I am not a coffee drinker, yet I know so much about coffee. All of my valuable coffee knowledge has been gained through my place of work, a coffee shop at UCLA. On my first day, I walked behind the bar confused, shaking from anxiety and not knowing how to make a single drink. All of my co-workers seemed to know how to do everything and could understand the letters written on each cup like it was their native language. However, I was scrambling to retain as much information as I could from the Student Senior Supervisor who was training me. This was my first job ever and I wanted to be good at it, but during those first few shifts, I felt like all I did was ask question after question.
However, as time went on, I began to grasp it all. The letters on cups became recognizable and the burns became less consistent. The place of certain menu items came to me like the placement of keys on a keyboard. The people I worked with were no longer my co-workers, but friends who I laughed and talked with. As hard as it was to get out of bed in the morning, I was happy to go into work because making coffee was fun.Â
