Take My Job Seriously, Please

Not too long ago, I read a book called Love, Lies and Cherry Pie by Jackie Lau. The main character was a single, 30-something, Chinese-Canadian woman who juggled 3 jobs as a tutor, barista and a published novelist. I thought that was cool, because at some point last year I was juggling a few jobs as well (barista, teaching assistant, social media manager, communications manager, clown, assistant stage manager... amongst other things).

It got me thinking about how certain jobs in the service sector, are considered as "transitionary" careers - something you do when you're in the in-between stages - rather than a real, full-time job. It's not something that people take seriously. People bartend, wait tables, make coffee, while doing something magical in their lives like writing or painting. It's not something "real". But why is that?

I've been a part-time barista for over a year now. Trust me when I say this job is not easy. It's not for the faint-hearted. There's a lot of learning and education involved. Lots of training your palette, your hand-eye coordination, your goddamn patience. I'm surprised it's not seen as a good, viable career option. Is it because of the low pay?

It brings me back to the topic of "what's classy if you're rich but trashy if you're poor?" When someone has an existential crisis and decide to drop $10,000* on a coffee machine with all the gadgets and gizmos, they are considered cool. Wow, so rich. So classy. No need to waste money on 6 dollar lattes everyday!

But when I quit my job to do the exact same thing (minus dropping $10,000 on coffee machines and grinders), it's considered a "waste of my degree". The end result is the same - except I earn money to learn the skills needed to make a cup of coffee. I didn't even need to spend 15k!

*10k might sound like an exaggeration but a good apartment-friendly La Marzocco is already 7.6k, a good single-dose grinder like Niche is 1.3k, coffee accessories can cost a total of 1k and all the learning that goes into being a home barista can really add up.

Whenever I think of this discussion, I think of Arnaldo Hernandez Mundo, a barista in NYC who was interviewed by Priya Krishna of NYT Cooking:

Mundo shared that people think his job is easy and one that young people do to tide them through college - which make people take the job less seriously. He urges people to take the job a lot more seriously, and for other baristas to dedicate more to the job.

Isn't it strange that a job where the general public centre the product (i.e. coffee) as part of a lifestyle, is also the job that is shunned? You want the output from the job... but not support the people bringing the output? How shameful is that?

My hope is similar to Mundo's. I hope that people start viewing being a barista (or any other server-type job) as a real career. That change has to come from a society that appreciates and values the contribution of each and every member, not one that assigns arbitrary value to the "movers and shakers" of society, but neglects the ones that support these movers and shakers.

And as I've said in Discomfort of the New, steaming milk is fucking hard!!!