Coffee Talk is a game about stimulation.
An extra-medium time ago I was a coffee shop barista, and boy, was I bad at the job. If you have been reading this blog for a while you may have stumbled onto the theme. I have had no less than a million jobs, so far, and have been terrible at all of them. Yet somehow, someway, I keep coming up with funky ass shit like every single day.
I got the barista job because I was in one of my ten thousand stretches of unemployment, so to avoid having that awkward conversation about what I was gonna do today with my roommate I would sit in a local coffee shop, write, play my GBA, and complain to the baristas about how easy their job was.
One day the manager said, "Well if it's so easy, how bout' you try it till you find work?"
Man, making coffee is hard, don't let anybody tell you different. There are like, a billion types of coffee, and everybody wants something different. People have, like, allergies, or whatever so you have to, like, be cognizant of that. The only reason I was able to survive so long in a job I had zero passion or skill for was the same reason I survived in all of the other jobs where I had zero passion or skill.
People would become regulars just to show up, ask for a drink they knew I hated making and watching me complain while fucking it up or to teach me to make the drink from the other side of the counter while co-workers would step in from time to time to crack a joke. The whole shop would get involved, arguing with each other over the proper amount of cinnamon in this or milk to latte ratio (Is milk a part of latte?!). If I ended up making a halfway digestible drink it was a celebration.
One day while closing up the manager told me, "If it was just about making coffee I would have fired you the second week. The mood is lighter when you are around. Customers I've never seen speak have long conversations with you, workers actually laugh. I don't know how you do it, because I think you are a sketchy asshole. But no one likes me, and I try hard, so what do I know?"
Back then I had no idea what I was up to, but now I know what I was up to. I was learning how to market.
Some people show up to a business to receive a product in the most efficient manner possible. So employees train themselves to provide service in the most efficient manner possible, which, to them equates into being the best worker possible. That's one way to go about it.
In my personal opinion, if a marketer is great at A+ pages, but can't connect with a client, or a player, or consumer on a personal level, and do not embrace their own flaws, they are not a marketer.
Starbucks was becoming the behemoth it was always meant to be, and they erected a monument to efficiency right across the street. To be honest, I couldn't tell the difference in attendance when they showed up. Some people show up to a coffee shop to get coffee, some people show up for a performance. People are different.
I honestly don't even remember if I got fired or I quit that gig. But one thing is for sure, I never made one cup of good coffee.
Anyway, rip TB rip TC rip Tall-T. Love is wise, hatred is foolish. Get out there and do great things. We believe in you. Also Jobs.
The Protoculture Mixtape : Issue : People : Bargain
