By Lucas de Paula
Editor-in-Chief
On a whim, I decided to apply to Starbucks for a summer job, not expecting any reply. One email later, I was biking to my job interview in a suit during school lunchtime. Before long, I was the first minor hired in many years at that location.
As my first job, I wasn’t accustomed to the fast-paced environment or preparing Starbucks’s hundreds of offerings. Through training from an amazing team, I got the basics down, but that’s only the beginning of my journey.
I underestimated how difficult work would be. In the beginning, I made every single mistake in the book. I’ve handed out the wrong drink, put the wrong syrups in drinks, added shots to matcha lattes and the list goes on. I felt like a burden my coworkers had to accommodate even though I was trying my very best. Before work, I felt this looming anxiety constricting my heart and stomach telling me I would embarrass myself. After work, I would come home sweat-slicked with anxiety. I saw every shift as an obstacle to survive, yet, the thought of quitting never crossed my mind.
I strive to live by Frida Kahlo’s words, “We can endure much more than we think we can.” I’m sure she didn’t mean to endure working a fast food job, but this undying perseverance motivated me to simply show up. I can do hard things and reap the rewards of my labor. I can grow as a person.
Around the five-month mark, I started enjoying my job. I began to see every traumatizing shift as an opportunity to improve my skills, and every rude customer taught me how to be a more compassionate human. Balancing my academics, sport and college applications became a game to test my limits.
With this job also came personal and financial independence. I’ve learned to appreciate money tenfold now that I have a source of income.
Having almost six months of experience under my belt, I’m nowhere near being the perfect barista. I still mess up drinks, but I’ve learned to ask for help when needed and find peace in not knowing everything. Obstacles no longer hinder me; they empower me to try harder. For me, my job is about how efficiently you can work and how fast you can move. But contradictorily, it’s about falling in love with your limits and aiming to connect with even the most difficult people. But what do I know, I’m just a 17-year-old barista.