I think it’s safe to say that over the past 3 years I’ve had a fairly wonderful life at being mr barista. Currently, I’m in the process of winding this down and trying to focus on my law degree, and with it I’ll eventually jump from being a barista and coffeegeek to being just a coffeegeek.
I’ve really enjoyed the majority of the time while working and learning, and somehow over all this time I kept that passion alive and kept working and hoping and working and floating. I don’t know how it came to all this, but suddenly I’m in a different industry as a 29yo law school student, older than the majority of my classmates and still carrying this wide eyed enthusiasm that I never had when I first started uni in 1997. I’ve met some wonderful new people and it’s so refreshing to be hitting the books (yeah- that’s right, did he just say that, about law?!)
I don’t know where or when the rot started with hospitality specifically, but I found that one major catalyst to my resolve in getting out of this hospo life was “Waiter Rant” written by a. waiter. It really struck a chord with me and made me realise that if I kept following that same path, the same kind of things will happen and as a matter of fact, a lot of that book has already happened to me. I remember reading it while in the employ of campos, and the next week after that was possibly the hardest week I’d ever had as a hospitality worker. I just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry in the corner. Mind-fuck, dream-kill, reality check… hi again. This was the nadir of hospitality books to me because it made me realise that I had a fear of failure, a fear of being ‘tied down’ if I opened up my own place, that most likely I would never be able to do so without being able to gain access to a larger amount of capital, and that if I kept doing the same things that I did then my body would eventually break down and I’d be the barista with no hands for coffee.
On the flip side, the zenith would have to be Lessons in Service from Charlie Trotter. Back when I was really really new to the game, an exasperated coffee shop owner passed this book onto me to inspire me as it did him, and it was simply awesome and became the backbone of my service mentality. Both books were passed to me by some extraodinary people at just the right time. I’ll never forget what they taught me, as I learned so much from them in respect of how I’d like to be like them, and how I’d never ever do what they had done with regards to A.. B.. C..
In the past couple of months I’ve been exposed to so many different ways of thinking about coffee while working at Veneziano, I was infused with so much fresh enthusiasm that I found myself at a mini-crossroads once again, thinking should I go law or coffee, law or coffee. But alas, something kicked in and I think it was a mix of getting things right, finding myself surrounded by likeminded people and finding myself just totally drawn into the whole learning experience. I’m choosing law and I’m liking it. I even spent the past couple of days going to watch the Gordon Nuttall case (ministerial corruption) as well as a few District Court mentions with some friends and I’m fairly sure that after a faltering start with Fundamentals of Criminal Law, I’m attracted to this side of things. Torts on the other hand, is just so zany with it’s case law that these almost read like colourful stories for the avid reader. Strangely enough, I started well with this one and then let it slide a bit unexpectedly. Contracts I find to be pretty interesting as well, although many people just find it extraodinarily dry the exam itself was surprisingly straightforward. However I feel that my marks in the first semester won’t sufficiently reflect my knowledge if I happen to be penalised by my writing. If only we could sit the exams with laptops and type out our answers instead. I can type about 45wpm when thinking, 60 wpm when flying and both of these output speeds are far faster and neater than my messy scrawl. But there’s ample time for self-evaluation so the rest of my degree will be very straightforward and more well planned now that I’ve been blooded by my first semester. Soon to be looking for legal work on a volunteer or part-time basis, possibly by the end of the year.
On another note, May and I had decided to leave Veneziano a little while ago. We’re now out of the world of coffee roasteries, settling into our respective locales with May working at Alen’s Espresso, and myself temporarily helping out a friend at Coffee Rush. We’re both enjoying the simple life of the normal barista/cafe worker again, May gets a warm family welcome every single morning and I end up with the least amount of responsibility that I’ve had to shoulder for quite a long time. I stay the worker bee for now, and without any sort of work stress, I’m actually still rehearsing my exam notes in my head on the off occasion…
strangest study technique: reciting foundation cases during my dishwashing time at veneziano. As exams got closer I did more dishes..
most effective study technique: taking notes from the internet and using them as a template for subjects, making sure to use a fine comb to update them
second most effective study technique: practising problem solving small groups
Recent Comments