Milwaukee Specialty Food and Coffee

Editorials: It's Hott to Work

Lately, I've been getting variations of the following offer in my junk mail, and this week's especially caught my eye (no surprise there).

I admit the first question that comes to mind is "How do I qualify for her benefits?" (The second is "If I show this to my parents, who are on Medicaid, will they finally start carrying a cell phone?") Seriously, though, the real question is just what the hell is being sold here. The government program that's being mentioned here is called Lifeline and is, without a doubt, salutary. I've written before that it doesn't bother me if my tax dollars go to pay for 40-ouncers, and it doesn't bother me if people on food stamps get government-assisted cell phone calls from hot chicks--in the unlikely event that the ad delivers on what it promises. 

I guess I just sometimes feel that our society is losing touch with the right way to obtain bodacious babes and all of life's other goods: through hard work and personal exertion. Obviously, those on government assistance have a much more limited scope of action available to them from which to pursue those goods. I write from a very lucky position in life, but I sincerely believe that despite national and global economic difficulties, in a sense opportunities have never been more abundant for those who genuinely want to work. Firstly, consider the one-two punch of globalization and the Internet. It's not like we're in Mayberry and you have to wait for Floyd the Barber to retire so you can take his job. You can "work" in Europe, Asia, or anywhere else in the world via the Internet. Obviously, people have a variety of perfectly valid reasons for wanting any specific job or a job in general. There's nothing wrong with wanting a position with fewer hours and great benefits that's less dependent on economic cycles, especially if you have a family. Those jobs are becoming increasingly scarce. 

I think a megatrend that will soon become noticeable is that for those with marketable skills, work will be more of a 24/7 affair than a 9-to-5 one. To maintain anything like our present standard of living, the work will have to be distributed over fewer heads, as up to roughly one-quarter of the present workforce will soon retire. Increasingly short product cycles and time-to-market will require "shifts" around the globe. In that light, I think the expectations women have of successful men will have to be overhauled greatly, as success is increasingly earned by erratic work hours and around-the-clock reachability.

There's Hot and Then There's Hot

So, local free weekly lifestyle and entertainment journo MKE is hosting a Hottest Barista Contest. They say their looking for "caffeine-slingers -- men and women -- who know their way around an espresso machine, someone who has a sense of style every time they pour a cup. Looks are a factor, but don't forget a great smile and wicked foam technique."

I suppose we could take this contest at face value and come to the conclusion that it's just for fun and who cares if they stipulate that voters should take physical attractiveness into account, but here's the thing: They stipulate that voters should take physical attractiveness into account.

Now, don't get me wrong--I'm just as hip to Pop culture as anyone and view all its inherent good, bad and ugliness with a sense that, in the greater world of human culture, there needs to exist frivolity and general purpose-free elements within it. But does the question of whether or not you're attracted to your Barista have anything to do with how masterly he/she makes and creates your favorite coffee drink?

My answer to that is no, it certainly doesn't matter whether I've got a crush on my morning java jockey. What matters is that we can have a friendly albeit brief exchange in which I receive a great tasting latte that will start my day on a good note. What do I care if Johnny is a looker? If Johnny can make the drink I've been looking forward to since a I woke up and at the same time do it in a manner that tells me he's interested in his job and likes what he does, then that's all I need.

As a former Barista, I find this contest a tad demeaning. Being a good Barista takes skill, talent and more than a little hard work. To add a criteria of good looks into a contest does not give the position its due credit, nor does it give the men and women who perform their job well the respect they deserve.

But I'm interested in knowing what others think about this, so please feel free to leave comments. And if you do choose to participate as a voter in this contest, I encourage you to place more value on actual Barista skill than on your libido's reaction to a pretty face.

Here ends today's lecture. Class dismissed.

Work Ethic: Generation Y

In the future, we'll spend some time considering the work habits of Generations X and Y, certainly a  topic that is highly relevant to restaurants and coffeehouses.  Here's a particularly interesting discussion.  The post I find most interesting is the following:
I am a supposed Generation y"er" also, and I resent being lumped into the same category as everyone else.

I would argue that curlz83 and I are not generation y.  The scope of the category is too large. I grew up learning the non-digital way of how to do things and was gradually taught how to do things digitally as technology improved. The younger generation only know how to do things digitally.

Plus, the group of generation y born between 1976 and 1985  entered the job market during the dot com bust and the after-effects of 9/11. With an economic recession and an uncertain social and political climate, jobs were hard to come by and there were a lot of lay-offs. There were no perks for employees at that time. I think that group, at least, has a different back-story than the over-privileged youth dubbed generation y.