passion series: 1, 2, 3
jibby for you, jibby for me
On the side, I work as a barista at USC’s very own Cafe Dulce where we serve thousands of customers every day. If you have ever been, you would know that there is never, not a line out our door and that your drink will be in your hand within 30 to 60 seconds depending on what you ordered.
On bar, there are three stations: One, Two, and Three. One is solely in charge of pulling espresso shots, Three is in charge of sending off drinks, and Two is in charge of everything in between. Two is the most important and challenging position as you have to know all the different recipes and be mindful of any modifications customers make. It doesn’t matter how good you are at being Two because Two, cannot complete their job without One, and Three cannot complete their job without both One and Two. Each position relies on the other and there needs to be complete trust that every individual will get their job done. It sounds funny, but if the question “how many workers does it take to make one drink?” is asked, the answer is “Three”. If someone’s answer is anything less than that, the team has fallen apart.
I recently learned this the hard way after being at Dulce for over a year now. New hires are always put at One because it is the easiest spot to start off at. I remember the days when all I was concerned about was the number of shots I needed to pull. From there, you move to Three which is a bit more difficult because of the added interaction with customers. Then we have Two. Two is a position where your hands and head are not aligned because your head needs to be at least a step ahead of your hands. One and Three can stand idle every now and then waiting to be called upon, but if Two is ever idle, something is wrong.
I struggled at Two for some time and I had thought it was because of my physical capabilities. Was I not fast enough? It was actually the opposite: I was too fast. The greatest lesson I learned that enabled me to now excel in my position, was patience. Slow and steady wins the race, not fast and unstable. Behind bar, everyone needs to move as a singular unit. One leg can’t run faster than the other or else you’ll fall. You are only as strong as your weakest link.
