Orientation

I'm going to refer to my new place of employment as "T" again so it doesn't come up if searched for.

T still seems pretty unorganized.  Corey FINALLY got direct deposit set up, and FINALLY got his schedule for this week.  Unfortunately, it's only 4 shifts for about 3 hours each.  The worst was having to come in at 8:45pm Thanksgiving (T opens at 9 on Thursday for Black Friday) and being there until 1:30am Friday, then having to come back at something like 4pm Friday.  His schedule there conflicts with Sony, who has him working 5 days and long shifts, so he's quitting T.

T called me Wednesday asking if I could come in from 9-5 Sunday for orientation.  Since I'm Starbucks I needed to wear a black shirt and khaki pants.  I was hoping that since I was Starbucks I could wear black pants, because I currently have 2 pairs and no khaki.  I went to Goodwill though and got a couple of pairs, plus a couple of black shirts.  Turns out, I can wear khaki OR black.  Oh well, I guess now I have 4 pairs of pants I can wear to work.  And it never hurts to have a good pair of khaki's.

On the phone I was told to go to the second floor guest service desk.  Got there, and they sent us to the first floor break room (same thing happened for interviews, was told first floor, sent to third).

At orientation there were 2 other guys working Starbucks, a bunch of cashiers and "soft lines," 3 guys for electronics, a backroom, and one guy working over night.  We filled out some paperwork, went over the basics, watched some training videos.  We were there so long we got out 2 paid breaks and an unpaid 15 minute lunch.  The food court has an outdoor patio area, so I sat out there and ate.  It still doesn't always register with me that I'm living in California now.  But this small thing was something that reminded me of it.

At one point he let everyone who wasn't cashier or Starbucks go home, which upset some people who thought they were getting paid for more hours.  After they left we were trained on register.  Apparently it takes 40 hours to become Starbucks certified, and since there's no way to get all of that training in before Black Friday, we'll be cashiering.  So I'll be cashiering at the busiest T in the country on the busiest day of the year.  Not looking forward to it.  It's pretty simple though. 

About 4:15 he had us go take our last 15 minute break, then we were going to actually run the register.  Well, we all came back at 4:30.  And stood around.  And stood around.  Finally sometime after 4:40 he came back, apologized for being late, and told us we were free to go home, but we'd still get paid as if we were there until 5.  Not sure what happened there.

The group that was sent home early was given their schedules, but when it was time for us to go, apparently the system was down (which seems to happen a lot).  He told us someone would call with our schedule.  No one called all day Monday.  Waited around all day Tuesday.  I debated calling them, but it took forever for them to call Corey, and honestly, I was kind of hoping they wouldn't get me trained so I wouldn't have to work Black Friday after only 1 day of training.  BUT, they called me about 7:20 Tuesday night.

T: Are you available anytime tomorrow?
Me: Yup
T: Are you available in the morning?
Me:  Yeah
T: Can you come in 6:30-11:30?
Me: 6:30 AM?
T: No, 6:30 to 11:30 at night
Me: That's fine.
T: No, actually we need you to come in earlier.  Can you come in 6-11?
Me: That's fine.
T: Ok, and when you come in we can get you your schedule for Friday.
Me: Ok.
T: Actually, I can give it to you over the phone now if you want.
Me: Ok, that'd be great
T: 11:00-2:45 on Friday
Me:  Ok, thank you!

A few minutes later T calls back: Actually, if you stay until 11 that's your 5th hour and you'll have to take a lunch, so you'll be working 6-10.

Seriously T, I understand that you just hired 200 people, but you'd think they'd have this stuff worked out BEFORE they called me.  But that's not too bad.  I have Wednesday morning to start preparing food for Thanksgiving.  We'll probably have last minute shoppers Wednesday night while I'm training, but I get all day Thursday off and don't have to get up super early Friday.  I'm hoping by 11 most crazy shoppers will be gone, and at least it's only 3 hours and 45 minutes.  I also had to go out and buy a red shirt to wear Wednesday and Friday.  I found a nice button up one at Goodwill for $3 though, and it's something I might wear again.

Hopefully next week, training at Starbucks starts!!!!  :D