So I have been noticing an interesting thing/pattern at work lately. When someone is at the drive thru window and they call out an order, the rest of us rush to help fill the order. When we do so, it is somewhat like ants delivering things to the queen ant in the pile.
"I need two sausage and cheese, a chocolate milk, three white iced donuts and a dozen glazed," you might hear, and we all snap to attention and start calling out things. "I've got the chocolate milk and the white iced!" I yell, while someone else says, "I've got the cheese!" and yet another says, "I'll get the dozen glazed!" and somehow they are all magically delivered to the drive thru person at nearly the same time.
While you are delivering your items to the person at the window, you notice the others filtering toward the the window as well, and you also notice that you have to do a fine dance to stay on the path while not colliding with others who are getting other items or helping another customer.
Saturdays are a great example of this, as they are so busy you often have several people on drive thru and three or four people on the front registers. The people helping the drive thru customers rush into the front of the store to grab items such as regular donuts, cake donuts, drinks, kolaches, etc, and attempt not to collide with those helping the customers in the front of the store. Bending to grab a box or reaching for a bag while ducking under someone filling a dozen donuts in a box can be tricky, while grabbing a chocolate milk on the fly and managing to get the sliding door on the cooler shut again is an athletic move of grace...well, maybe not.
"Leave that drawer open," you yell, as someone grabs two jalapeno kolaches, and you grab the ones you need and use your thigh to close the drawer as you quickly move off to grab another item. Knowing when to stop pressing the button for the cappuccinos in order to get the cup filled just the right amount without overflowing it or to leave enough room for the whip cream is a work in progress. After a certain amount of time, you begin to get to the point where you know exactly when to stop the flow of liquid to get the perfect amount in the cup.
Even filling/stocking the drink cooler can be somewhat interesting. Filling the cooler with the newer drinks in the back can be difficult, and can take quite a bit of time, so while doing it in between customers can be a bit tough and take some time. We have so many choices, it is important to make sure it appears fully stocked at all times so the customers can have plenty of selection to choose from. There is Gatorade in various flavors, as well as several different Powerade choices, milk, chocolate milk, strawberry milk, apple juice, orange juice, cranberry juice, cran-grape juice and sunny delight. You can also get water, cappuccinos, sodas and coffee.
The donuts themselves are a whole different matter, and while I understand the principle of how to ice/frost them and fill them, I have not had much opportunity or practice at that particular part of the job yet, and I am okay with that. (That job requires coming in even EARLIER than I already do, so I am okay with not knowing that! Ha!) I could do it in a pinch, but they wouldn't look pretty.
And I am completely clueless on how to actually make the dough and fry the donuts or cook the kolaches. Totally okay with that as well, as I don't want to be at the store at 2:30 in the morning to get those started! Yuck! (But the guys that do it are always fast, efficient, and they do a delicious job!)
There are also patterns of how to move about the store, and they change throughout the morning. For instance, in the early morning until about 9am, you can find the hot or warm glazed still on the glazer or right next to it, but after about 9:30 or so, the glazed donuts will be located on trays on a rolling cart near the windows. Once the guys start their cleaning process, it is more difficult to get around the store, so you have to become inventive to get around. Many times you will run to get something for someone at the drive thru and you come around the corner only to find you are blocked from the window, and you must pass the bag or box off to the person at the window by handing it over whatever is blocking your way, whether it be a table, a box or bag of trash, or other equipment. Also, in the morning you can find three of the four kolaches in warming drawers in the front of the store, but after about 9am we move them to the back, since we don't need nearly as many of them, and this means that many times you forget they have been moved, even if you were the one to move them!
Come see us in action off 3009 and 35 sometime!
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