Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Worker Bee or Queen

My dad always said that I was the best carpenter's helper he had ever had. Dad and I worked well together back in the day, and now I work well with Toby. When working on carpenter projects, I can see what tools are needed, get them ready, and hand them to you before you even realize you were about to reach for them. I can usually see what needs to be done and getter' done. I don't mind taking a backseat to the carpenter, but I do love to swing a hammer.

A couple of weeks ago, I went down to help our friend Shay who his putting in a new coffee shop. He had bought lots of old wood pallets to use for building/decorating his coffee shop. Since I love this kind of work, I went and helped him build this wall. My job was squaring off the ends of the pallet boards and cutting them to the size Shay needed. Shay was the placer and nailer. It was his vision. At one point, we came across a few boards that were stained a turquoise color. Shay did not want to use those in his wall, although I thought they would be really cool. Turquoise was not his vision, so I took those boards home with me for frame making :) Anyway, we got the walls covered and with some help, we got the room painted. Shay moved his coffee roaster and equipment in and got open.

His plan was to open the backdoor to people who wanted to buy bagged coffee or a cup of coffee or cold brews while he worked to get the drive-thru finished. It turned out that there was so much foot traffic coming in the backdoor, he needed help - someone to sell coffee while he worked on the shop. So he hired a couple of ladies (friends from church) to come in and learn the coffee business. On Monday, I went in to learn also, so that I could be of help when he needed me. We've talked about me helping to set up his kitchen and getting him going. Besides being a pretty good carpenter, I'm good in service. I spent lots of time in the restaurant business. I can see what needs to be done and getter' done. But I don't want a full-time job. 

I worked yesterday afternoon making coffees and cold brews and helping with other coffee shop needs. It was a good time. This morning I went in at 6 AM to learn how to open, because Shay is going out of town and needs me to open on Friday.  I want to be a help.

Here is where things get tricky. How much do I want to help? What is my roll? Am I an assistant to the manager? Or am I a minimum wage worker? Maybe my vision is not Shay's vision. I have to figure this out.

World Watercolor group paintings.:







It is good that there are only a few more days of Sept. I think I am tired of watercolor and will do some other art.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

In my opinion. ..you are definitely a QUEEN BEE !

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Coffee Drinkers said...

My advice is to never work for friends or family. Help them out, sure. Eat their food, drink their wine, sure. Get paid? Nope...

Bag Blog said...

Robin, I'm afraid you are right.

Coffee drinker, you are right too.

Jo Castillo said...

Wow, I really like the wall. Y'all did a swell job!

I wish I could be there to drink coffee. It was so good. Guess you will figure out where you are in helping. Always hard with family and friends.

The watercolors are great! Applause for finishing the challenge. I like the girl reading, the cow (of course!) and the river walk -- San Antonio or Oklahoma City?? I like all of them.

Hope your friend is doing well.

Hugs to you....

Bag Blog said...

Thanks Jo. I think I got the work thing figured out. It helps me to put it down on paper:)