I'm mostly happy with programming, but I often think I'd like to try working in a coffee shop, especially a Starbucks. I spend so much time in cafes as a customer, and I really appreciate the difference that a barista's smile or greeting can make to my day. I'm curious to experience that from the other side for a while. I also read books about retail businesses & brands & Starbucks & customer experience for enjoyment, but I'm sure practice is wildly different from theory, especially at ground level dealing with customers for long hours.
But I've never tried applying, because I have no retail experience, and my work experience is mostly as a lone-wolf remote developer or indie developer (also I'm middle-aged now). Always thought I'd be laughed out of the interview. But I still think one day I'd like to try.
Barista-turned-programmer here. I was fond of it much of the time, and it was a good experience for me, and I think you would also like it based on what you've written. But keep in mind what you often don't notice from the outside is a lot of standard bullshit like mopping floors, keeping composure toward rude customers, worrying about food-handling/health provisions, etc. And, of many differences between the occupations, no longer being frequently treated like I'm dumb sticks out.
Nonetheless, I say go for it. You would learn a ton and probably become the best kind of coffee snob, one who can back it up with chops ;)
I quite enjoyed working at Starbucks as a teenager, because it gave me a cool that a nerd like me hadn't had before.
Careful about the drudge work though (especially cleaning floors/toilets at the end of the day), and if you're not used to spending all day on your feet you'll feel pretty sore at the end of the first few days!
You should make this happen! I ended up getting a part time over the weekend gig at a San Francisco coffee shop - it was super satisfying to be on the other side.
I made the effort to befriend the baristas since I see them every day anyway. Eventually asked one of them to teach me during slow hours and I started to make my own drink each time I came in. One of them baristas ended up referring me to a different cafe (allowed me to avoid the awkward conversation of a weird looking resume) and I passed the interview by making decent drinks.
I've really thought about this as well, I'd love to work a couple hours in a coffee shop on a weekend. It's mainly the fact that you get to interact with somebody, make them something, and see them enjoy it immediately.
Sometime's it's difficult for me to get motivated to push out code when it's just for myself.
Apparently, there are quite a few of us who enjoy the idea of a coffee shop. I doubt I'll ever do it, but a year ago, I did a cost analysis spreadsheet of opening my own shop, but now a coffee cart seems like a fun side project. :)
I want to start a math-cafe, where the loyalty cards are replaced by puzzles (you solve today's puzzle, tomorrow's coffee is free.)
They have such high margins on individual drinks (and people will totally buy a pastry if the coffee is free) that this shouldn't cost too much. Plus you can always make the puzzles harder, or have 2 or 3 easyish ones and then graduate people onto harder ones that they'll take a few days to solve.
You can imagine how to decorate the place - blackboards for walls, encourage the customers to use them to practise the spare puzzles lying around today, etc...
That's a great idea! It sounds kinda wonky like AirBnb when they pitched it to YCominbator but... it'd be pretty cool if you could execute on the idea!
Why Starbucks? It's the McDonald's of coffee. Pick a local cafe you like and see if they'll hire you part time for weekend shifts. A place that takes pride in their work.
I'm a big fan of Starbucks as a customer. It isn't about the coffee for me (clearly!) so much as the whole experience, the "Third Place" concept. The design of the stores, the comfy chairs, the handfeel of the mugs, the quality of the free WiFi & power points, the opening hours, the lighting, the light jazz music that doesn't interfere with conversation.
If I found a local cafe that paid that much attention to the experience, I'd certainly apply there. But I find many small cafes focus only on the coffee product, but not how the customer feels about the product.
Probably depends where you live. I imagine it would be tough, especially for a one-income family. In Australia however the minimum wage is $17.70/hour, or $22.12/hr minimum if you're a casual worker, so I assume baristas here earn at least that much.
But I've never tried applying, because I have no retail experience, and my work experience is mostly as a lone-wolf remote developer or indie developer (also I'm middle-aged now). Always thought I'd be laughed out of the interview. But I still think one day I'd like to try.