A barista life ain’t too bad
Often when filling in forms you are asked what you do for work; what your occupation is.
These days I have to think about what I actually do for a job because the hours in my day are spent during a variety of things.
I used to spend my working week as an academic so I once comfortably defined myself as that.
The remuneration was fairly good and there is generally respect associated with the title of professor, even in poppy-pruning New Zealand.
Nowadays, although I spend much of my time pulling coffee, cleaning tables and washing up, I still behave like an academic in my way of thinking, probably in a more rounded way than before.
Many would dream to earn a PhD and become a professor.
For some, being a tenured academic would be their pinnacle life vocation.
On the other hand, I don’t reckon many people in New Zealand would aspire to coffee shop work, and I wonder how many baristas write that on their travel documents lest they be judged by that.
So why keep doing barista work? For me, it’s the positive influence I can have on people which keeps me doing the coffee thing in spite of the low pay and the deferential nature of the job.
Whether it’s seeing a customer leave the cafe happily caffeinated, providing a friendly ear, or making someone laugh, I feel like I can influence a person to make their day better in some small way.
To be a good barista, you also have to be able to quickly judge a customer when they walk in the door.
Are they in a good mood, or a bad one, wanting some quiet time or just a quick caffeine hit? Do they want conversation, or “just the coffee thanks”?
And of course, a barista has to be able to make a decent coffee.
Despite the skill required, here in NZ the job of a coffee shop worker is given the same vocational weighting as a cleaner or elderly care assistant.
The sorts of jobs that are seen as a fill-ins; stuff you do while waiting for your dream job or studying for something else.
Despite their importance they are not regarded as jobs for life.
Since when was the last time a barista was mentioned in the New Year Honours list for services to the community?
Plenty of big business people are, and their life’s work has been to make money for themselves.
Plenty of sports people are, and their goal, because it absolutely has to be, is simply to beat the opposition.
It’s no wonder we have staff shortages in nursing homes and hospitality venues here, as we have an over-supply of people wanting to go into well-paid white-collar jobs or play for the All Blacks.
But does it have to be that way? No, and it’s not that way in many other countries where the butcher, baker, and coffee-maker converse on equal terms with the local brain surgeon and resident rocket scientist.
In a perfect world the value of a job should be seen by the wider community primarily as how much you contribute to improving the lot of others.
Not what you get paid, how many boards you been on, or how many degrees you have.
I write the odd article for this newspaper not only because it helps me maintain my hard-earned writing skills, but because I like to think I can encourage readers to look at things from a different angle.
That is, it’s another way I can influence people in some positive way and make their day a little more interesting.
So nowadays, when I’m filling in a form with a question “what is your occupation?” I write down barista and influencer.
Admittedly an ugly one with poor fashion sense who’s never been to Bali, and who’s pictorially challenged.
Steve Stannard is a former Massey University academic who owns a cafe in Palmerston North.