audrey (bidabble) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-06-26 18:54:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, audrey, isabelle lightwood |
In fact that would be a great game to play with friends, what would your sandwich filling be?
Who: Audrey and Izzy
When: Recently, mid-June
Where: Baxter Bakery
What: First day at work
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete
Izzy was kind of excited to start her summer job at Baxter Bakery, she liked Audrey - the other woman had a nice energy and enthusiasm about her. And she was patient which was very important as Izzy had never done customer service jobs before in her life.
Entering the bakery, after getting up fairly early - though still managing to look very well put together makeup and outfit chosen with thought - she smiled and called out a cheery greeting, “Morning, I’m ready and raring to go”
Audrey was behind the counter, stocking the pastry case. She broke into a bright grin and waved her new employee to come around. “Morning! Come on in! I’ve got your locker ready to go in the back, and a brand new apron. I know you’re so excited to put it on.”
Izzy moved around the counter with a grin, "Honestly?" she said, "I'm super excited to have a locker. Apron, well I'm just hoping I've picked an outfit that doesn't clash" Because, lets face it, that would be disastrous.
Audrey laughed. “That would be the end of the world, wouldn’t it?” She pulled out the apron and held it out to the younger girl, then motioned for Izzy to follow her into the back room. There was a huge bakery part of the back, with shiny, metal ovens and racks, lots of counter space for baking, etc. And then there was a store room and a break room, the break room was the one with the lockers.
“It really would” Izzy replied with a nod before taking the apron and following Audrey. It still amazed Izzy how much space was behind the shop. She’d been fascinated when she’d come for the trial day and even now was impressed.
"This one is your locker," Audrey said, pointing it out. "Just bring your own lock. Don't leave food or anything gross in there," she teased. "When you're ready, apron up and come meet me at the front!" She turned to head back to the front of the shop.
Izzy nodded, her nose curling when Audrey mentioned not leaving food or gross things in her locker, ewww as if she would. “Yes boss” Izzy grinned, placing her coat and bag in her locker - removing the stick-on mirror she had purchased and sticking it to the inside of the door, checking her hair and makeup before closing the locker. Popping on the apron she smoothed it over her outfit and nodded to herself before heading out to the front.
Audrey was in the front of the shop, stocking the pastry case. She turned with a smile when the younger girl came out. “Okay! So, step one. Stocking the pastry case. It’s all really obvious, but I should show you anyway. We want it to look as full as possible, as clean as possible, and for the food to always be facing the right way. Here are the little signs that say what the things are, and how much they cost. Those go in front. We always use food safe gloves when handling the foods, or these clean tongs.”
She set about stocking the case. It was lightly refrigerated, just to keep the shelf life of the foods up a little. But nothing truly perishable went in there.
Izzy watched and made mental notes, it seemed simple enough. The little signs were a good idea, so many places didn’t do that and it was a pain if you only had a small amount of money on you, she told Audrey this too. “And I’ve been recommending this place to everybody I know” she added, “I’ll make sure to tell them about the little signs too” she grinned.
Audrey laughed. “I love that! I love it! You’ll be the best employee ever if you drudge up more business for the shop.” She beamed. “I’m not expecting you to get all of this right away, I’m just running through things. And please, feel free to ask any questions when you’re working. There are no stupid questions, okay? Now... Here are the paninis.” She moved to the other side of the pastry case and showed Izzy the ingredients and machine to make the hot sandwiches, and went through each in turn.
Izzy nodded, "Don't worry I'm not the suffer in silence type, I'd rather ask than get it wrong. Wouldn't look good on me or the bakery if I didn't know what I was doing" she smiled, "Oh these are named after people right? People you know?" she was sure one of the other girls had mentioned it to her.
“Good.” Audrey nodded. That was absolutely the way to go. She didn’t want anything done incorrectly when a simple question could have rectified it. She nodded at the question. “Yes. My roommate has one, my boyfriend, my best friend, and a handful of good friends. I think Oliver’s gone back to Scotland, so I might have to come up with a different sandwich there. The Percy is Vegetarian and The Mavis is Vegan.”
Izzy laughed, completely delighted, “That is a genius idea” she told her grinning, “Seriously. I love that they reflect the person too. In fact that would be a great game to play with friends, what would your sandwich filling be? I can see it now”
Audrey laughed. “Well, I don’t want to be a sandwich. I want to be a puff pastry filled with custard and fresh fruit.” She beamed. That sounded delicious. Maybe she’d have to make a bunch of those to sell tomorrow.
“Oh I like that” Izzy nodded, “Something chocolatey for me I think, dark chocolate though, the strong kind” It was going to be terrible, Izzy had a feeling she’d eat loads working here but it did all smell incredible.
“Ooh, do you like bananas?” Audrey asked. She was forming a sandwich in her mind. A pastry, maybe. Dark chocolate, bananas, marshmallows? And cinnamon Raisin bread. With butter, grilled into a perfect dessert sandwich?
“Of course” Izzy nodded before smiling, “Oh dear, have I said too much. I’m not inspiring you with chocolate am I?” she asked though she didn’t sound too upset by the thought.
Audrey laughed. “I’m thinking maybe we should do a grilled, dessert sandwich.” And she told Izzy about her idea. “It might need some tweaking. We could do peanut butter, too, in there somehow. Peanut butter, dark chocolate, bananas...” It sounded kinda like heaven.
“Oh okay, now you’ve got me. That sounds amazing. I love peanut butter and dark chocolate together add bananas and it’s a dessert sandwich made in heaven” she grinned.
Another laugh. Audrey nodded. “Good. Then I’ll make the sign. I’m fairly certain this is going to to be the best sandwich on the menu! The Izzy.” She said, holding her hands up as if imagining it. “Peanut butter, dark chocolate, bananas on a sliced cinnamon loaf, grilled to perfection.”
Izzy laughed, “Aww thank you Audrey, that’s really sweet of you” she said honestly, “I can’t wait to try it but I think we need an Audrey too. Something light and sweet would be perfect”
“An Audrey?” Audrey couldn’t imagine. “I have no idea what that would be. I’ll have to think about it.” The pastry idea was good, but a sandwich? Hmm. She felt like she was at the shop so much it’d be weird to hear people order sandwiches with her name attached. “Anyway, let’s move on to the espresso machine.”
“Maybe you could hold a competition? Get your customers to suggest what an Audrey would be? Or even get them to put suggestions in each month and whichever one you like the most name it after the person who suggested it? Like a special” Izzy blushed, okay so she had a tendency to let her imagination run away with her. “Yes, sorry. Espresso”
Audrey laughed. “Really? Leave it up to the public? I suppose.” She was blushing and grinning now, mind spinning on how she could set up a box and leave out paper and pens, people could write in what they think the Audrey sandwich should be. It sounded kinda fun, really.
“It’ll give you a laugh at the very least” Izzy told her, “But I bet it’ll be interesting and I’m sure the customers will find it fun” She had a feeling lots of them would suggest some lovely things as Audrey seemed to be liked by everybody.
“I’m going to do it.” Audrey said, grinning. “I knew you’d be a great hire! Such wonderful ideas!” She said, and wrapped an arm around the other girl’s shoulders for a quick squeeze. “All right. Espresso machine.”
She moved over to the machine and started explaining which part was which, how it worked, and what needed to be done to make sure that the thing stayed clean and in working order. Then she pulled a shot and explained the different parts of the espresso shot.
Izzy wasn't much of a hugger but she found Audrey so sweet she didn't really mind.
Luckily Izzy drank a lot of coffee so she knew a fair bit already so she listened intently to Audrey as she explained the machine. "Okay that seems simple enough" she nodded.
Audrey sort of hugged everyone. She could tell that it made some people uncomfortable, so she hugged them less. It was a good compromise.
“We can go through all of this over and over, as much as you need, to get it all down. And I won’t have you on the espresso machine during rushes at first. Pulling shots and steaming milk is a bit of an art form. I’ll let you practice when we don’t have a line out the door. It can get pretty stressful.” She said, then she pulled out a milk caraffe and started to steam up some milk to make a cappuccino. She explained what she was doing and how while she did it, so that Izzy could learn.
Izzy nodded, “That sounds good to me” she agreed as she watched intently, “It’s strange I never really thought it looked that hard to do when I order a drink in a coffee shop but it’s a lot more complicated when you’re the one who has it do it” she smiled.
“It is!” Audrey responded with a nod and a smile. “And this is just the coffee part. Wait until we start learning about the bakery side. If you’re interested in that sort of thing, that is.”
“Wow, daunting thought” Izzy replied with a grin, “I’m willing to learn, I can’t promise I’ll want to become a baker but if you want to teach me I will learn” she replied. It would be a handy skill to have if nothing else and who knows maybe she would be okay at it.
“The hours are really crappy,” Audrey said quite honestly. “But if you’re willing to learn, willing to put in the time, and don’t mind being up at insane hours, then I’m more than willing to teach you.” She smiled. “Let me show you the cash register.”
Izzy nodded, "I can work with insane hours over summer but can't promise anything when I go back to school" she said honestly. She didn't think her teachers would appreciate her falling asleep in lessons. She followed Audrey to the register.
“Oh, I don’t expect any promises now. Summers are weird for everyone involved.” Audrey said, giving a nod. “We’ll just jump that hurdle when we get to it. So.” She started to explain all the functions of the register. It might be a little complicated at first, but Izzy seemed like a really smart girl. “You can shadow me the first day, and I’ll hang around to shadow you for a week or so, just make sure you’re caught up. Then you’re on your own.” She teased. No one was really on her own in the shop.
Izzy was happy with that, she’d take things as they came. The register was easier than she had thought, sort of a combination of a computer and easy maths. “That sounds good” she nodded, “Thank you for this by the way. It’s really great of you to take me on considering my lack of experience” There weren’t many people who would take on somebody who had never worked a day in their life before.
“Hey, really, it’s my pleasure.” Audrey said. “Besides, you’re not the worst I’ve had, let me tell you. Unfortunately, the turnover rate is pretty high. Kids go off to college or move away. I have a lot of part-time and temporary employees. The pay scale isn’t that great, and it’s hard for me to give a full 40 hours per week, though I’ve got a great HR company that takes care of things like health insurance and savings programs.” Audrey would have made more money for herself, or would have grown more if she’d cut back on hours and insurance, but she wanted to be really good to her employees. That took precedence over opening a second location.
“I have to say I may not have worked for anybody before but you are pretty awesome. Everybody really likes you as a person and a boss” Izzy said, “Which says a lot I think”
Audrey blushed and gave a little laugh. “You’re so sweet! Thank you! I knew this was going to be a good hire.” She added, beaming at Izzy. “Okay, do you have any other questions for me?”
Izzy grinned, she was so glad Audrey had seen her plea on the net and offered her a job. She had a feeling working here was going to be fun. "I don't think so" she shook her head, "Not off the top of my head right now"
“Okay, good. Just hang out with me today, and we’ll go through the normal stuff. Ask any questions you like.” Audrey gave the girl a smile. The door chime went off, and Audrey perked up as a customer came in. She was looking forward to training the new girl all the way through the day.