When two of my greatest passions come together:
BEST. VIDEO. EVER.
EVER.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
It´s that time of year again...at least for me. I´m back to being hunched over my computer swamped with 10 Word files and what seems to be fifty billion Safari windows open as I simultaneously work on cover letters and just finding more jobs. Today I successfully applied to a few cool jobs that I´m hoping to get interviews / callbacks for, but immediately decided to apply to a couple of easy backups just in case. My backups usually amount to applying to work in retail or food service and I´ve been eyeing a couple of Barista jobs posted on GoodFoodJobs.com for a while so I figured I might as well just apply to that.
Oh wait. I can´t.
Stupid fine print.
So today I discovered a really really ridiculous phenomenon going on in New York City. It turns out that some of these presumptuous coffee places actually require you to have experience serving coffee for you to serve coffee. And not just "some experience" but one of them requested 2 years of experience serving coffee in NYC.
TWO YEARS.
I have a hard-earned double degree in Film Production, and Chinese Language and Culture from Vassar College, one of the most prestigious colleges in the United States if not the world, I speak three languages fluently, managed to become the youngest Assistant Director in Ecuador after only 5 months, and you are telling me that I am not qualified to serve coffee? An action so simple, so mundane that I perform it every single morning half-asleep to wake up?
Does anyone else see something wrong with this?
Some pretentious corner coffee shop in NYC telling me that my college degree is worth doodlysquat.
It just seems like these places lack perspective in general. I do understand that some seemingly easy retail jobs might require some experience for the same job in a different store. For example, it is not the same to be Sales Associate at a Chanel Boutique or at your local K-Mart. Just as it is not the same to bus tables at your nearest highway diner or The Standard in NYC. Someone working for a high-end retail boutique or restaurant requires a certain amount of tact, grace, stress management, and a different set of skills because of the different standards and clientele at these establishments. The difference often being a 15% tip on a $50 bill versus 15% of a $600+ bill.
But some jobs in customer service really don´t have that difference. A cup of joe is a cup of joe whether you get it at the pretentious coffee shop or a big chain. My experience drinking coffee (and I have a lot of it) tells me that a barista will take the same amount of time making your expresso, and will do it with the same amount of cheeriness at either place. What´s more, Baristas in large chains such as Starbucks often are nicer and warmer and more pleasant that those in smaller places with a few notable exceptions. The other thing about that is that usually when I go to a smaller coffee place to sit down and write/think it is because of the ambience itself or because they serve some product I would prefer to spend my money on (such as fair-trade coffee). Thus, as a coffee consumer, I really can´t tell or really care if your Barista is experienced or not and it doesn´t factor into my choice of coffee supplier. The only thing I care about is that your employee serves me a hot cup of coffee that hasn´t been burnt. A feat that, as I said before, I can accomplish every morning while half-asleep.
So really, little pretentious corner coffee place in NYC, does a Barista with 2+ years of experience really make your coffee better or your customer´s experience at your establishment better? I think not.
And maybe I´m a bit of a disgruntled post-grad that is tired after spending the whole day applying to jobs that mean something to me that happened to come across this ridiculousness of yours. Or maybe I just don´t appreciate you telling me that my college degree is essentially worthless.
Categories: Coffee, job, ridiculousness
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Restaurant Name: Clover Fast Food (or Clover Food Truck)
Location: Various (Clover HSQ - 7 Holyoke st, Cambridge. Clover MIT - 20 Carleton St., Cambridge....and like 6 others. You can check their locations at www.cloverfoodlab.com)
Kind of Food: I say vegetarian, but they don´t like to call themselves that. So I really don´t know. Can we settle on delicious?
Price Range: $5-$10 (seriously, if you spent more than $10, what on Earth did you order? The whole truck?!?!)
What I ordered: CHICKPEA FRITTER. Repeat with me: CHICKPEA FRITTER. And Hot cider. And rosemary fries. And Egg and Eggplant sandwich. Really, there is no end to the deliciousness that is the Clover food truck at MIT.
Comments: I eat here at an almost daily basis. Really. Mostly because my mother can´t cook/she calls to cancel on lunch at 2 pm and I´m really too cold and hungry by that point to cook/look for food. But convenience set aside, it is actually pretty fantastic food. You´d expect that food from a food truck wouldn´t be that good for you or dripping in grease. Or something...not so for Clover. Their chickpea fritter sandwich (which if you haven´t already noticed is my favorite) gives you a healthy dose of protein and vegetables and packs a neat little 430 cal. Not bad at all! I´ve also had their Egg and Eggplant which I don´t like as much mostly because it involves hard-boiled eggs, which I am not really a fan of but it is pretty good too. And if you like fries, I would definitely suggest trying their version of them - cut and fried on the spot and served sprinkled with rosemary. Yum! I also hear they´re launching their own beer this Friday at their Harvard Square location. The $3 per glass launch price is very tempting to go and check it out. The other nice thing is that they have trucks all over Boston so you´ll be able to find one near wherever you are.
Categories: Boston, foodie, Restaurant Review
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