Would you like a wee bit of butter with that?

I know the suspense must be killing you, so for those of you who haven't already found out through the magic of facebook, I have some good news.....I GOT THE JOB!!
When I got the call and heard someone say "I'm calling to offer you a job" I almost didn't believe what I was hearing. Having waited the better part of a week after having my trial, and then waiting all day for the call, I convinced myself that they must have picked someone else. Facing rejection after rejection, and constantly being beaten by more experienced applicants, had me thisclose to giving up on my hopes of working in a cafe. It's extremely hard to remain unaffected when even your best doesn't seem to be good enough, and even harder to take your own advice to stay positive and not give up. I assumed that getting a job in a cafe would be easy as, (as the kiwi's would say) but it was anything but. Nearly three months in, I've finally got my cafe job, and I'm really looking forward to things going a little more according to plan from now on.

Along with my new job, came the task of quitting my other jobs, something that I would have rather avoided. I came to the conclusion that thinking about it was likely worse than actually doing it, so I put on my big girl pants and got it done. Both jobs were understandably a bit disappointed, but with the coffee shop only being 5 hours a week, and the fish shop being, well, a fish shop, they could hardly be shocked. Getting that off my chest was a huge relief, and I'll be glad to leave some of the less desirable job duties behind.

I had my first shift at my new Cafe job on Thursday, and working almost exclusively on till, made a few observations. The first is that unless I asked customers the same questions in the same manner that they're used to, a lot of them couldn't seem to understand what I was saying. After many funny looks and people asking me to repeat myself, (more than a couple times on several occasions) I gave up and decided to talk like the Kiwis. I found myself asking people if they would "like a wee bit of butter" with their muffin, or asking if they would like their coffee in a "take-away" cup. I almost felt like laughing as I heard these things come out of my mouth, but it worked! No more funny looks or repeat requests. Another thing I noticed is that most people have a bit of a soft spot for my Canadian accent, and I can tell they are being more patient with me because of it. Yup, gonna milk that one for all it's worth, and I hope the novelty doesn't wear off. :) It was a really busy day and although I did struggle to keep up at times, I can already tell this is going to be a much nicer environment to work in. My coffee training at my last job consisted of making a coffee once per shift, and didn't exactly leave me feeling confident. This time, I'm getting step-by-step training, and have already been invited to attend a "cupping" session, the practice of observing the tastes and aromas of coffee by loudly slurping it...should be fun! The owner also happens to be somewhat of a local celebrity in the coffee world, and has won barista of the year on more than one occasion, so I have a lot to live up to!!