Tip Share

For eight months I have worked full time at a very special place in Dallas. Between my time there and the winery, I have had precious little free time, but have somehow been blessed with quality family time along with the benefits of completely new relationships. Arguably I have taken more from Dallas than four years of college.  

I came home this week to visit the only place I had ever lived before the move, before Coffee House Cafe, before La Buena Vida. My Uncle passed away last week- a loss which compliments many I have experienced recently. Most of my peers have experienced similar feelings as we create lives for ourselves.

Lucky for me, my grandparents chose the city of Springfield Missouri to create their life with my father and his three brothers. Shared experience as a family imparts the burden of a common "who we are". As do shared experiences in the town you attended college, the workplace you contributed, or even the nationality or religion you claim. These bonds weigh more heavily on some members than others.

Tip share: The money a server will bring home is a result of the combined reward being split evenly. Optimal in high volume drawn from specialized tasks with aces in their places. Relative to the degree these qualifications are met, dependents stand to gain and suffer together. Anyone who has tip-shared has a strong love/hate relationship with this concept. Often the intrinsic motivator of pride can not out-way the cost of consistently carrying a team when you are a stronger player. Sometimes what happens in our lives make even the minimum requirements of a busy night difficult to meet, and the risks- even of letting others down- seem negligible. We have all put more into something and felt resentment build when others don't seem to value our contributions. We have all entered social contracts with low expectations and benefited from the generosity of others.

It comes down to how much responsibility we are willing to take for outcomes that benefit the group we are in. Being an adult gives you a greater degree of control over the associations you choose to recognize and the degree to which you develop and maintain them. As a member of the group of people following, your interest has benefited me greatly. As always, thank you.            

The Macchiato Gap

 

Customer's vary most in their expectations. That's not to say anyone coming in the front door expects a poor experience, but definitions of a satisfactory breakfast vary considerably. Some diner's fly by the seat of their pants. They expect to be seated, ask and take recommendations, and refuse condiments, refills, and change. Some diner's move several times before they are satisfied and are even willing delay the carnal gratification of eating for a more pleasing position in which to do so. They must taste house wines on happy hour, they use the menu only as a tool to decipher what is in the walk-in, they request explanations behind upcharges and don't bat an eyelash while reciting ritualistic substitutions.

This is especially true with people and their coffee. A sincere apology to fellow hipster baristas, but coffee making is not complicated at all. Everything and I mean EVERYTHING on any coffee house menu is a combination of five things- espresso, coffee, milk, hot water, syrup... but mostly espresso and milk. Italian, as Latin, lends itself to confusion, confusion lends itself to the illusion of complication, the illusion of complication lends itself to sophistication, and sophistication lends itself to money making potential(ask anyone in the medical profession).

Sophistication leads to outsider trust. The novice coffee drinker often asks, "What's good?" "What's sweet?" "What do most people get?" The answer to all of these questions is usually a version of the latte, but several variables effect what transaction eventually takes place. Most people prefer sweet drinks, men prefer not to admit it. If I feel a connection to a customer I will make bolder suggestions. There are several drinks I prefer to make. Sometimes I'm just out of something or my espresso is pulling funny.  

Sophistication also attract sophisticates. Academic style arguments, emotions flaring, exacerbated by caffeine or lack thereof. Wine sophisticates are prevalent as well, but far more tolerable. Wine sophisticates are usually satisfied more easily by more wine and perceived agreement. Coffee sophisticates are often more difficult to pacify, usually because they don't have clue what they're drinking in the first place. The word "latte" has not been integrated with "espresso" and "steamed milk". And unlike wine, coffee drinks often taste good. So when someone who craves a Starbucks style Macchiato is surprised to receive a shot of espresso with a spoon full of milk on top, the world seems like a very bitter and quickly cooling place. 

When first dealing with the macchiato gap, I would ask, "Are you sure?", which was almost completely ineffective at gaging customer's "sure-ness". I then would explain the difference between the two using words like smaller, more bitter, and very different. Eventually I found that the best approach was prompting guests to explain their expectations and then use my extensive milk and espresso experience to avoid disappointment. As it turns out, most people would prefer to remain oblivious to their own lack of knowledge in favor of conserving learning resources for more important things than coffee.

It takes energy to maintain illusion for others. But perception is reality and the truth is: as people, we experience restlessness wherever we're at. Only upon realizing this can we ever hope to grasp true freedom: the ability to choose to push the envelope or accept things the way we perceive them. The danger of acceptance is vulnerability to the ambitions of others. The danger of personal ambition is personable responsibility.

Its not that any field or life is more difficult. It comes down to the details in life that we are truly willing to pay attention to and take responsibility for. That's why respect is important. Thank you again for your attention and respect. Three hundred views guys! Thank you. 

Thanks for reading guys

Thanks for reading guys. If you find in the next couple lines that you would rather return to classier reading material, I wont have any idea you did.

This is my blog. It's about what I'm doing with my life after graduation. Right now I wait tables. I make coffee, pour wine, and mix drinks. Basically, I am a professional liquid artist and distributor. I'm only half joking. We have such high hopes and expectations for the things we put in our mouths- a lot like things we are willing to stop and really examine with our eyes.

Anyone who has ever worked in the service industry has a bit of an insider's perspective. <<more valuable than gold>>. We know nothing is as it seems. We respect it. The success of a restaurant, however short lived, is based on the ability of staff to exceed high and mostly unrealistic expectations. It is a moving target. That's life. Whether you realize it or not, you go to a restaurant or bar to be impressed... by something. Otherwise the decision to spend frankly a lot of money out of the comfort and warmth of your own home makes little since. The truth is, its an escape, because homes are not always warm and comfortable enough. Familiar things become mundane, so we escape into a good labor-free meal, a drink, companionship, and semi-personal relationships with waiters and waitresses.

Wine is the best example of this sort of illusion I have encountered. A friend of mine once said matter-of-factly, "Wine just tastes like dirt, all of it." IT DOES. That's what's so great about it. Here's something with --yes I'm going to say it-- NNNNOOOO health value. It is alchohol, it is poisonous, it makes people more likely to wreck cars, get in fights, conceive unplanned pregnancies and worst of all send embarrassing texts to exes. This whole one glass a day thing is BS. These experts are basically telling you that a "glass" of wine (give or take based on factors few people can dream to understand) is the amount to ingest at which point the benefit of relaxing out-ways the costs of damaging your body or unborn fetus. Just about every neuron in your body is literally screaming, "WTF?!" That's why it's freaking awesome.

Do you remember your first taste of wine? Not Arbor Mist or Yellow Tail Moscato.... I mean WINE. I guarantee it tasted like dirt, or worse. ......................My stepmothers merlot at Zio's.......................... It was blood red, thick, too warm to drink, no ice, no straw, and I was fourteen. All I could taste was cigarette butts. Cigarette butts and blood, Zios in Springfield Missouri... elegant indeed(favorite restaurant EVER BTW). If I had the same merlot today, I would probably love it.

Would I love it because it would have aged longer? Has my molecular structure changed so much in ten years that the neural signals I am receiving are different? No. It would be the same wine, but I would revel in the smoky undertones of tobacco, is that strawberry? No! Raspberry. Bask is the density... gorgeous deep scarlet. I might sell it to you. You might buy two bottles for you and your friends, have a great time, take some home, and leave an excellent tip. But I guarantee the power of the sale had nothing to do with that wine tasting good. It doesn't. It's the fact that we just made the absolute best out of something mundane, even unpleasant; we escaped for a moment, and we did it together.

Great escapes are about being brave, but not being a big jerk about it. You have to push a little deeper sometimes(and if you're like me, those times usually involve blushes). It's a social thing. It's a heroic moment to be shared. Just a moment; there's no good times to own, no matter how many pictures you take, and agendas spoil everything. Refusing to taste something you have never tried isn't rude, its not stupid, it just limits possibilities.

So if you made it this far and you liked it, next time you see me, tell me how difficult it was to hold yourself back from impersonal commercialized mumbo-jumbo or political views well developed enough that they become Facebook eCards in 28 hours. Or just read next time. :)