I work and go to school full time. How I handle both surprises many and sometimes it surprises me too. I started working at Grandaisy Bakery two and a half years ago. Luckily for me, my brother was working in the company as well so it did not take me long until I got used to the rhythm of things.
The bakery is a Italian style bakery which is known for its rustic Italian loaves. The bread is awesome. Most of the loaves have this great crunchy crust and very moist and soft crumb (I feel like eating one now). This place have over 250 wholesale accounts in New York City and chances are you’ve eaten this bread.
I loved my job since day one. It is a face paced environment that requires a great deal of customer service. People constantly come in and out for coffee and bread. When I started working here I was not on the Hospitality Management major so the way I viewed my working place was different. At that time I just wanted to help people for a pay and a good tip (I am being honest).
My brother had told me that people in the company was expecting a lot from me because I was “Daniel’s sister” and by people I mean the GM and the owner. He was a great worker and the owner loved him. That put some pressure on me the first day but I guess I like to work and “justify my salary” so nobody complaint about me not doing anything like some people do when arriving to a new working environment.
After I started the hospitality major I realized why certain things where done in certain ways. Why you greet people when they come in and out and why even the owner was so friendly to everybody. It had a name and is was called Hospitality.
People noticed at work that I was being extra friendly they asked why and I explained what Hospitality was about. Some gave me weird looks and some said they did not have time for that. I kept quiet and kept working I knew I was doing the right thing. Helping people and providing then with a great service while giving them their morning coffee was all that matter to me. I am not going to lie some customer are very irritating but is through them that we get pay.
I used to look forward to my weekends not because I had the weekends off but because I knew my day was full on familiar faces from our regular customers. Now I am working in the office as a production assistant handling wholesale accounts and customers. I do not serve coffee any more; I pick up phones and make deliveries happen 🙂
