Boredom at Coffee Now

I've decided to blog through my day at work today. The 1-7pm shift can be a little daunting and let's face it, coffee sales are not that high during a late September afternoon in South Texas. Also, you really need to walk a mile in my shoes. This life is rough.

2:20pm: Sitting at the couch lounge in front of the shop typing away. It probably doesn't look the most professional, but hey, I AM wearing a nametag. The afternoon has actually been fairly busy which completely falsifies my opening sentence. I made an Ah Nuts Latte (Hazelnut, Almond and Macadamia), a bunch of smoothies and sold our pre-made sandwiches from Walmart. Also it is a little cooler out today. Bobbie Love (No, not a porn star, but the owner of Coffee Now) thinks this will be a cool winter and coffee sales will skyrocket! I'm still questioning what a "cold winter" is in Del Rio.

2:25pm. Realizing that this might be quite the boring post, I start on another post simultaneously. It is titled, "My Wish List."

2:43pm: I have 2 customers back to back. The first one is a spouse of an enlisted guy who is currently deployed. She orders a medium sugar-free caramel latte and tells me that he will be back in November but feels guilty drinking the coffee since he does not have such luxuries overseas. The second customer is an employee of the fitness center where we are located. She orders a 10oz bottle of Cranberry juice. It is $1.50. I always feel bad charging people that for such a little thing. My tip jar, which coyly has "thanks a latte" in puffy paint on it, is still standing strong at $1.70 after almost 2 hours of work.

3:06pm: A young married lieutenant came in and ordered a medium pineapple coconut smoothie with a shoot of vanilla soy protein. I have become an expert at reading the uniforms to pick out where they are at in their pilot training. He was in Laughlin UPT class 10-03 (meaning he will graduate as the 3rd class in 2010) and he is also flying the T-38. At Laughlin there are 3 training planes. The T-6, T-1 and T-38. All students start off on the T-6 (that is what Gustavo is flying right now), the when you "track" you get placed into either the T-1's or the T-38's based on how well you did in the T-6's. Usually those who fly the T-38's are on the fighter jet path and are the better students (meaning cockier). Apparently this guy did well in the T-6's.

3:42pm: Ooh 2 more customers. They seem to be coming in 2's today. I'm not sure that I can handle it. The first guy is dressed in civilian clothing. He orders a large strawberry smoothie. "No sir, they are not made with fresh fruit." The second guy is a UPT student who ordered one of our HEB salads. Italian dressing for him. Did I mention that I have to pee? I am the only one working, so when you have to use the restroom you have to put doen the gate. The is a problem for me. The gate makes the horrendous noise that echoes through the whole facility and immediately paints a sign on your forehead that says "running to the bathroom." The noise can be most accurately described as the ringing that happens at the fair when someone has won a life-size stuffed bear by throwing darts at balloons displayed on a dart board. It's embarrassing. Period. Not to mention disruptive to the people that are actually working in this cafe area.

3:59pm: Two more Coffee Now lovers. These two are of the protein smoothie lover variety. They have many questions about the differences between our 2 products and how many grams of protein each contains. They eventually decide on large pommegranite blueberry smoothies with 1.5 scoops of whey protein. I think when they are finished I will use the restroom. The cafe will then be empty. My tip jar is at $2.70 after 3 hours of work.

4:13pm: I have peed.

4:37pm: A small Pommegranite Blueberry smoothie. I really had to sell him on this one. It is my favorite. His total came to $3.60 and he paid with a $5 bill. He left all his change in my tip jar. I think my total almost just doubled.

5:00pm: I have been here for 4 hours now. It actually has flown by thanks to my blogging. But, I have only made $4.10 in tips this far. I guess I had it coming to me, since I had such a good week last week.

5:12pm. Researching recipes for dinner tonight. I think I'll make pork chops.

5:37pm. So hungry now that I have been looking at all those recipes. But, I dont want to eat any junk. Those bagels and blueberry muffins are calling my name. I'm gonna be good and stick to my water and protein bar. I have to get back on the weightloss track.

6:07pm: I just started my closing duties when 2 more customers came in. The first guy, a medium peanut butter smoothie with chocolate whey protein. The second was Rory. He comes in a lot and orders some size of Coffee flavored blended ice. Rory is here at Laughlin for IFF. Which means that he did very well in UPT and got a spot as an F-16 pilot, but he has to go to further training to learn how to be a fighter pilot before he can be the future Maverick of the Air Force. He also went to Ohio State, so he rocks. Between the 2 guys I got $2.50 for a tip. WOO HOO. I am going to finish my closing duties which include wiping down the cafe area, cleaning milk pots and coffee pots, getting rid of expired product, changing trash, taking towels to the laundry and shutting down the register. There are other things, but those are the biggens!! Rough... As of right now I have made $7.01 in tips today. Damn...