Puttin' in the hours
I worked 15 hours this weekend. Saturday was my first eight hour shift since the summer, and it was tough. I was on bar the whole time, and it was, according to Brad, "a reasonably busy day". In retrospect, it wasn't that bad. I enjoyed making drinks, that's for sure. I had the Black Cat dialed in nicely and the pours were spot on throughout the day.
Maybe it comes with the volume of customers that come through in Wicked, but there seems to be more people in Vancouver that appreciate artistry and a good espresso based drink. I had several compliments that were very flattering for the drinks I was building. One guy even recognized me from a few days back and told me how he really enjoyed a cappuccino I had made him. But, the best comment of the weekend went to a random customer who ordered a double espresso. When these are ordered, I go into alert mode and ensure that what I am serving is excellent (seriously!). So I set about pouring a shot, and he just hung out by the bar, which reminded me of my espresso bar habits. The first shot I poured looked excellent, so I served it to him. Dallas and I watched to see what his reaction would be to the shot. We asked, unobtrusively, what he thought of the double. He wouldn't comment until the end of the shot. Dallas and I were in suspense. When he did finish, he came closer to the espresso machine and simply said, "That shot was phenomenal." Yay! I was very glad, since my experience with pouring straight shots for people other than myself was pretty slim. I think I'm just getting started.
On the flip side, I came across many examples of not-so-great customers... haha... I heard "expresso" more than once, people asking for a macchiato who thought they were getting a big caramel soft drink (fortunately we clarified that one pretty quickly, though I thought at first he really did want the macchiato, but he retracted his request and asked for tea... oh well, we can't win them all), the guy when asked how his double was (different guy), said "good, it was strong." Yes. That is the point, espresso should be strong. Maybe he just speaks laconically.
Anyways, I should get back to math.
Maybe it comes with the volume of customers that come through in Wicked, but there seems to be more people in Vancouver that appreciate artistry and a good espresso based drink. I had several compliments that were very flattering for the drinks I was building. One guy even recognized me from a few days back and told me how he really enjoyed a cappuccino I had made him. But, the best comment of the weekend went to a random customer who ordered a double espresso. When these are ordered, I go into alert mode and ensure that what I am serving is excellent (seriously!). So I set about pouring a shot, and he just hung out by the bar, which reminded me of my espresso bar habits. The first shot I poured looked excellent, so I served it to him. Dallas and I watched to see what his reaction would be to the shot. We asked, unobtrusively, what he thought of the double. He wouldn't comment until the end of the shot. Dallas and I were in suspense. When he did finish, he came closer to the espresso machine and simply said, "That shot was phenomenal." Yay! I was very glad, since my experience with pouring straight shots for people other than myself was pretty slim. I think I'm just getting started.
On the flip side, I came across many examples of not-so-great customers... haha... I heard "expresso" more than once, people asking for a macchiato who thought they were getting a big caramel soft drink (fortunately we clarified that one pretty quickly, though I thought at first he really did want the macchiato, but he retracted his request and asked for tea... oh well, we can't win them all), the guy when asked how his double was (different guy), said "good, it was strong." Yes. That is the point, espresso should be strong. Maybe he just speaks laconically.
Anyways, I should get back to math.
posted by Peter at 10:17
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