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Cafe work? (1 Viewer)

Skittled

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After a one night stint with Mobydisk, I decided that I was totally not cut out for hospitality. I felt like a servant back in the 1800s, born to please, at a whole $15/hour. Sure, that was better than my retail job at the time, but I wasn't interested in a 30 min break after 6 hours, where 15mins or so of that is interrupted by people asking me to get bread rolls for them... and apparently we weren't allowed to tell them "I'm the DJ": you've gotta go get them their bread rolls.... Problems went on and on.

Anyway. So now, an opportunity's come up to work in the cafe that's about to change hands, as a bit of everything -- attempted chef, cashier, waiter, etc -- with reasonable pay and conditions which seem would be a hell of a lot better than retail...

Does anyone here work in a cafe? What're your worst experiences? Any warnings I should know before making any drastic moves?
 

^CoSMic DoRiS^^

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i wanna work in a cafe, it sounds more fun than retail. a friend of mine does, she says it can be stressful during busy times but mostly fun.
 

Skeeta

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im workin at gloria jeans at the moment.. i'v only just started, but so far its pretty good. once you know everything ur fine. Ppl are more relaxed and happier at cafes than fast food places (ive worked at maccas so trust me there) but its ALOT of time standing - thats really the only con... as long as you get somewhere with good ventilation you'll be rite
 

doe

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i was a kitchenhand in a cafe for a few years, it was great. the chefs were all cool and all the other staff were uni students as well, pretty good vibe. theres quiet times too, for instance sunday mornings we'd get our first customer about 11 and we opened at 9, so we'd just sit around in the sun drinking coffee. just look at the average age of staff and if they're all young/at uni it should be ok
 

*~Dazed~*

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I work at a restaurant so it will be a tad different but still the same idea.
I work nights, anywhere from 3-6 hour shifts, we dont get any breaks but because the longest shift is like 6 hours there's no real need.

It is intimidating at first and chances are if you havent had that sort of job before, you'll feel a bit incompetant for a while but you'll get the hang of it (ie carrying plates, 2 coffees in one hand, 3-4 drinks, dealing with the heat of plates etc etc) pretty quickly and it will become second nature eventually.

If i understood what you said correctly, I too do a bit of everything, in between waitressing wash up, help in the kitchen, take away section and that gets a bit hectic because you are all over the place. but yeah you will get used to it.

Customers are both the best and worst thing about the job. Depends on the type of place you work, you will have a shitload of regulars which you get to know which makes things great. At the same time, you have to be an extremely patient person. Because in hospitality you are going to have to deal with your customer for longer than after they purchase the product, (i realise this is stating the obvious) it makes things extra hard when you get an annoying or rude customer because you actually have to keep going back and trying to please them, its not just, serve them and its over. People expect good and constant service so like yeah be prepared to smile and be cheerful and chatty for your entire shift regardless of your mood (in retail too i realise).

Depending on where you work and whether and how they operate, closes suck majorly if its been a busy night or day in your situation? Clean up is really tedious and a pain in the arse because we are left with maximum 3 people at the end of the night although you DO get used to it and it kind of becomes routine where you just know exactly what needs to be done and you dont think about it and in the case of my work, working close kind of becomes a bit of a social affair (if your boses are cool). In general most people are pretty cool and laid back and in between serving and preparing meals and stuff, everyone interacts quite a bit. On that note, you're a guy so it will be a bit different but everyone i know who works in hospitality has the same opinion as me, but guys (particularly the chefs and kitchen hands etc) who you work with are very open and sexually forward and swear a shitload and make lots of crude jokes and stuff which is cool if you are like me and dont care and half the time join in and laugh along with them, but if you are a girl who gets offended easily, be warned.

I'll probably think of more later and i realise that most of what i said is really obvious but yeah if you want to hear about bad experiences, go into the 'rules for customers' thread and look up any posts by me, there are a few, and you will see the main complaints that i have because i cant be bothered to go into them now. Contrary to that, there is a shitload of good about working in hospitality but you will find them out for yourself.
 

braindrainedAsh

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Cafes are usually pretty good. Often it comes down to what the owners are like, particularly if it is a small business. The best part about cafe work is that there is usually something to do. If you aren't busy, there is always something to clean, so you aren't hanging around being bored as much as in some retail jobs.
 

Ranger Stacie

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it just depends really i love where i work at the moment, but in my last cafe job the owner was an absolute pig, and i always had to put up with shit like being constantly underpaid, in addition to that EVERY week there was problems not only with my pay but every other casuals as well, because one of the owners and the one in charge of the pay was chinese and used that as an excuse for not understanding our number system! and was also ALWAYS understaffed, and only got a 10 minute break for working an 8 or more hour shift, and was constantly expected to work back unpaid
 

Agnes2810

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superbird said:
i work at gloria jeans too....its fun!
i work at gloria jeans as well!! lol

been there for a year and a half...... ima shift leader hehe, gotta train heaps of new ppl that came
 

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