day and a half on the ovens I was moved to writing on the cups. Customers give their orders and while the woman who is training me rang up their order, I wrote the order down on the cup. I’ve also learned how to brew coffee, and today I worked a little bit on the register. I haven’t made any fancy coffee yet, but I’ll be working on that tomorrow I think.

I have to say my least favorite part about all of this has been how much my feet have hurt. Standing for more than 5 hours at a time on uneven flooring (we have a bunch of mats behind the counter for traction/spillage safety purposes) is absolutely killing my feet. I even got fancy new Dr. Scholes shoes with padded soles, and that hasn’t helped much. Oh, let me really tell you about the mess that was my first day. I got there 10 minutes late because there was an accident on the freeway, and once I was there my manager sat me down at one of the tables to go over some of the basic information. She hadn’t covered dress code, so even though I had bought “khakis” and dark shoes, neither were appropriate. My khakis are “too brown” and I had bought black Vans, but because they’re canvas that’s not ok. Shoes have to be a studier material like leather to make sure no liquids can get in if anything is spilled.

Also, nothing that I needed, like my beginners booklet (which covers drink basics and has a full menu so you can actually learn the items) and apron, had come in yet because I started on a Monday and orders come in Tuesday. On Tuesday they only got about half an order in, so none of the name tags they ordered came in, nor did any of the tags for marking food expiration dates. My aprons were also not available. I had to borrow one from someone else for the first couple days until wednesday when my aprons somehow magically showed up, but nothing else did. We managed to get my basic info confirmed for the database, and all the stuff for tax nonsense. I still don’t have an employee number though, so I have had to sign in and out of work in a booklet, instead of being able to do so at a register. Speaking of which, the register is beyond confusing. There are probably 15 different tabs you can click to open up pages for different items, and each page comes with more tabs plus a full page of the basic items. For example the Food tab. That opens up to a new page with like 3 basic food items on it, but five tabs with a full page each of items. There’s one for bagels, one for cookies, one for juices. You get the idea. And because this system is company wide, we have pages of items that we don’t even carry because we’re in a business office and don’t need things like chocolate milk or odwalla juice for kids. Its very obnoxious.

This morning I woke up at 5:45 and couldn’t go back to sleep, even though I didn’t start work until 10. I got in the shower at 7:45, so that I have enough time to get myself ready to go, and have breakfast and make myself lunch. I only get a lunch break if I work 5+ hours, but even if I don’t get one then I still want to have something to eat on the way home. I’m not interested in buying any of the food we have because its all outrageously unhealthy. I looked at one of the few vegetarian items and the cholesterol content on it was 65% of your daily requirement. Fat and sodium were both well above 30%. Iron was 40% and protein was something similar, which is nice, but still completely crazy given everything else. So I probably will only be getting drinks, if I get anything. I get free drinks from 30 min before I start work to half an hour after I clock out, and 30% off everything all the time. 

Anyway, I’m learning a bit slower than I would like to be, but I’m getting there and got a few “good job!”s from my coworkers today, which was nice. I’m weirdly more tired but also have a lot more energy. I came home yesterday after a five hour shift and vacuumed the whole house and did the dishes, plus did a load of laundry and folded and put away everything. Its weird how much more motivated I am to get things done.

I’m tired now though so I’m going to go to bed, haha. I’ll post again soon!