#001 KLP

After undergoing training in the first week of September 1999, i was very anxious and eager to start working at the store. I was also glad that i wasn't gonna be the only new partner at KLP. That took the pressure off a little bit.hehehehe....

During this time, there was no KLP 2 downstairs, but there was a small outside seating right besides the staircase, complete with umbrella and all. Weekdays were busy, but the weekends are really hectic. Fortunately for me, there were plenty of great partners working on the team. A lot of them were great coaches too. Looking back, a lot of the things i apply at work now, i learnt from these great people. Some of them who i grew to know were 2t, Cheyanne, DD and Faiz. They were my SS (except for Faiz, who was a barista) and they were the ones who helped me learn all the ropes about being a sbux partner. And yes, i believe some of them also had fun looking at me, sweating-all-the-time at work. No, no.....i wasn't panicking all the time, that is just who i am.....i sweat a lot, and all the time. I move, and so i sweat. Story of my life!

The most important thing to remember though, is that they made me feel welcomed as a member of the team and they really cared about me doing my job well, something i truly appreciate.

Just for fun, here are some of the things they taught me:

1. I once cleared some tables and then put all the mugs, plates, and cutlery into the sink and went back out to the front. About a minute later, Cheyanne came asking us "Who put the mugs and plates into the sink?" I told her it was me and she brought me to the BOH and said " When you slide, you can't just put all the stuff in the sink and leave, cos if everyone does that, then we'll end up needing 1 person just to stay at the BOH to wash all the dirty dishes. So when you slide, you must rinse the dirty stuff and then put them onto this dishwasher tray. Okay?
Lesson: Clean As You Go aka CAYG. and i made sure i did that from that day onwards, thanks to Cheyanne. Hmmm....i wonder with more than a hundred stores now, is it still a practice?

2. As part of our shift handover, we are required to write in the Communication Book any new info or updates of what happened during our shift or what is going to take place later in the day/week. I wasn't consistent in this, so one day when i came to work, i realized that something happened on DD's shift and he was put on the spot, not having the info he should have gotten from me (from the Comm. Book). He was saying "How come the info was not in the comm book? This is what the comm book is for, or else we will not know what is going on in the store before and after our shift" "This will make us look bad, like we don't know our stuff" I felt bad, deservedly so.........and so i made sure of it. After that incident, the comm book (and essentially communication) became one of the things that i ensure happens sufficiently and appropriately.
Lesson: Effective Communication is key to the success of a team. And for those who think i communicate to much, call DD. Settle it with him. haha!

3. I also learnt another very,very important thing from 2t, Cheyanne, DD. Never, ever, pick up the phone without having the daily info on your hands. Info being: yesterday's sales, yesterday's TC, average check, markout amount and percentage, today's sales target, today's up-to-date sales, etc. Why you ask? because, my dear friends, you DO NOT want to have to say "Err..i'm not sure, can i check and get back to you?" to SW when he calls the store. Hahahahahaah! scary huh? To be fair, SW is not a scary person (at least to me he isn't). He is actually very professional, true believer in the Star Skills. What he is, is that he's strongly firm and he sets expectations really well and then holds you accountable to it outstandingly well. Hope i didn't just scare you there.hahahahaha. But hey, i found out that we all need that, especially if you want to create a high-performing team. Cos if you don't, you'll find a lot of things lacking and plenty others not happening at all.
Lesson: Be on top of things, if you want to succeed.

Of course, my coaches taught me a whole lot of other cool stuffs, but those are some that are really fresh in my memory. Am not sure why.

After working at KLP a while, other new partners started to come in. I heard that we were planning to open our third, fourth and fifth store, in Jaya, JBCS and Mid Valley respectively. This was when i knew May, she was part of the pre-opening team for JBCS. the team was training at #002 Bangsar though, not at KLP. As for us, we have Hizam, another AM hired for all these store openings. I was still considered new to the team, so i wasn't his coach or anything. As days go by, i enjoyed my job more and more, there's always new things to learn and i was looking forward to meet the people at work every single day. That was how good the team made me felt!

It was somewhere in October, when my store manager, EL, asked me to come and sit with him for a while, saying he had something to discuss with me. He told me that the SM hired for Mid Valley (who was in my batch) had resigned. SW had asked EL who would be a good candidate to replace him, and that EL has mentioned my name. EL said that, looking at how things have been, he felt i would be able to replace the person and opens the MV store. I said "But I'm still in training, i am not even confirmed yet. and I'm not a SM" EL said that all that is not important, what's important is that i am willing to learn as i go and that i am up for it. He felt that i had what it takes to make it happen for MV. The plan is for me to open MV as an AM, and if everything goes well, I'll get promoted to SM. I was very happy that he felt confident about my ability, but i was also very worried, not sure if i could pull it off. In overall, i was totally surprised as i did not see it coming. SW was gonna call me in a few days time to ask me about it and i need to have an answer by then. I asked 2t about what i should do. She said that it sounded like a good opportunity for me and that it would have been better if it was a promotion, instead of being the AM in charge. Financially, i thought it was a brilliant plan, cos if i do it well and get promoted to SM, I'll get more money! hehehhee......(i did take a pay cut when i joined sbux).

And so the day of the call came. SW said that i have been showing progress in my work since i joined and that i seem to fit into the sbux culture well, and so they think i would be the right person for the job. I thanked SW for the vote of confidence and said, "Yes, I'll take it as a challenge" I also said that i will be needing a lot of support and help from him, EL and everyone else. As i put down the phone, i felt a sense of relief, which was quickly overcomed by the sense of doubt. Hahaha!!!

SW was going to come to KLP to give me the pre-opening checklist and to let me know what to do for the whole pre-opening. Gulp!