BIRTHDAY MONTH

February has been good and relaxing so far. Not much since i just stay at home, not doing anything but house chores. Today marks a month i'm staying at home. Jobless, gaining weights but i wouldn't have it any other way. And oh i even went for cupping (read: bekam). I did it on my face for sinus and on my head because i somehow suffer from a regular not-so-severe headache. Bearable but still, when it happened, it hurts just as bad. Hence, the bekam attempt. The bekam doctor literally had to shave part of my head according to the size of the cup for cupping. And because of that one round part of my head, the next day, i went to the hair salon and shaved my whole head. I know. I know. Hahaha. 

Tbh, shaving my head has been in my plan for years. I've always wanted to do it especially when i was just chilling at home like during the semester break. But my family especially my mom forbids me strongly. I saw many of woman celebrities shaved their heads. Not to seek attention but if we can color our hairs any colors we want, style our hair as we want, then why does being bald is never a positive option? I mean, hair does grow back. But i do understand the part that we women are nicer and prettier with longer hair. But whatever, at least me experience being bald is checked. I guess this may be once in a lifetime chance so i'm going to be happy with it while it last. Lol. 

 My contract with my previous room was supposed to be 6 months until end of March but since i have no business in KL no more so i moved out 2 months earlier. The deal was, if i moved out before the contract ended, i need to help the other tenants find my replacement, or else i won't get my deposit money back. I thank God for the help of the online medium, i managed to find my replacement in time, and get my deposit back. I also didn't have to waste my money paying for the room rental. Alhamdulillah for that. 

And not many knows about this but my families and neighbors. We had a dog at home for about almost 2 years. Not really a pet but more to a dog that we kept and fed everyday. She was very tiny, smaller than a cat when she first came to our house out of nowhere. My sister fed her and she never leave ever since. We called her Doggy. Since our house is at kampung area with large backyard so Doggy just lived at the back, outside the house. We love her dearly. But about last 2 months, there was this one white dog came around and made our Doggy pregnant. Doggy gave birth to 7 cute puppies. However my mom was not happy with that. Since we know too well about our barrier as Muslim with dog. 1 dog at the backyard may be okay but a total of 8 dogs (?) God knows.

So i browsed for pet shelter at Seremban and thank God i found this one shelter that rescue dogs. The shelter called My Kebun and managed by one kind-hearted Chinese lady named Grace. We couldn't send Doggy and her puppies to the shelter with our own car because of religion matter. Thus, Grace suggested us to hire a pet taxi to drive the doggies to the shelter. Tbh i didn't know pet taxi was a thing before lol. The pet taxi driver was an Indian lady named Sathia. She was also a very nice lady. Very easy to work with and very friendly. She lives in Kajang and can drive your pets literally anywhere. She was once drove a pet from Penang to KL. If you want her contact number in the future, you can simply hit me up.

Alhamdulillah so far Grace has taking a very good care to Doggy and her puppies. Tbh i was really sad sending Doggy to the shelter since she has been with us since she was a puppy. And i believe she was already at her forever home until she was pregnant. Grace told me that the puppies will soon be adopted but not Doggy. Because people prefer to adopt puppies instead of the adults. Somehow Doggy will be neutered very soon. I was thinking to take Doggy back home once she was neutered and when her puppies are adopted and can survive without her. I mean, we are so used hearing she barks everyday. And i know she misses home too because dogs will be dogs. It is sad to think about the idea that she will live until she dies at the shelter. If nobody adopts her, i will surely going to take her home again. I miss her everyday. My forever baby Doggy. 

Aside from that, my birthday, as usual, since the past 26 years was on 17th February lol. Nothing special happens on 17th February only the fact that it was my birthday and i am finally one year older than before. My family never really celebrate birthday like others. But we do show some love on each others' birthdays. My mom asked me what do i want for my birthday. I told her that i just wanted some money. Hahaha. And guess what? She ignored that. Haha. Alhamdulillah for another year in life. May Allah ease my 2019 and may it be way better than my 2018. Amin YRA. 

 I also got my job interview result yesterday. But my result was kinda not confirmed yet. Two of my friends that went to same interview got the same results which the positions were not meant for them (for now). And my interview result really differ from both of them. I did asked one of my friend who already work at the workplace. She told me that when she got the job, she also got the same interview result as mine. I also did call the office etc. All i have to do now is pray and wait for the call from the rightful officer or another email for confirmation. I really hope that i will get good news from this one. May this job is meant for Afiqah Norazizi and may Allah ease her career. Amin YRA. 

SHE WAS A BARISTA

I wrote it on my previous post that my very recent job was my part time job which was as a Barista at Starbucks. Truth to be told, Starbucks was never really in my list. I did browsed for jobs for me to work for about two or three months while waiting to complete my studies and get myself a better, relevant position. I was thinking about working as, perhaps, an enumerator, telemarketer or maybe a sales assistant of anything. But since time was racing and my options are reducing, i started to consider to work as a server. Hence, Starbucks.

I remember what one of my closest friends said to me when i was at first about to decide to work at the nearest Shell station which at Shell Desa Sri Hartamas (simply because it was the nearest lol). He said "Shell kan kau dah pernah kerja. Lagipun Shell, McD semua tu tak best lah. Kerja lah Starbucks ke". So yeah, i guess i was really buying his advice hahaha.

So, just like other F&B companies, working full time at Starbucks requires us to work 8 hours a day and 6 days a week. The working hours are on shift basis. You don't just work during the morning everyday and the 1 day off every week is also not on the same day every time. We need to wait for the weekly or monthly schedule and just be happy with the schedule. We literally work the hours when everyone else is ready to go out and have a good time.

As for myself, since i was a working student, i get to choose my off days for me to go to the campus. So basically yeah, no off days for me since i went to the campus each time. Lol. Almost everyday i put on my Starbucks shirt, apron, black hijab, black pants, black shoes and get ready to go into work. The best part was, i don't have to stress about what outfit to wear each day because it was the same outfit every damn day haha.

I consider myself to be blessed to work at an expatriates and working areas where the customers are more sophisticated. Time is gold for them. So, they basically just came for their cup of unsweetened coffee and leave for their jobs. No offense, only two person that i have in mind for being irrelevant to my service. One was a Malay guy and the other was an Indian guy. Hm. Sorry not sorry.

I am somehow proud that i was once a Starbucks Barista. I did wrote on one of my previous posts that if we want to be a Barista at Starbucks, we need to attend two classes (total of 9 hours). I love Starbucks culture so much hence, when i saw imperfections here and there, i do understand it was because of us as a normal human being. I mean, the same SOP can be implemented everywhere, but in the end, the one that made it differ from one another is human itself. Ykwim?

I've always been a coffee drinker. Well simply because i drink everything but plain milk and liquor lol. My first experience with real coffee was when i was working for Costa Coffee machine at Shell. I still remember at that time, there were only 10 Costa Coffee machine in Malaysia. Like, legit. Unlike now, the machine can be found at almost all of Shell stations in Malaysia. So yeah, i kinda proud of that too. Hehe.

Working at Starbucks makes my knowledge of coffee grown immensely and my tastes has grown as well. In fact, we do have Barista Learning Journal and Coffee Tasting Book for us to learn more about Starbucks, coffee and everything. I don't want to brag, i mean, i know i just worked at Starbucks for a very short period of time, but if you give me any secret cup of latte, cappuccino, dark, medium or light roast of coffee, i can hastily tell which is which. Like, try me.

It took me about 2+ weeks to finally memorized all of the Starbucks recipes and cup markings and it somehow, made me happy of myself because my Store Manager told me that most of my coworkers took about 1 month to really memorize it all. Tbh, it was kind of pressure at first to memorize the exact this and that. I was even at first having difficulty to differentiate between tall, grande and venti cup lol. But in the end, i am happy to have all of that knowledge.

Another obvious perk is the easy access to espresso. For every shift of working, we can get any 2 drinks and 1 Starbucks meal for free. On our very first day of working, we had this one voucher of 50% off for us to buy any of Starbucks tumbler so that we can easily use it daily for the 2 free drinks. Those who know, know that Starbucks tumblers are one of a kind. The tumblers are to die for and they are seasonal. So goes with the Starbucks cards. Hence, new beautiful designs coming out every time. I already bought myself 2 tumblers, 1 card and okay, enough Starbucks merch for now lol.

Back to the espresso, you name it. I've drink all of the drinks on the menu list including the Teavana teas. Of course, the all time favorite is the frappucino. But the more i drink, the more i realized that in the end, i just love a cup of Americano with very minimal amount of sugar. Or Malaysians called it as Kopi O. Because duh, i don't like milk. I wonder how i am going to drink plain milk everyday while i am pregnant in the future. Haha. Okay calm down. Bye.

As for the cons, since i am not a public figure and this is just my personal blog, i wanted to confess that i actually quit my job. I am supposed to work until end of February but i have decided to quit my job on early of January. Two things i exactly know i learnt from working at Starbucks were one; people will always have something to say about you whether good or bad. It doesn't matter what is going on or what is the issue.

And two; it doesn't matter if i am the eldest, the only person that have a Degree while my coworkers are only around 18 to 22 years old, a school dropout, failed their SPM or whatever, i still have to respect them because at work, they still know more than i do. They are the seniors. Their knowledge are more than mine. I am still nothing. I started as zero. While contrariwise, from my very personal experience, in my pov, being a senior at one place doesn't simply marks you as someone better and give you the ticket to speak your mind every time, to curse, to be rude even when you know that that someone is older than you.

Nobody cares if you grew up in such an insensitive community that being harsh and cursing to people are normal. Work is work. You expect people to respect you as a whole but you don't even pay them your respect (?) I can't even fathom like seriously. I mean, god knows how quiet and how introvert i was at Starbucks. I just came to work daily, do my work and do what people told me to do, i didn't joined my coworkers when they were gossiping about whatever and when the time is up, i go back home. Repeatedly. I guess, perhaps, that's why some of them thought that i was just a weak lamb because of my quiet character. Hahaha okay lesson learnt.

End of December and early of January were seriously my hectic weeks because of my dissertation. I was going back and forth from KL to Shah Alam almost few times a week. I worked on night shift while during the day, i went to the campus. I tried my very best to be rational and keep it all together. But when i realized that respect is no longer being served, i already had so much on my plate, i know i worth more and there's no use for me to argue or stand up for myself because some people's senses are just unattainable even with the simplest words, hence, i quit. In a proper way of course.

I don't have problem with all of my coworkers tbh, only two person. The others were just as nice. I like them equally. But these two were crazy toxic. And unfortunately on that week, i was on shift with both of them for the whole week. Bad luck Brian. Lol. I met my Store Manager, who was the best Manager ever. She was very understanding about the situation because of course, she knows all of her coworkers attitude very well, every each of us. And she also do what she gotta do. Haha. I even got few harsh text messages from the you-know-who right after. That was the part where the block function work wonders lol. I mean, i'm already too far to care.

In the end, every workplace has good and bad things about it. For better or worse, i am still very thankful for all of the experience that i have gained from the very short period of time. We are always being blessed with so my kind of things and for here, these are my blessings. I know my bad experience was nothing compared to other servers out there. I mean, when i was working at Shell, i saw how the Banglas being mistreated by rude customers, shouting and chaos here and there, and now, me having a bad experience with the coworkers is also checked. Hahaha. In the end, we should know that people did not demand for a crown on their head. But literally just a dash of respect would be sufficient.

Despite the one major negative, i actually love being a Starbucks Barista. I love ending every shift smelling like coffee. I love seeing people expressing their love with short wishes on the paper cups. I love the idea of the hundreds of coffee recipes. I love working with a respected company that is well known. I mean, even Starbucks puns are worldwide lol. And i was even planned to get the Starbucks Coffee Master certificate that requires us to learn until the root and history of coffee.

As you can see at the store, most Baristas wear a green apron. Red apron pop out during the holidays. And black aprons are for Coffee Master. And maybe there are other colours. Idk. And yes, i was once wishing for that black apron so bad. But maybe not now or maybe me and black apron are just not meant to be. So yeah, working at 4 Starbucks stores (Plaza Mont Kiara, Arcoris Mont Kiara, Plaza Damas and Petronas Sri Hartamas) for only 1 month and a half have been very rewarding. I might come back in the future to be a Barista once again. Or maybe just come back for a cup of coffee, when i have extra bucks. Lol. Mommy's broke but you know what? Too blessed to be stressed xx