Trial by fire

I've been to hell and back. It all happened right about 9:30 until 11:00 this morning.

I walked in the store for my shift and after changing the carafes, I was told to be on drive thru. My head went "WHAT?!". I wasn't trained on that and wasn't aware that the training was to actually put you on the drive thru and take orders, right there. No orientation, no shadowing. Just listen first on how the older partner did it and then I take the next order.

I used to work at a call center and I'm used to headsets. I have no problems with opening spiels, I'm confident with that. My issue was, I am not yet familiar with the cash register which buttons to press and throw that with the noise disturbance in the drive thru (car engine, music, the blenders) and getting their order right, familiarizing myself with the orders and I'm a BIG MESS!!!

I am not complaining, I am venting. I just think it was so unfair for me to be put on that spot. I wasn't expecting to be trained on drive thru smack in the middle of the rush and I felt like I was dragging everybody really slow.

It didn't help when I was already very apologetic to one of my co-worker, I said, "Hey, I'm really sorry I'm too slow, I'm getting my bearings and I'm nervous". She was like, "Yeah, you really need to keep up the pace". I was trying to get some frappuccinos ready and she'd just grab my pitcher and do it for me without saying a freakin' word. Gee, thanks for the support.

Anyway, I was already to overwhelmed and too upset that I was ready to just walk out the door and call it quits. Trust me, I'm not a quitter and I've never been that overwhelmed before.

Thank God for some of my co-workers and my shift supervisor who saw that I was really getting overwhelmed and pulled me out of the drive thru to give me a break. It all mellowed down for me after that. I'm still getting used to taking orders from the customers INSIDE the store and so far, so good.

I'd say that I'm a fast learner but I am so systematic. I don't do well with being thrown in the pit and a little advance notice would help too. Maybe learning under pressure works for some people, but not for me.

Surprisingly, I made it through my shift in one piece and I'm willing to give it a couple more tries.