The company trained me itself. This training centered around customer service: giving us knowledge about coffee beans, food itself, how to keep and maintain it, and keep everything fresh, and of course, about money--how to handle money.

There is no manager in the store; that's why they call me the leading assistant manager. I only have the power of a manager--and the responsibilities--but not the salary nor the title. But I like it. It's a pretty good experience. I have to take charge of things and there are certain responsibilities they hold me to and I see to it that everything that is expected of me is done. And I have a great staff and they help me. We help each other.

It's very active. I mean, it slows down sometimes, but mostly it's very active and it's a very small store which accentuates things. People come in and get their drinks and walk out. There's a constant flow and sometimes you have customers that come in eight times a day. Eight times a day for a cup of coffee. That's a lot, I think, but we're in the Wall Street area, which maybe explains something. We're at One Broadway, in the Battery. It's the oldest section of New York City so, in addition to all the crazy business people, there's a lot of tourists who come in from the ferry to see the museums and the parks down here and then maybe walk around the city, I guess. In any case, the customers vary, although your eight-cup-a-day people are usually the business-like types.

I work about forty hours a week. Sometimes I'm short a person and have to work more, so it ranges from forty minimum to about sixty or fifty maximum.

There are about twenty-five different tasks I do in a typical day, beginning with I open up the store at six-thirty in the morning and start brewing my coffee and taking out the pastries. Then I count the money and get all the creams and dairy and sweeteners and such ready for opening time, which is at seven o'clock. I put away extra foods for later in the day and I also put away all the milk and juice in the refrigerator. Then I start taking customers. I'll get a rush between eight until ten o'clock and by that time we start cleaning up and stocking up on paper goods and condiments and such stuff for lunch. Around eleven, I count the money again. Then I go to the bank, make a deposit, get some extra change and order some bills. After that, I start ordering food for the next day. By the end of lunch time, which is about two-thirty, I'm pretty much done, and I get to go home where I usually take a long nap. That's a typical day. And it's pretty much what I do every day at New World.

My boss comes once or twice a day to the store. I have a good relationship with him. He gives me pointers. He gives ideas on how to improve the store and how to improve sales. He has helped me, and since he's been here with us we've increased sales on muffins. It turns out the secret to that was all in appearance and display and how we ordered them. We now order the muffins daily and we've increased sales a lot. And my boss was very helpful with that. But, you know, aside from him, I am running the shop. Which is pretty scary sometimes. I could run it better, I think, if they were to train me at a manager's position. In other words, if I were to have manager's certificate then, you know, I'm very, very positive that I could improve the store. The store is mostly a dark, shaded color and I would like to bring some light to it since we don't have a sign outside that attracts the attention of the people outside, therefore attracting more customers. That's what I would like to change. Make it brighter and attract some kind of attention.

My coworkers are great. We're all like a family. We see each other every day; we talk but we do not mix. There's a boundary where we keep business as business and that is not to be passed. We do socialize after hours sometimes, but when it come to personal favors at work, there are certain things that one cannot do in a position like mine. For example, if a certain person needs a day off and cannot find a replacement, that's trouble, even if that person is my friend and we go out together.

New World Coffee, when I first started, had twenty-something stores. Now we have forty and we're increasing all over. In New York, we have thirty-five and we're increasing. We're beginning to make our own bagels. We also grind our own coffee beans. We have a new marketing person who is great. New kinds of training for employees and changes in customer service. So it's a good company, I think. I only see one competitor-- Starbucks--and I feel our coffee quality is better than theirs. It's the quality of the bean itself. Our beans are roasted everyday. We get fresh coffee everyday. We do not keep coffee in stock for more than ten days. So it's guaranteed: a fresh cup of coffee every time.

There are hazards to this job. It's very tiring because you work very hard and you get up so early in the morning. In our Soho shop, I fell down the stairs once. We have a basement where we keep a lot of our supplies and I went down and there was a leaking milk gallon and I fell and I really hurt my back. I didn't sue or anything: they just paid my medical bills. I was out for less then a week. I had to return because it was very busy and we were short-staffed. Given how tired I am sometimes, I am surprised I haven't been hurt again. And then there's always the chance that we can get robbed. The store where I'm at now did get held up, but not when I was working there. Unfortunately, it is a small store and we have to work sometimes even if there's only one person. And it isn't safe. We don't have, really, any kind of security, anything to protect ourselves with. The only door is just a glass door. They just can break it and just come right in. So it is a little hazardous here.

At the beginning I had nightmares about work. Not about getting robbed, just general nightmares because of the stress. I had only been two months with the company and not properly trained, and I didn't know exactly what was going on. I was in Soho, which is one of our busiest stores in New York City. So I really didn't know what I was doing and I had a staff to manage and I was just going along with my instincts. So there was a lot of stress there along with the crazy hours. But I've gotten used to it now, and when I close my eyes, I do not dream about work.

In fact, I really like the job. I have lot of customers that I see everyday and I've grown attached to them. They come in and crack jokes. Or sometimes they come in and they are sad or upset and I like to know that I've cheered them up in some way. I consider them friends. And I love my coworkers. I'm a very friendly person. I get along with anybody. And then also, I get to drink all the coffee I want, which is nice.

This job could lead me to another position if I were to take it that way. I've learned a lot and I can learn a lot more. I could even open up my own business. Or I could help out in the office, the New World corporate office, if I wanted to, and learn a bit about marketing or such. If I wanted to, I could make this my career, however, it's not my interest. Currently I'm trying to go back to school to earn some credits so I can go into the Coast Guard, so at the most I'll be here another year. Then, hopefully, I'll be on a ship somewhere.

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