That's right everyone! Boiler Gold Rush has officially begun! I am sitting here on my second of two days off at the Starbucks on campus as usual. It is not incredibly crowded yet but all the Freshmen are still learning that there is actually a Starbucks here! It has been a lot of fun being on campus though regardless. I worked this most recent weekend when people were actually just starting to move in so I worked with a couple other guys here to learn where all the new students were from and where they were staying their first semester here. We got them talking, got them opening up and hopefully eased their nervous feelings for the time being. I want to keep that going this entire week and, if I can help it, the whole first year! I want people to feel welcome and valued here at this store. They can use this place as an escape from the demands of a tough school. I really do want the new students to feel when they come into this store they are coming here to be with friends if only for a couple hours out of a busy day.
Other than that I have been trying to piece together a new social group to hang out with here on campus myself. I am very slowly getting a feel for who is here on campus still that I know from the past but now I am also starting to add some new people that are willing to join the group. So it is happening, it is just taking a while as I expected. I took a trip down to Chauncey the other night around 11:30, Chauncey is where all the pubs and bars are here near campus, and walked around a bit. Imagine what a relief it was for me to see so many freakin' people walking around! After a month of feeling like I lived in a ghost town I can see signs of life as people start moving back this week. I can use this week as a scouting opportunity, I want to see which bars are busiest on which day of the week and what general time. At any moment I can discern where the hot spots are and when a good time to go would be. More than half of a successful night out is knowing where to go and when!
Lastly I wanted to say something finally clicked for me the other night. All these books on connecting with people I have read by John Maxwell had a basic point that was repeated over and over. Connecting is all about others and to connect with them you have to go where they are. I read that over and over and it didn't click until last night on the phone with my cousin that it means I literally need to go to the people I want to connect with. For instance, I have been waiting for people from Indianapolis, and counting on them, to come and visit me all the time. Where I went wrong was expecting people to come to me and now that I really bought into this point it seems obvious. I need to go to Indianapolis to meet the people I want to connect with! This is why the secondary point was made: Connecting takes energy. Connecting with these people I speak of is, just for me personally, a very important goal. I place very high priority on my relationships so now that I am making money and I'm ideally placed in the state I can do something about it. Why not foot the bill for gas and all that if I get to spend time with those most important in my life. Connecting is all about others and to connect you have to go to where they are. It finally makes sense to me ladies and gentlemen. It's time to make things happen. Have a good one guys, I'm going back to my coffee and music!
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Odds and Ends
Good morrow ladies and gentlemen! Here I am again sitting in my favorite corner in Starbucks with my laptop bringing you another entry on this bright, and somewhat more comfortable, Thursday. Things are starting to take off for me here as we move into the end of the week and as we move into the last week before the school year starts, thought I'd take a few minutes to type up whatever pops into my head dealing with these events.
First off, my class I had to take on food safety is now complete! It was two 8 hour days covering 15 chapters of food safety with a 90 question exam yesterday to cap things off. The class was fun, the exam was not. The wording on the questions was a little shady and a few of the answers had answers differentiated by things like 5 seconds here, or 5 degrees there. I am allowed to miss up to 10 so I'm fingers crossed here waiting for the score. I honestly couldn't say either way if I hit the target or not. If I didn't, no biggie, I just go back and take it again but I'd rather just do it once! I was one of, if not the youngest person in the class. A lot of the folks in there had kids my age or kids about to be 8 or 9 years old. They look at me and I say "well I have a nephew" haha. I'm just thinking of my age as a factor, not an excuse, if I make any mistakes really. Things dealing with the behind the scenes work that goes into making the store run smoothly. I am going to make mistakes for sure, but I am getting better and looking at mistakes as learning opportunities. I hardly ever make a mistake twice, if I get corrected on something and I see it as legitimate instead of a personal preference that the person correcting me wants more control then I correct it right away and never make the mistake again. My mind really is like a sponge that never gets fully saturated, I am always looking for more books on topics I know but not as well as I can. Lately I've been splitting time between Psychology, management, and communication of all kinds.
Next off, as I think I've mentioned many times before, Boiler Gold Rush is upcoming! This week long orientation is the start of the school year for me. All the incoming Freshmen (largest incoming class in a long while from what I heard) show up a week before classes start to move into their dorms and do a lot of activities with their BGR teams made up of people from their dorm. I think it's neat that you are not put in the same team as your room mate, it's always a mix of guy and girl from different floors and all that. I remember my BGR week like it was yesterday, I still keep in contact with one of my group members whenever I can as well. The activities are fun and you get to meet a lot of new people that live close so you can have a pre-made social group for the rest of the year! A shared experience like BGR week really ties people together. For me, however, as a full time employee now, this is a notoriously busy week for Starbucks. My store is tucked away in a corner of the Student Union building, one entrance and one exit. Thousands of Freshmen walk through this building just about every day and they all have money for coffee! Experience really does pay off big time in this case. In the past I was a go to worker for BGR week. A perennial volunteer for coming back to campus a little early to work these days. I realize now it is just who I am as a person. I really do feed off the energy around me and there are few atmospheres that compare to a college campus during a week like this. Other people here in the Union, again, are muttering under their breath and are getting a little on edge about BGR week. I am telling everyone I can how pumped I am for it! Eventually people will pick up on that energy and hopefully run with it.
Well that really covers everything I wanted to discuss off hand. I really do believe to work at a store like this is a really unique opportunity that keeps you young. However, people need a special kind of personality to be here and really enjoy being here doing what we do. I am taking it upon myself to lead by example. This store developed a bit of a tense, negative vibe since I've been gone. It is my intention to turn that into a fun, positive one! The best way to do that you might ask? I'm gonna be who I am ;) Take it easy guys, I'm going to grab another coffee!
First off, my class I had to take on food safety is now complete! It was two 8 hour days covering 15 chapters of food safety with a 90 question exam yesterday to cap things off. The class was fun, the exam was not. The wording on the questions was a little shady and a few of the answers had answers differentiated by things like 5 seconds here, or 5 degrees there. I am allowed to miss up to 10 so I'm fingers crossed here waiting for the score. I honestly couldn't say either way if I hit the target or not. If I didn't, no biggie, I just go back and take it again but I'd rather just do it once! I was one of, if not the youngest person in the class. A lot of the folks in there had kids my age or kids about to be 8 or 9 years old. They look at me and I say "well I have a nephew" haha. I'm just thinking of my age as a factor, not an excuse, if I make any mistakes really. Things dealing with the behind the scenes work that goes into making the store run smoothly. I am going to make mistakes for sure, but I am getting better and looking at mistakes as learning opportunities. I hardly ever make a mistake twice, if I get corrected on something and I see it as legitimate instead of a personal preference that the person correcting me wants more control then I correct it right away and never make the mistake again. My mind really is like a sponge that never gets fully saturated, I am always looking for more books on topics I know but not as well as I can. Lately I've been splitting time between Psychology, management, and communication of all kinds.
Next off, as I think I've mentioned many times before, Boiler Gold Rush is upcoming! This week long orientation is the start of the school year for me. All the incoming Freshmen (largest incoming class in a long while from what I heard) show up a week before classes start to move into their dorms and do a lot of activities with their BGR teams made up of people from their dorm. I think it's neat that you are not put in the same team as your room mate, it's always a mix of guy and girl from different floors and all that. I remember my BGR week like it was yesterday, I still keep in contact with one of my group members whenever I can as well. The activities are fun and you get to meet a lot of new people that live close so you can have a pre-made social group for the rest of the year! A shared experience like BGR week really ties people together. For me, however, as a full time employee now, this is a notoriously busy week for Starbucks. My store is tucked away in a corner of the Student Union building, one entrance and one exit. Thousands of Freshmen walk through this building just about every day and they all have money for coffee! Experience really does pay off big time in this case. In the past I was a go to worker for BGR week. A perennial volunteer for coming back to campus a little early to work these days. I realize now it is just who I am as a person. I really do feed off the energy around me and there are few atmospheres that compare to a college campus during a week like this. Other people here in the Union, again, are muttering under their breath and are getting a little on edge about BGR week. I am telling everyone I can how pumped I am for it! Eventually people will pick up on that energy and hopefully run with it.
Well that really covers everything I wanted to discuss off hand. I really do believe to work at a store like this is a really unique opportunity that keeps you young. However, people need a special kind of personality to be here and really enjoy being here doing what we do. I am taking it upon myself to lead by example. This store developed a bit of a tense, negative vibe since I've been gone. It is my intention to turn that into a fun, positive one! The best way to do that you might ask? I'm gonna be who I am ;) Take it easy guys, I'm going to grab another coffee!
Monday, August 8, 2011
Unexpected Day Off
A little tweaking of the schedule was in order this week. My class for ServSafe is actually Tuesday and Wednesday when we thought it was Monday and Tuesday. So basically I split my days off this week, Monday and Thursday. What do you do on an unexpected day off with very little money? Well I'm back here at Starbucks in my corner working on this entry with a coffee. I don't really have a set idea as far as what to write about so I'll just keep typing and things will begin to materialize, such is my style of writing.
I did notice this morning I can check my pay stub for work already, just a couple days before it is deposited so I got a chance to confirm that my benefits were properly chosen, enrolled in, and are being taken out of my check and all that. The bottom line is the check now, and all checks in the future (using this one as an average) are going to be right on target with what I expected in terms of net pay. This is a weird concept to me because it always seems like the checks on payday are less than you count on! I'm taking this as proof I did my research right and therefor my budgeting for the rest of my time here is spot on. Make no mistake this was a big load off my mind. Now all my concerns are wiped away: got my parking pass, got enrolled in my benefits, after all the pre and post tax deductions my check is right where I planned on it being, and my student loan payments are at a level at which I can live comfortably after monthly payments. Now I can just focus on the job and, of course just as importantly, having a blast while I'm living here on a college campus.
As far as the job goes I think I am starting to get used to the new responsibilities and authority I have as a supervisor. While I still haven't done every part of the job enough to have it memorized, everything dealing with delegating responsibility and making sure things run smoothly I am starting to get the hang of. Most important of all I think I am starting to gain the trust of the partners here at Purdue. I feel that is the absolute most important thing I can do as supervisor is establish trust and build positive working relationships and social ones as well with the people I work with. A simple idea I know but one I feel is overlooked by many leaders these days. I am hoping I never fall into the trap of WIIFM (Whats In It For Me) by the end of my time here. Again, my job is to equip the people I work with to be able to do things in the store that I have to do so if I am gone they won't miss a beat, also they will be ready if they decide to move up in the company too. If you reach down and bring people higher they won't forget it, the manager of the store won't forget all the compliments from those people as well. If you consistently raise people up you will always have a job as a manager or leader (Thank you John Maxwell for all your books on leadership!).
Other than that I'm still trying to adjust to being away from home and in the new city and everything. I have barely scratched the surface of the possibilities of being here. There are so many things I can do in my free time (which I couldn't do at first because I didn't have my paychecks rolling in) that pretty soon I won't even think about Fort Wayne as much. A tough challenge remains, too, in trying to build new relationships here. It really is rough going back to a place where you knew so many people and had so many friends to hang out with that are all gone now! I try not to think about it and when an opportunity arises to get to know someone new I just be myself and things will take care of themselves. I am fairly quick about building good relationships.
I think I might get back to writing my short story again here, my last semester I worked on a horror story taking place at a lake cottage so I think I want to try to tap back into the images I had in my head and start writing that one again! I will let you know how that's going in the future and make add a link to somewhere after I potentially post some rough drafts and whatnot. Take care everybody, and remember: Monday starts the weekend!!!
I did notice this morning I can check my pay stub for work already, just a couple days before it is deposited so I got a chance to confirm that my benefits were properly chosen, enrolled in, and are being taken out of my check and all that. The bottom line is the check now, and all checks in the future (using this one as an average) are going to be right on target with what I expected in terms of net pay. This is a weird concept to me because it always seems like the checks on payday are less than you count on! I'm taking this as proof I did my research right and therefor my budgeting for the rest of my time here is spot on. Make no mistake this was a big load off my mind. Now all my concerns are wiped away: got my parking pass, got enrolled in my benefits, after all the pre and post tax deductions my check is right where I planned on it being, and my student loan payments are at a level at which I can live comfortably after monthly payments. Now I can just focus on the job and, of course just as importantly, having a blast while I'm living here on a college campus.As far as the job goes I think I am starting to get used to the new responsibilities and authority I have as a supervisor. While I still haven't done every part of the job enough to have it memorized, everything dealing with delegating responsibility and making sure things run smoothly I am starting to get the hang of. Most important of all I think I am starting to gain the trust of the partners here at Purdue. I feel that is the absolute most important thing I can do as supervisor is establish trust and build positive working relationships and social ones as well with the people I work with. A simple idea I know but one I feel is overlooked by many leaders these days. I am hoping I never fall into the trap of WIIFM (Whats In It For Me) by the end of my time here. Again, my job is to equip the people I work with to be able to do things in the store that I have to do so if I am gone they won't miss a beat, also they will be ready if they decide to move up in the company too. If you reach down and bring people higher they won't forget it, the manager of the store won't forget all the compliments from those people as well. If you consistently raise people up you will always have a job as a manager or leader (Thank you John Maxwell for all your books on leadership!).
Other than that I'm still trying to adjust to being away from home and in the new city and everything. I have barely scratched the surface of the possibilities of being here. There are so many things I can do in my free time (which I couldn't do at first because I didn't have my paychecks rolling in) that pretty soon I won't even think about Fort Wayne as much. A tough challenge remains, too, in trying to build new relationships here. It really is rough going back to a place where you knew so many people and had so many friends to hang out with that are all gone now! I try not to think about it and when an opportunity arises to get to know someone new I just be myself and things will take care of themselves. I am fairly quick about building good relationships.
I think I might get back to writing my short story again here, my last semester I worked on a horror story taking place at a lake cottage so I think I want to try to tap back into the images I had in my head and start writing that one again! I will let you know how that's going in the future and make add a link to somewhere after I potentially post some rough drafts and whatnot. Take care everybody, and remember: Monday starts the weekend!!!
Friday, August 5, 2011
Mid Day Starbucks Run
Well I decided to shake things up a bit today ladies and gentlemen. I dusted off the laptop and ran into Starbucks here at the Union today, I am there writing this entry right now. I needed to run in here anyway to pick up my new parking pass! I can now park in the garage anytime I want here next to campus and instead of paying 10 bucks a day I just swipe this pass to get out! I also did some other things for work here like take a certification for credit card transactions and whatnot. I also took a little time and enrolled in my benefits real quick. Easy to do because it's all online and I can always go back and change things later if I need to. I am pretty dumb when it comes to picking these benefits. I went ahead and picked all the employee only options that were not the most expensive but not cheapest out of paycheck. I figure that'll be just fine for a guy that is rarely sick.
Now I am here about to see if I can work my magic and get a free coffee while I type this. Other than that I really don't have a whole lot going on today. I felt like I slept in way too long but when I looked at the clock it was only 10:30am. One of those special kind of days I suppose? There were a couple other things on my mind that I also wanted to talk about.
First off is the upcoming bachelor party for my cousin Mike. This isn't until October but never too early to think about. I already have the day off from work confirmed (as well as the days for the rehearsal dinner and wedding itself) so that's a big question answered. Looks like I'm working that Friday and then possibly bookin' it to Indy afterwards or just really early the next day. I haven't decided if I'm doing the golf thing. I'd mean I'd love to but I am nowhere near the skill level of the guys that are playing so it wouldn't be that stress free haha. However it does look like it's all hands on deck for paintballing later that day. I've never done it but I hear people speak to my abilities as a strategist which might help a bit. When all hell breaks loose I doubt my strategy will be put to effect! That's the point though, just chaos and having fun so no worries. After that I think the gang is getting changed and ready to hit the bars in Indy. This is where it gets tricky for me. It all depends on when I work Sunday. If I don't work until 4pm like I think is the case then I can stick around late that night. If I have to work earlier then I might have to bow out early on. Again, no matter what happens I will be there in attendance and it will be a wicked good time!
The other thing I wanted to talk a bit about is the general excitement of the school year creeping closer. One thing you'll notice if you talk with employees of the Union building here at Purdue about the school year coming up they will tell you horror stories about the never ending lines and all that. Don't listen to them, talk to me. I'll tell you that it is an amazing time getting to know the incoming students, borrow some of their energy from being away from home the first time, and get to help ease their homesickness. I remember very well what it was like my Freshman year and I can finally be a major impact on these new students' time here. At orientation they touched on this fact quite a bit. Not only is it my job and responsibility to make sure operations at the store go smoothly and everyone works well together, it is also a secondary objective to teach new students and employees to the University things that helped me as a student. I want to help them succeed at work and in all social aspects of being here at Purdue. My 5 years of experience should be teaching tools to help these kids out as much as possible. I thought that was really cool, you never know if you are the one and only person keeping any particular student going. I look at things that way with any of my customers at Starbucks as well, corporate stores taught me that. A customer's interaction with me might possibly be the first or even the only social interaction face to face for their entire day! I respect that power that every partner at Starbucks has, the power to brighten every single person's day and help them get out of bed every day to go do their job which is just as important as ours. To work at Starbucks is a unique chance in this way. We really are in the business of people, we just happen to serve coffee. I have to go enjoy the rest of this coffee and maybe get another now! Have a good one ladies and gentlmen!
Now I am here about to see if I can work my magic and get a free coffee while I type this. Other than that I really don't have a whole lot going on today. I felt like I slept in way too long but when I looked at the clock it was only 10:30am. One of those special kind of days I suppose? There were a couple other things on my mind that I also wanted to talk about.
First off is the upcoming bachelor party for my cousin Mike. This isn't until October but never too early to think about. I already have the day off from work confirmed (as well as the days for the rehearsal dinner and wedding itself) so that's a big question answered. Looks like I'm working that Friday and then possibly bookin' it to Indy afterwards or just really early the next day. I haven't decided if I'm doing the golf thing. I'd mean I'd love to but I am nowhere near the skill level of the guys that are playing so it wouldn't be that stress free haha. However it does look like it's all hands on deck for paintballing later that day. I've never done it but I hear people speak to my abilities as a strategist which might help a bit. When all hell breaks loose I doubt my strategy will be put to effect! That's the point though, just chaos and having fun so no worries. After that I think the gang is getting changed and ready to hit the bars in Indy. This is where it gets tricky for me. It all depends on when I work Sunday. If I don't work until 4pm like I think is the case then I can stick around late that night. If I have to work earlier then I might have to bow out early on. Again, no matter what happens I will be there in attendance and it will be a wicked good time!
The other thing I wanted to talk a bit about is the general excitement of the school year creeping closer. One thing you'll notice if you talk with employees of the Union building here at Purdue about the school year coming up they will tell you horror stories about the never ending lines and all that. Don't listen to them, talk to me. I'll tell you that it is an amazing time getting to know the incoming students, borrow some of their energy from being away from home the first time, and get to help ease their homesickness. I remember very well what it was like my Freshman year and I can finally be a major impact on these new students' time here. At orientation they touched on this fact quite a bit. Not only is it my job and responsibility to make sure operations at the store go smoothly and everyone works well together, it is also a secondary objective to teach new students and employees to the University things that helped me as a student. I want to help them succeed at work and in all social aspects of being here at Purdue. My 5 years of experience should be teaching tools to help these kids out as much as possible. I thought that was really cool, you never know if you are the one and only person keeping any particular student going. I look at things that way with any of my customers at Starbucks as well, corporate stores taught me that. A customer's interaction with me might possibly be the first or even the only social interaction face to face for their entire day! I respect that power that every partner at Starbucks has, the power to brighten every single person's day and help them get out of bed every day to go do their job which is just as important as ours. To work at Starbucks is a unique chance in this way. We really are in the business of people, we just happen to serve coffee. I have to go enjoy the rest of this coffee and maybe get another now! Have a good one ladies and gentlmen!
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