Hey... Watch the bar for me... (A poop story)

Good morning... What can I get for you?

I'd like to tell you a bit about my 4th manager at Starbucks. Now mind you... this was only year 2 at the same store. Yes... 4th manager. I was the assistant for this crazy fella and so I have to give props for him recognizing the talent... because he pushed for my promotion.

We'll call him "Cole Hitus" to protect his identity. Now Cole was a bit of a stickler for rules, process and procedure. Which is fine as long as you follow them as well. Not much of a modeler. One of the kooky things that Cole used to do was have a attacks on his digestive system... and they always seemed to happen when I was on the bar and during a busy rush in the morning. Now this was the days of the La Marzocca so there was a bit of hand-crafting and skill involved in making a beverage. There also was a bit of fussiness when the sun came up and the shots started to go off a bit. All of these things sort of lined up to provide me with a fun run of customers until either Cole came back or the 3rd person on would show up. So there would always be this feeling of frustration combined with the sheer awkwardness of knowing that Cole had been gone a long time and what he was actually doing. He always washed his hands in front of me though... Thanks Cole.

Cole just always seemed to be out of his element... Another time, I got a wake up call on my day off... at 4:45am.

Cole: Ummm... Pat? We're you sleeping?
Pat: Yes, Cole... it's my day off man.
Cole: Have you checked outside? It snowed and as I was backing out of my driveway, I ran my car into the ditch. Can you open the store for me in 20 minutes?
Pat: Yes, it started snowing about 4pm yesterday...I'll go open the store, but just so you know... I'll be wearing PJ bottoms and snow boots when you get there.

Now I lived about 1 mile from the store (and I had to walk) and I could have put on some dress code pants and still made it on time to open, but I wanted Cole to know that the whole thing was a big pain in the ass and if he'd planned ahead a bit we wouldn't be in this situation.

Cole managed to get there by 9:30... of course I had to walk in so that meant I had to walk home... in my flannel PJ bottoms.

Administrative note: Please give a warm Green Apron Welcome (and use your 5 behaviors please) to Barista Suicide (BS). Bs will be a writer here at GAS. BS is a long time friend from my first store. He will also remember "Cole". BS has done much since then and promoted himself to customer a few months ago. Welcome buddy.

We'll see you tomorrow for your usual.

Pat Nerr...