The coffee alarm goes off either every 7 minutes, every 2 hrs. for the milk carafes; same for the sanitizer. The oven timers go off to let you know food is done, and the headset beeps every time someone comes to the drive-through speaker. It's no wonder you hear beeping in your sleep- rather annoying since my alarm clock is a beeper too, so I sometimes wake up thinking I'm oversleeping. Anyway, this is kind of a starting point to a Starbucks morning rush.Now, then, let's get crazy. On a busy morning, we can average about 50-70 transactions each half hour (between both the cafe and drive-through). So you've got about 2 orders coming in every minute, which means there is a constant stream of chatter on the drive-through headsets, a constant call of orders back and forth across the store, calls for support, greeting and conversing with customers; etc. plus the background noise and the store's musical playlist providing the soundtrack. What's it like working at Starbucks? Noisy!
I bring all this up because of a simple issue it reveals... I'm an introvert. I'm borderline, so I'm still plenty social in nature, but people interaction is a draining exercise over time. The best kinds are with individuals or small groups where you can really connect with people. Big crowds aren't my thing in general. In addition, I'm at my best in single focus mode, but I do a multi-tasking job. Starbucks does an excellent job of breaking things down into repeatable routines so that it becomes habitual, but you're still managing customer orders and interaction, making coffee, cleaning, and prep work. It has really challenged my ability to stay focused, and whatever success there has been is a testimony to God's calming touch on my frantic mind. But it's also clarified a few things for me.
1. I really AM wired for pastoral work... specifically the relational side of things. Seeing all these people without being able to connect very deeply is exhausting in a way I can't quite express. But it confirms that God really did design me for my calling (Makes Jeremiah 1:5-7 pop out a little more)
2. Getting to know and sharing Christ with co-workers is a much more challenging process than I could have imagined. There simply isn't much time to talk to each other about anything but the thing that needs making or cleaning or stocking; etc. That means finding time to get to know them better outside the store... tough since a lot of them drink heavily for their fun time outlets.
3. Because I get relationally worn down, I tend to want to retreat to a corner of the house with a book, a movie, or just a plain old blanket and pillow. The more stressful work is, the more I want to hide out.
You can see the growing problem here... knowing how and when to walk the tightrope between 2 types of desires and 2 types of needs. I know I've been far to content to listen to the voice screaming "Rest!" (sometimes it's right), but as a manager pointed out July a my fulfilled promise of 1 year's labor is fast approaching. I don't want to look back and see that God opened a bunch of doors and I stared at them politely, then walked away. This is probably my biggest struggle right now... finding the balance.
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