My experience from working part-time at a cafe during my gap year rewired my brain. Between the 8 AM shifts, the avalanche amount of orders coming in, and the difficult customers constantly chasing after the order after not even 5 minutes of waiting, I didn’t just learn to craft coffee—I learned mental resilience and how to work efficiently. I realized that surviving lunch hour rush isn’t so different from surviving finals week in university. Spoiler: The key to it is learning how to look past the chaos and urgency, and just focus on putting one foot in front of the other.
Here’s how I turned my customer service suffering into academic success.
Table of Contents
Rhythm Preparation
Behind the Counter:
You don’t actually simultaneously prepare 4 different cups of drinks, because that’s how it leads to you mistaking the orders. The magic is in rhythmic sequencing:
1️. Start the blender for the smoothie drinks (30 sec of before it finishes, giving me time to do something else).
2️. Prepare the next cup that needed my full attention (espresso and the steamed milk for latte art).
3️. Garnish the smoothie drink after finishing the coffee orders (to prevent coffee from resting too long).
4. Repeat with precision
On Campus:
I adopt a similar sequencing process for my academics:
1. Revise the day’s materials while my memory was still fresh.
2. Transform my knowledge of the day’s lesson into neat and concise notes for future revision.
3. Skim through the next day’s topics for better and easier understanding when the lecturer explains it.
Why This Works:
Provides Structure
I separated the learning process into listening, note-taking, previewing (during class, after class, and before the next day respectively).
This gave me a clear path to go in, as I used to constantly feel overwhelmed at the thought of revising. Therefore, dividing it into three sequenced steps provided a sense of regularity that helped improve my learning process.
Planning Ahead & Maintaining Control
1. Do a Little Now, Save a Lot Later
The complicated orders that take ages to prepare seem to always come only during busy hours, which was stressful as it meant longer wait times for the orders that come after it.
Behind the Counter:
The hack I learned: Pre-batching the base of the drink when it’s slow, so I only needed to add ice and the variable ingredients when a drink is ordered, reducing the time taken to make one.
On Campus:
I put aside half an hour every day (yes, weekends too) to review my notes and do some practice questions. Doing it this way ensures I’m prepared and confident when the big day rolls up, only needing to do a little extra revision the night before, instead of staying up late to cram.
2. How to Handle Difficult People
Behind the Counter:
There’s always customers that makes modification requests when we are already almost finishing prepping the order, or complain about a drink being made the way they requested it and denied ever doing so.
The hack I learned: Confirm & verify
“Just to double-check, it’s hot latte with oat milk + sugar right?” to make sure I understood what I said and to hold them accountable for their orders
On Campus:
Having that type of group mate that never gets their part done on time, or doesn’t make the effort to pull their weight for the assignment sucks, but sometimes you just have to find a way to deal with it.
I make sure to constantly check in on the progress of everyone in the group, setting an earlier deadline for everyone so we still have time to save the assignment in case someone doesn’t complete their part of the assignment or we realize there’s a mistake with the work.
The Reset Ritual
Behind the Counter:
The last 30 minutes of the shift is the reset ritual to prepare for the next day:
1) Deep Clean – Clean the coffee machine and juicer
2) Reset Stations – Soak cloths, clean cups
3) Prep Tomorrow – Prep the overnight oat for tomorrow to serve
On Campus:
I have an “academic closing time” that works in a similar way:
1) Checklist – Go through the checklist to make sure everything was done for the day
2) Calendar Tracking – Note down and look through any incoming events
3) Packing My Bag – Pack the materials for tomorrow’s class before sleeping
I found that this ritual gives me a certain sense of accomplishment, to know that I have completed everything I need to do for the day, and that I am ready for the challenges of tomorrow.
Prioritizing Effectively
Whether it’s a mountain of assignments from university or the sudden pile of orders coming during peak hours, things can get hectic real fast. That is why I always keep to a priority system I learned from working.
The Priority System
I divide my tasks into urgent, soon, and later sections based on the deadlines.
Server Version:
- Hot Drinks (NOW): Serve immediately
- Iced Drinks (Soon): Have a 3-minute window before ice melts and dilutes
- Restocking (Later): Making syrups can wait until the rush ends
Student Version:
- Due Tomorrow (Urgent) : Readings, problem sets
- Next 48 Hours (Important but with a bit more time) : Essays, lab reports
- Eventually (Ample time) : Assignments, semester projects
Whenever things feel like they’re coming at me too fast, I remind myself that I can always keep things under control by staying calm and breaking down the steps and process to finish the task.
Conclusion
All in all, working part time at a cafe taught me how to manage the panic, stress, and challenges that comes with this job. In a way, university is not that different from food service, I still get orders from customers, if the orders were homework and the customers are my professors. Overall, I’ve been coping pretty well to university life, much of the reason being the work experience I gained from working at a cafe.
