a most amazing week
I started my training at River Rock this week. It's been a whirlwind of balancing both jobs, wrapping up my district job, getting my head around the new job details, and managing the usual stuff at home.
It's not easy to get an old head to learn all these new things. Monday I learned a lot of stuff about banking. Anybody who knows me, knows that numbers are not my thing. I can easily add three simple numbers twice and get a different answer each time. Numbers are random to me so the calculator, while it is a great tool, doesn't help if the numbers don't make sense to you. La dee da. This is something I will have to grapple with as we go along.
I learned to do dishes the River Rock way. It's a zen like job for me now. Faced with a huge pile of dishes, you just do them methodically one by one until they are done. It's the hospitality support part of my job.
I met some of the regular customers who seem to feel like this place is part of their lives, not just a place to eat or get coffee.
I learned where all the stuff is...the freezers full of preserved produce from last summer, the extra cups, plates, towels, aprons, the cleaning supplies, the cinnamon.
Yesterday I went in at 6 a.m. to work with Katie, one of the bakers, and later with Montana, the Kitchen Manager and chef. I watched Katie make scones and lemon bars and hermit cookies. I tasted Montana's chipotle aeoli and the lemon balsamic vinaigrette. I smelled a puff pastry fresh from the oven...local gouda, local parmesan, local pork, and dijon mustard. Wonderful smells.
There have been some hard parts:
It's not easy to get an old head to learn all these new things. Monday I learned a lot of stuff about banking. Anybody who knows me, knows that numbers are not my thing. I can easily add three simple numbers twice and get a different answer each time. Numbers are random to me so the calculator, while it is a great tool, doesn't help if the numbers don't make sense to you. La dee da. This is something I will have to grapple with as we go along.
I learned to do dishes the River Rock way. It's a zen like job for me now. Faced with a huge pile of dishes, you just do them methodically one by one until they are done. It's the hospitality support part of my job.
I met some of the regular customers who seem to feel like this place is part of their lives, not just a place to eat or get coffee.
I learned where all the stuff is...the freezers full of preserved produce from last summer, the extra cups, plates, towels, aprons, the cleaning supplies, the cinnamon.
Yesterday I went in at 6 a.m. to work with Katie, one of the bakers, and later with Montana, the Kitchen Manager and chef. I watched Katie make scones and lemon bars and hermit cookies. I tasted Montana's chipotle aeoli and the lemon balsamic vinaigrette. I smelled a puff pastry fresh from the oven...local gouda, local parmesan, local pork, and dijon mustard. Wonderful smells.
There have been some hard parts:
- Do these shoes qualify as "closed-toe"? I wear sandals in the summer so this has taken some work.
- No jewelry on my hands so how do I compensate for that? Regis bought me two ankle bracelets. Sweet man.
- Do I dress like I am going in to wash dishes or do I dress like I am going in to work in the office and greet customers? Regis says this could be my narcissistic side coming out but I think it's just my need to look nice. Oh, that's what narcissism is, I guess. Wry smile.
So, none of those are insurmountable issues and I will figure it out as I go.
For the most part, I love this job. Warm and friendly people, wood floors, soft lighting, great coffee, wonderful made from scratch food, and a philosophy that food is sacred and feeding people is an art.
I have to catch up on some things here at my desk, then get to work.
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