As I came to the end of my Master’s Degree the only thing that stood between me and completion was a thesis; a daunting task. To break up the monotony I feared would consume my days with planning, researching, writing; repeat. I applied to work at a local coffee shop, Jackson Coffee Company. This did what I wanted, it provided outside stimulation, an environment where I had to be productive at something other than writing.

This job soon became more. I surprised myself finding a love for the customer based role; and I am not sure why this came as a shock since I grew up in a family retail store that was successful exactly for its customer service. My new job was task-oriented, which meant there was room to improve efficiency in everything, I loved this challenge. All ideas were welcomed in our team and there was sense of a common desire to make the customer experience better. I understood from my background that there is no upper limit in customer service and that a bad experience can be far more memorable than a good one. Therefore, the threshold to create a memorable experience is high. But a coffee shop holds a certain importance; people turn to coffee for a boost, a daily highlight, and every customer has their own preconceived expectations and want them met without communicating them. They turn to a coffee as a third home, a place they can frequent comfortably with little thought or effort.   

I began to learn customers’ names, typical orders and small details of their life. And I was keen to understand the relationship between the quality of service and the operational procedures. I paid attention to small details and began to question. For example, I began to wonder why our chocolate syrups were refrigerated at night; this caused them to congeal making them hard to pump and led to waste. Liquid syrup takes only a few seconds to pour, versus a whole minute of squeezing out half-solid brownie batter. With a dozen people in line waiting for drinks, this caused considerable delay, and affected customer experience. With tight business margins, we could not afford to throw away half-empty bottles. The solution to this example: call the syrup producer. Answer, in fact, the syrups should not be refrigerated at all. Finally, I moved them next to the espresso machine where they absorbed some heat for making them smooth and fast to pump.   

This example is not particularly glorious, it’s not rocket science, but important because I believe big change often comes from a long string of little things done right that work well together. Often the change that is needed is small and hidden in plain sight; the coffee company had not questioned the syrup procedure in over ten years. During my time at Jackson Coffee Company I was able to implement many small changes. I changed displays to make buying more approachable and organized. I started a take-one-leave-one book initiative to provide options of experience. At one of the company’s locations, I overhauled the layout of equipment and machinery to reduce the number of walking steps in between tasks and make the workplace more intuitive. 

I soon gained the trust to move forward with my initiatives without asking permission. My managers and owner soon came to me for my opinions and ideas. My stories from Jackson Coffee Company provide a glimpse into my thought process, my ability to consult a situation and understand its components from a human perspective. To understand what components might be needed, not because of the efficiency numbers they produce but because of the culture and experience they create.

Much more than “just a coffee shop job,” I grew more confident in my ability to lead from behind and create real change.