Visions and Revisions

Today's tarot card, The World:
The World represents the completion of a cycle and the attainment of inner peace and contentment. It is time to celebrate all that you have accomplished and bask in your successes. You have achieved a heightened sense of self awareness and a new appreciation for your surroundings. While this card doesn't rule out discomfort in your life, it does indicate that many of your trials and tribulations will soon be overcome. Everything is finally starting to come together!

I think there must be something in the Maine water that induces euphoria, because all of the chips seem to be rolling in my direction lately. I had three different places contact me about interviews this week. This is unprecedented. As of today, I have a job in a bakery. Yesterday I even found a pair of boots at the L.L. Bean Outlet that fit and weren't ridiculously expensive. Good thing, too, since it started snowing at five last night, and by the time the meeting at Starbucks was over, four inches had already fallen. My feet stayed warm and dry all the way home. For these small blessings we are very grateful.

Speaking of the Starbucks training, it evidently made quite a few headlines, and I've had a couple of emails asking whether I was in attendance. Yes, I most certainly was. At five-thirty local time, every Starbucks in the United States closed. Without exception. From six to nine, we all held remedial bar-skills trainings: how to time shots of espresso, how to steam milk to perfection, introduction of new standards (no more single shots, for instance, and no more pulling shots directly into the cup), introduction of new machine equipment designed to give us greater control over the grind of the espresso, explanation for the sudden repeal of the warming ovens. In lost sales alone, this three-hour training was calculated to cost the company seven million dollars. I have to hand it to Howard Schultz; in the month that he has been reinstated as CEO, he has made a lot of changes, and he isn't allowing any of his employees to fall behind the curve. I am delighted that we are refocusing on coffee and the making of "handcrafted" espresso drinks. However, I confess that I'm not entirely convinced that it is going to work--how can a multi-billion-dollar corporation recoup the intimate, localized charm of an independent coffeeshop? Because it is one thing to change the mindset of the staff, and quite another to retrain the customers, who already know Starbucks as "The McDonald's of Coffee."

Nevermind that! I am now employed behind the counter of the Two Fat Cats Bakery on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and some Saturdays. (I'm going to have to start keeping a day-planner.) This is starting as a cashier-type job, but because this is the slow season there will be ample time to train me to ring up cookies and roll out pie crusts between customers. By the time summer hits and we get busy, management will hire another couple of people for the counter. If I have demonstrated proficiency in the baking department, they'll just scoot me over. This way they train everyone to do everything. The timing isn't ideal, because heaven knows how long I will be in Portland, but at $9 an hour I am certainly willing to take a chance. It'll be educational! And fun! My hair smelled like cake after a mere half-hour's interview! And there really are two (very) fat cats.

I was also lined up to interview at a temping agency (which I cancelled) and at Soakology, a "foot sancuary and teahouse." I applied to the latter on a whim last week, after seeing their late-January listing for a receptionist on Monster.com. To my surprise, they emailed me about arranging an interview. After getting the job at Fat Cats this morning, I hiked over to have a look at the Soakology store, wondering whether I ought to go ahead and interview just for practice, even though I had no wish for the job. An uncomfortable-looking couple were sitting near the window, their feet in bowls of steaming weedy water, sipping from cups of more steaming weedy water, listening solemnly as a woman who was obviously a marriage counselor exhorted them to work on their communication skills. Looking around at the decor, I realized that it was no place for me; I would have to buy an entirely new wardrobe just to be recognized as the receptionist, and not the janitor. I politely informed the woman at the counter that I had already found employment.

I admit I was biased from the start, because while I was looking at their website a loud voice in my head exclaimed, "This tea is nothing but hot leaf juice!"