Finally a Day Off– They Never Go as You Plan January 21, 2008

So today is MLK Jr. Day which is very exciting to me because not only is it a day to remember an amazing figure of our history, but it also means I do not have school or work. I have been looking forward to this day because  it meant that I could finally sleep in. Last night as I went to bed I was thrilled I did not have to set an alarm of any kind and could just sleep.  I visioned myself pretty much wasting most the morning catching some z’s. What a wonderful day!

Well, it is about 8:30am right now and I am wide awake. I know you’re thinking 8:30 isn’t too early and I would agree with that, but I have been awake since about 7:00am. No matter how much I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to fall back to sleep I couldn’t do it. I know that I am tired, I went to bed well after midnight last night, but it doesn’t matter, I cannot fall back to sleep. I hate it. There was a time when I could sleep to noon with no problem. Now I can barely make myself sleep past 7:00am, it just really isn’t fair. I suppose 7am is sorta like sleeping in because when I work early I get up around 3:30am, but still it just doesn’t cut it for me. I mean come on the sun as only been about for about an hour at 7:00am,  it seems like I should get to sleep at least 2 hours past the time the sun gets up.

So I guess it is official… I really am a morning person. Some of you may think this is a good thing, but I not so much. I have always been somewhat impressed with  my lazy, sleeping in habits. But they cease to exist now. If I am not in bed by 9pm at the latest I am incredibly tired and I can’t sleep past 7 the next morning. Can you say grandma? But the sad thing is even my grandma can party late into the night with the best of them and sleep in the next day. What is the deal? I guess, just call me grandma Robbin, I’ll go out and buy some more sweaters to make it official.

The Morning Person Within Me That I Never Knew Existed October 10, 2007

As you may have known from my previous post I am now an employee of Starbucks working as a Barista. Really it is the perfect job for me. I am interacting with people, I get to drink all the coffee I want and they are flexible to work around my school schedule. There is one part of the job, however, that may not be so perfect. You see, part of working around my school schedule means that there are certain days that I can only open. I know opening doesn’t seem so bad, but to to work an opening shift that means your day begins at 4:30 a.m.!

I have never really been much of a morning person. You can ask my mother if you don’t believe me. In high school she constantly had to check in on me to see if I was getting up so I wouldn’t be late to school. Despite her best efforts I did end up being late to my first hour class most of the time. During my senior year my parents got a letter home about every week that said your son or daughter has been late x amount of times this week, etc. etc. I love to sleep and I love my bed. I can easily sleep until noon on a weekend and not feel guilty, even though some people may claim that is a waste of a day. That is always how I have operated– stay up late, sleep all day. That is until about a month ago.

When I saw that I was scheduled for an opening shift for the first time and realized that meant going to work at 4:30am before the sun even came up, I have to admit I was a little concerned. As a Starbucks employee there are certain star skills you are suppose to represent and greeting customers with a smile is defenetlyone of them. I was concerned I would not be able to do this because in the mornings I generally resemble this:

That isn’t the way Starbucks customers want to be greeted so I knew I would have to smile even if it was forced. The night before I worked my fist opening shift I barely slept because I was so afraid I would not wake up on time. I woke up at 1:00am, and thought good I have 3 more hours to sleep and then 2:00am and then 3:15am, etc. I have to admit that after I finished my shift that day I was exhausted. I didn’t know how I was going to make it…

But since then I have come to appreciate my early mornings for a number of reasons.  First of all there is a certain peace that is unexplainable at that time in the morning. There is really nobody else around and the drive to work is quick and traffic free. The drive thru  in the store I work at faces the west so every morning I watch the sunrise over the mountains as I give people their coffee. It is beautiful and amazing and I thank God everyday for his incredible creation! Finally, I love my early mornings because I am getting to know the regular customers. It is such an honor to be able to begin their morning with them. Some just grunt at you because lets face it they haven’t had their morning coffee yet, so they really are barely awake and there are those that are a little too peppy for the morning if you know what I mean, but they always bring a smile to my face. It is fun to get to know them, even if it only is for 3-4 minutes at a time as I hand them their Triple, Venti, non-fat, 2 pump mocha, 2 pump hazelnut Latte or the for the more simple orders their Grande Brewed coffee. I find myself, amazingly, not struggling so much to get up anymore and I actually now prefer the opening shift over any other shift. In fact now I look more like this in the mornings:

Okay, so maybe it isn’t that extreme, I mean come on it is 4:30 in the morning! But it is a lot easier to smile now, especially when I know I can go home and take a nap after I get off work. : )