"Everyday Hustle"

My first and worst job was when I was working at a Pete's Coffee about 2 years ago. It was inside Montgomery Bart station. I had never worked for a coffee shop so prior to my hire they took me on anyways. I was trained for my first two weeks learning how to work the cash register, how to make the coffee, wash the dishes, set up the pastry goods, and lastly make and serve drinks as a barista. The interaction with the customers was an enjoyable experience for me. A lot of people I knew were actually regulars there. But my coworkers were not cool at all. Since I was fresh to the team, they did not deal well with "new". Since they all drank coffee from sun up to sun down on a regular basis, work other jobs, and probably didn’t get any sleep, I understand maybe why they looked and acted the way they did towards me. I did not receive any companionship whatsoever from these people. I was actually put at the Montgomery station because my boss wanted me to work there, but the manager at the Pete's Coffee in the Embarcadero station wanted me as well. I personally wanted to work at the Embarcadero station, but the position was for the Montgomery station. Although my coworkers and my boss were huge jerks, I did learned how to make a good Frappuccino. I learned that sometimes you cannot help the situation you are in especially the people you have to work with on a day to day basis.

My second job was working for a rental car company called Payless at the SFO airport. I got the job because of three classmates from college had worked there previously and put a good word in for me. I was hired to work the front desk working with customers opening and closing contracts, selling insurance, and bring cars to the front for the customers as well. I also parked and washed cars. I was later asked by my boss to help him with the sales inputting and filling transactions through Microsoft Excel, fixing his computer, updating his iTunes. I, along with my manager, took cars to be sold to auctions. I would say the best part of working there was the pay, although I later quit the job because I found out I was not being paid fairly. All the other employees were being paid five dollars more than what I was making an hour. I was doing the job of all the people in that place, and for the bare minimum wages. The sad part was that I did not even notice. The truth is how could you? I was robbed about five thousand dollar or more. I felt like a slave. I did enjoy what I did though. I love the interaction with the customers; my coworkers were pretty cool people for the most part. I learned how to take credit card information, develop my customer service skills file accident reports, and strategies to getting good tips. The most important thing I learned was to work for me, not for the company. The effort I put in was going to be shown on my resume and on my check at the end of every two weeks.