Living La Vida Panera.

Walked to work yet again today. It’s so funny when I walk in and Trish seems esctatic at the thought of having me help her. I know I’m good. I’m damn good. But Trish is Trish. She is easily the best bakery person there is. She may not have the best attitude towards customers, but she can multitask better than anybody. I remember the times she’ll be backing and I won’t even be keeping track of what she’s doing. And yet she’ll make sure everything she’s doing gets to the right person. I could do it, I bet. It’s just I’ve been the cashier in bakery, if I’m in bakery at all. Point is, it’s flattering that Trish wants me to help her, as opposed to anybody else on my normal morning crew.

I gingerly walked to the back without clocking in. Taking my time. Angie approached me with a till and I kept saying “No, no, no!!” Mike was standing nearby and bailed me out. Adam just walked in, and Mike told Angie he was to be Trish’s relief. I was going on line. Because if I don’t go on line, I’ll never learn.

Twice I had come over and help the cashiers because they weren’t cranking out customers fast enough. I resented doing it at first. But then I said to Angie, “You want me to run the store by myself?” To that, she handed me her manager’s key. I laugh. I backed Adam because he’s so goddamn slow. Multi-task people, multi-task. Actually, it’s not even that. If somebody asks for three shots of espresso, what should you do first: Ring him, or start the three shots of espresso? I learned within a month of working at Panera that you have to start drinks first if you want to keep customers flowing. Otherwise you end up standing in front of the espresso machine looking like a dumbass.

Granted sometimes customers fly things at you so fast that you have to punch it in and then make the drink. But if I ring and then make a latte, I’ll hit the autosteamer and espresso, then move on to the next customer. I just have a thing about keeping my feet moving.

I’ve really wanted to see Adam get better but he hasn’t. He still has that utter cluelessness about him, just like when he started. He still moves as slow as when he started. I know he doesn’t really care. If he isn’t helping customers, he acts like he doesn’t have anything to do.

Within a month at Panera, I was able to be the only cashier out. I talk about that day a lot because it was the day I earned my wings. I flew. I remember switching out coffee in the middle of making a latte. Now that is multi-tasking. I remember one person getting pissy at me and demanding a refund, but otherwise everyone was pretty understanding about my disposition. That combined with a number of weekends being in bakery with no backup have taught me to handle myself.

Ahem.

I foresee a day when I’ll ring somebody for a sandwich, then go make that sandwich. *laughs* Part of the reason I wanted to learn line was so I could do just that. Especially in the early morning, line is still in the back prepping. As long as all the things are out, I could just make the sandwich myself without bothering Sonia or Gladys.

Erik needed a decision coin, so I used the card to open a drawer and get a quarter. He flipped it, and I tossed the quarter back in the drawer. Suzanne tells me that associates aren’t supposed to have the manager’s card. It’s obvious why. I could have swiped money from the drawer. But I won’t. That’s why I trust myself with the card. *smirks* I remember when Angie would just leave her card out, with nobody specific. So I would much prefer taking responsibility for the card as opposed to having it just laying out. My coworkers are catching on to me having the card. It’s funny. They’ll actually give it back to me. I smile.

Later on in the evening, Mike needed a decision coin. Now that cracked me up.

After Scary Brian was sent to the back to do dishes, it was Erik and I on line. He kept coming back up to line. He’ll learn that closing dishes means actually staying back there for an extended period of time. We don’t have much room on sandwich line, so it’s just not pretty when people get in the way. He just. Ugh. I can’t explain it.

We had our Bread Bash tonight. We normally close at 8 on Sundays. We closed early, at 6 PM. The point of it? Panera is introducing souffles. However you spell it. Spinach cheddar bacon and spinach .. something, I forget. We’re going to have a hot plate which we’re going to keep it on. We have to take temperatures now and then and WRITE those numbers down. … I know how horrible people are at pan-up, and they expect us to do it? Mike’s lucky I’m openning Wednesday. I run a tight ship. If anybody will stay on top of that, I will. In addition to everything else I make myself responsible for.

I still say I’d miss openning if I ever stopped doing it. Once a week is just fine. The day always goes so fast. It does get grueling if you do it a lot. And I know I’m needed elsewhere on the schedule. I just. I don’t ever want to get out of practice. I can open bakery, and I can close bakery without staying too long. Trish can give me a run for my money when it comes to closing.

I probably give her too much credit, but I have massive respect for her. She’s me after I’ve been at Panera too long. She talks

about finding another job. She’s told me she won’t close on Fridays anymore, so now she only works Saturday and Sunday morning. Frankly, she’s better off working days with me. I remember how our weekend mornings used to be. Me, Trish, and a bunch of n00bs. I’d keep her sane. *laughs*

I sat next to Erik during the Bread Bash. Jenny offered to move over so I could sit by Melissa, but I declined. It’s such a simple thing, but it says a lot. I know where my loyalties are.

Reflecting on why Scott has problems with us whenever he comes in, it’s obvious to me. People’s priorties are all over the place. I can only do so much delegating when I open. I know what I can ask of different people. It just. It’s funny, except for Natasha, all of my morning crew has been there “longer” than me. (Nevermind that I get a ton more hours.) And I’m the one that knows when everything has to be done.

Mike mentioned getting a routine down. I have my routine down pat. I almost miss being the 7 AM person. Goddamn, I hauled some serious ass when I was the 7 AM person. Angie mentioned how I used to come in, see if there were any customers, then head to the fridge to see if we needed cream cheese or fruit cups. I’d come up front periodically to help customers and keep coffee fresh. I was everywhere. I can ask a lot of Jenny when she’s the 7 AM person, but nobody (except for Trish) can move at the pace I do.

And this is why the general consensus is that I’ll be god on line when I get good at it.

I have the same schedule this week as last week. Shocking, eh? Maybe Mike finally will have some consistency to the schedule. Sunday, 2 PM – cl. Tuesday, 11 AM – 7 PM. Wednesday, open – 1 PM. Saturday, 3 PM – cl. Only four days, but the past couple weeks, I’ve been called in once a week. I’m awaiting the week Mike finally gets confident in nobody calling out and puts me on for aconsistent fifth day. Fact is, calling me in is the reason I get up getting overtime. I should talk to one of them about what the procedure is for when somebody is called in, how it’s marked on the sheet with the boxes. *smirks*

Melissa keeps talking about how she’s going on vacation in July for two weeks. She was talking to her Via manager about having somebody else cover her Via stuff while she’s gone. Considering that I’m learning sandwiches now, I can’t imagine anybody else that would be drafted into it. I’m just curious what that would do to my schedule. If Mike really wanted to, he could give me her Via hours and STILL have me close on weekends. Unless Melissa gets asked to stay, her Via hours are 8 AM – 12:30. Adding the hours from the weekend, that’s only 36.5 hours. I could really say I lived at Panera if I volunteered to do seven days a week.

Is it sad that I think that far in advance? *smirks*

If Mike is serious about having a third person on line during weekdays, I’d be happy if my fifth day was closing line at night. I’m so weird. Now that I think about it, I’d prefer to open line on weekends. Doing paninis ruled. Hell, just give me hours that overlap with Erik. That’ll make me happy.

…

I brought in three CD’s yesterday to play on Erik’s stereo. Nirvana, “Nevermind”, Rob Zombie “The Sinister Urge”, and RAMMS+EIN, “Herzeleid”. I tried to bring music everybody could enjoy. Apparently I good taste. Angie asked me to burn her a copy of Nevermind. I did more than that, I put mp3s of the rest of their songs on the remainder of the disc.

G requested I bring in some disco. Well, his name is Guerilemo, or something, but we all just call him “G”. I dug through my KC and the Sunshine Band, ABBA, Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, and tossed in some Fatboy Slim and Underworld to give it some kick. Something like that. Not thoroughly disco, but I didn’t want it to get annoying.

Oh, and G is the weekend back-of-the-house guy. He makes shitty bagettes, but is otherwise a decent worker.

…

My mind went on this wild tangent about how I’ll explain to Mike to mark called-in hours on the schedule. See, I was reminded of this time Bob tried to call me in. I would have come in, but I was called in the day prior and knew if I came in, I would go over hours. (How responsible of me.) Thing is, how’s Bob to know? He probably looked at the schedule and saw I was only on for four days and thought to himself, “I think I need another Timmy.”

And I still get more hours than anybody else, managers excluded.

*purrs*

Maybe I’ll get a second job. And then splice porn films at night! *laughs* Nah. It’s only a matter of time before the internal drama with my friends (which actually has nothing much to do with me now) calms down.

Oh. Mike joked about knocking down one of the walls and expanding. Our Panera is due for a remodel – we’re apparently one of the oldest style Paneras. We have the oldest computer. We have no fireplace. We have no lounge area. We. We kind of suck. *laughs* One idea I like is moving in where Chi-Chi’s was. (But I think we should keep the bar. *smirks*)

Seriously for a moment, if Panera ever did sell alcohol, it would be served best by selling wine. No Macaroni Grill, but I’m sure it would find it’s niche.

…

Every time I get stressed and annoyed with Panera, I turn around and am reminded of how I want to make the place better. I guess I like making a difference? Angie says it herself, things aren’t the same in the morning when I’m not around. And how I covered register today while breaks were being run? Few people fly like I can.

Whatever, I’m repeating myself. I wonder what I’ll do next after Panera.