Learning to Work in Customer Service Professor Ramos Blog

Learning to Work in Customer Service After I graduated from high school, I really didn’t know what to do with my time. I knew that I didn’t want to go back to school just yet. I decided to get a job. I applied at local places around my town, I live in a small community so I didn’t really have much to choose from. My mom told me about a few places hiring. A few of my friends from high school worked at Jensen’s so I decided to apply there. I got hired on the spot and I was so excited. I had never had a job before. Graduating from high school was exciting but also very overwhelming. I’ve never had a job before and I was used to just going to school and having the same routine for so long. I looked online for places hiring near me and it was very nerve-racking, there weren’t many places near where I live that were hiring. I noticed an ad saying that the grocery store I lived near was hiring so I decided to apply there. I thought it would be a good place to work because I live about five minutes from there. I always shop at Jensen’s and I thought it would be a fun place to get my first job at. I walked into the store looked around and thought to myself I could totally see myself working here. I asked one of the employees at the register if the manager was there. She brought me back to the manager’s office and I ended up talking to the manager for over an hour. I told him I had never had a job before and I was eager to see what working in customer service was like. I as ked if they were hiring and he said yes! He interviewed me and hired me right then. I was so nervous and thought it would be so hard to get a job and it only took me one day. When I first started working at Jensen’s, the manager of the store asked me which department I would like to work in. A few of my friends that I knew from my school worked in the Starbucks inside the store. I told him I wanted to work in Starbucks and he told me that’d be great because they have been trying to find people to work there. I was really excited that I got my first job and Starbucks is one of my favorite places to get coffee. On my first day, I had to train for about four to five hours and one of my friends got to train me. She made it so easy to catch on to you how things are done and showed me how to make some of their most popular drinks. I was really grateful for all of her help, I was scared I wasn’t going to be good at working in customer service but she made me feel a lot more confident about it. She showed me how to make Starbucks’ most popular drinks and some of the first drinks I learned how to make were the hibiscus teas which I woul d order all the time before I started working there. At first I thought it was pretty easy and after about two hours of practicing and learning how to make different drinks, my coworker let me take an order for a customer. I was pretty nervous. The customer was a regular at Starbucks and my manager told me that the customer usually ordered the same thing. I took his order, he told me he wanted a Iced Americano with a shot of espresso. I made the drink without any help from my coworkers or manager, handed the customer his drink and he sat down at a table. I noticed the customer kept looking at me while I was practicing other drinks and about 10 minutes later he came up to me and said â€Å"this drink does not taste like it usually does.† I told him what I had put in it and how I made it and he got upset because he wanted a shot of espresso and I put two shots of vanilla in it by accident. I explained to him that it was my first day and I wasn’t 100% familiar with the shots to put in his drink yet. I apologized and made him a new drink. I gave him a large for the inconvenience, when he originally ordered a medium. I could tell he was annoyed so I told my manager what had happened and she explained to me that it happens all the time and I shouldn’t be upset because it is all about the learning process. She said â€Å"you’ll be fine, don’t let this upset you we all mess up sometimes and we just have to shake it off.† I felt better after talking to her and I was excited to continue working there. My manager was always so encouraging and would always tell me how much she appreciates all of my hard work. I worked at Starbucks for a little over a year and working there has taught me so many things about working in the customer service industry. I am very thankful for getting a job I actually really enjoyed the first day I had applied anywhere. I am grateful to have had a manager as nice and encouraging as I did at Starbucks, she is definitely my literacy sponsor. I never would have the experience I did if it weren’t for my boss being so supportive, encouraging and understanding how hard and overwhelming it could be working at your first job. Although it was frustrating at times when I would mess up orders, my manager and other coworkers really helped me get through it. I was so scared to get my first job and thought it would be so hard but with all of the support I had, it was actually really fun and easy.