made by a tiengerine

A collection of cafe vlogs

Between 2018 to 2022, I shuffled my way through five different part-time jobs, all carried a similar role of working front cashier and back kitchen staff. A book I’m currently reading, The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter and How to Make the Most of Them Now, calls this the Starbucks phase. Also known as, the canon event of working underemployment jobs in your twenties for whatever reason. I think it’s funny that this phase has a name. I also think that my Starbucks phase was much more than what the book portrays it to be. The best way I can explain it is… work never felt like work. It’s silly to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the five years I spent in the food service industry, but I did. Even with the minimum wage I was making!

Actually… maybe that part could’ve been better.

Clocking into work was like getting ready to play “House.” My favorite childhood game where I got to indulge in the role of a cafe owner who had the largest menu in the world and could make just about anything anyone requested. With cut-up papers for noodles and colored waters for soups, the possibilities were endless. The menu stopped where my imagination ended, but I can reassure you— the menu had no end. This is why I like my Starbucks phase so much. Essentially, part-time jobs were my creativity outlets from the college routine. When business was slow, I played with recipes and made new menu items. When business was booming, I collected footages that turned into cafe vlogs. I was allowed a space for fun and creativity, and I took advantage of it to pick up marketing and content creating skills. I was lucky to have friendly managers and laid-back bosses who encouraged my creativity. I honestly could not thank them enough for allowing my side quests while working, more so, for letting me keep in touch with the old cafe owner who had the largest menu in the world.