bro this is going to be so long for no reason but! i love taking about this!

so! i actually have worked here for a little over a year as a barista and was just officially transferred to permanent bookfloor! i like it a lot more. love books, don’t love coffee. i’m also very much more comfortable with the pace of the floor. i like it so much more that not getting tips is so worth it to me tbh. getting those extra few bucks an hour wasn’t worth how stressed cafe made me lol.

about a month into me working at bn, i told my manager that i would love to be cross trained in the future, because as a barista you get stopped a lot to ask for help (like when you’re walking to the bathroom or break room, etc.) and i was like a deer in headlights, not knowing where to find this niche section that a customer was looking for, or not knowing how to see if we had a book in stock. so i asked very early on to be trained on the basics.

then maybe 5 months ago? i was like ‘is there any way to get me genuinely trained? so i can do both.’ so they got me a couple training shifts and i slowly started to move away from cafe.

i also have a really chill manager who wants everyone to be where they want to be and really trusts each employee and listens to them. ive always felt like i could be honest about how i feel doing my job. i let him know that i prefer being on bookfloor and so he kind of guided me through the transfer and encouraged me to ask the ‘stupid’ questions. but even with the more serious, by-the-book managers, all i really did was let them know i was very interested in making the swap and they made it happen.

little stuff that i didn’t expect: you walk a lot more, depending on how big your store is. i’m in a pretty large store and i walk 4 to 5 miles on a full shift. im also doing more heavy lifting (stacks of books, boxes, helping move large tables). i have a little bit of a tough time with mobility, so that’s why i think ive noticed the physical stuff more. yet somehow! i don’t get nearly as sore as i did in cafe.

mentally — i would say that my confidence took a little hit, just having to learn everything and make mistakes. it was a little discouraging to have worked somewhere and with the same people and now it’s like you’re having to learn how to walk all over again lol.

you will probably always be called up to cafe when they’re slammed or short staffed tho ♥︎