Baristas etc. who must remember multiple orders, got any memory tricks?
July 6, 2016 2:47 AM Subscribe
I want to volunteer in a cafe or lunch club for at least 3 months, partly from believing in the causes of the ones I am applying for, and partly because I need a current reference (we all do things for a mix of altruistic and self-interest reasons I guess). A couple of weeks ago while with a group someone took an order for 8 teas or coffees in their head including whether sugar or not and milk or not and I was mightily impressed! I'd like to be able to learn this with hypothetical orders friends throw at me for practice, and then demonstrate my ability at an interview for a voluntary job, but I need to know the memory techniques that make it possible. Baristas or chefs etc, how do you remember multiple things without constantly referring back to paper?
My last post was about being an office admin, and that is something I am still looking at with my careers adviser, but in looking at actual job adverts for those jobs, it's clear I need to do at least a minimum 3 month stint volunteering to get a current reference first. That is the typical minimum amount expected of volunteers which I accept as fair enough, and I am fine with that also because I will be becoming a distance learning course in October anyway (one year Certificate in Promoting Public Health from the Open University i.e. distance learning) so I am not ready for a while for full-time paid employment, it's something I want to work towards in baby steps. My careers adviser and I identified places like cafes in churches or lunch clubs for older people as the best sorts of environments for me to rebuild my confidence after a long time out of the workforce. I really loved a summer job I had working in a cafe in the Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh many years ago. I am sure I could re-learn how to do it, but I just need to be able to remember orders if there's a few people, and also remember the work instructions for each procedure. At night I can go home and write up my notes on work instructions into something legible, that really has helped me a lot in the past (sometimes even adding photos). However at a group support meet in a community enterprise a couple of weeks ago someone from the cafe took orders from six people for whether they wanted tea and coffee, what milk or sugar etc. and we were all wowed! We said "How do you do that?" and he said "I run a cafe. If I couldn't remember an order like that I couldn't run a cafe" with a smile but I don't know him and didn't want to bug him and persist and ask exactly how he does it, but it was completely no problem for him and I want to have the same confidence that I can take orders for multiple things correctly and accurately as well as cheerfully. Baristas or short order cooks etc, if you are able to do things by memory, what's the technique you use? I know waitstaff write things down on a pad and in Starbucks they write it on a cup, but I'd love to go to a volunteer interview and be able to show I have the memory to make this aspect of the job no problem. Please let me in on the secret!
My last post was about being an office admin, and that is something I am still looking at with my careers adviser, but in looking at actual job adverts for those jobs, it's clear I need to do at least a minimum 3 month stint volunteering to get a current reference first. That is the typical minimum amount expected of volunteers which I accept as fair enough, and I am fine with that also because I will be becoming a distance learning course in October anyway (one year Certificate in Promoting Public Health from the Open University i.e. distance learning) so I am not ready for a while for full-time paid employment, it's something I want to work towards in baby steps. My careers adviser and I identified places like cafes in churches or lunch clubs for older people as the best sorts of environments for me to rebuild my confidence after a long time out of the workforce. I really loved a summer job I had working in a cafe in the Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh many years ago. I am sure I could re-learn how to do it, but I just need to be able to remember orders if there's a few people, and also remember the work instructions for each procedure. At night I can go home and write up my notes on work instructions into something legible, that really has helped me a lot in the past (sometimes even adding photos). However at a group support meet in a community enterprise a couple of weeks ago someone from the cafe took orders from six people for whether they wanted tea and coffee, what milk or sugar etc. and we were all wowed! We said "How do you do that?" and he said "I run a cafe. If I couldn't remember an order like that I couldn't run a cafe" with a smile but I don't know him and didn't want to bug him and persist and ask exactly how he does it, but it was completely no problem for him and I want to have the same confidence that I can take orders for multiple things correctly and accurately as well as cheerfully. Baristas or short order cooks etc, if you are able to do things by memory, what's the technique you use? I know waitstaff write things down on a pad and in Starbucks they write it on a cup, but I'd love to go to a volunteer interview and be able to show I have the memory to make this aspect of the job no problem. Please let me in on the secret!
Best answer: I'm a ski instructor.
I used to be bad at remembering my students names, especially in drop-in group lessons where you get seven new names every hour, every day. One time, I asked our staff trainer what his secret was to remembering names. His response was simple: "If you care, you will remember." I was stunned.
Since then, I have rarely forgotten or messed up a students' name. At first I used a few memory tricks (like the ones Foci linked to). Eventually it just became natural, just a matter of making a small, conscious effort to commit each person's name to memory immediately after meeting them. In other words, just caring.
posted by wutangclan at 6:00 AM on July 6, 2016 [9 favorites]
I used to be bad at remembering my students names, especially in drop-in group lessons where you get seven new names every hour, every day. One time, I asked our staff trainer what his secret was to remembering names. His response was simple: "If you care, you will remember." I was stunned.
Since then, I have rarely forgotten or messed up a students' name. At first I used a few memory tricks (like the ones Foci linked to). Eventually it just became natural, just a matter of making a small, conscious effort to commit each person's name to memory immediately after meeting them. In other words, just caring.
posted by wutangclan at 6:00 AM on July 6, 2016 [9 favorites]
Best answer: Ex-barista here - a lot of it is practice. For me, one day it just clicked. I'd spent a lot of time trying to diligently remember things and I started out writing everything down.
But then I got so I could remember two drinks in a row without writing it down. Then three, then four, then five and six. And those kind of big orders are relatively rare. The key for me was reducing anxiety about it and not focusing on remembering. I treated my immediate memory like a short-term buffer - load the order in, do the order, forget it immediately. If you'd asked me ten minutes later what the order was I would struggle to recall it, because I'd discarded the information.
This skill is also useful when you're in a job that deals with lots of numbers, but where you have to be accurate. I worked accounts payable for a bank for a short time after being a barista and it was the same basic idea. I'd be 'loading' literally hundreds of multi-digit numbers over a day, but I only needed to keep each number in my head for a minute so while I processed a piece of work. Then it was gone, boom.
So to second wutangclan's comment, it's a combination of caring about it enough to want to do a good job, but also not freaking out and over-focusing. You will eventually find a rhythm and it will become second nature.
posted by Happy Dave at 6:31 AM on July 6, 2016 [3 favorites]
But then I got so I could remember two drinks in a row without writing it down. Then three, then four, then five and six. And those kind of big orders are relatively rare. The key for me was reducing anxiety about it and not focusing on remembering. I treated my immediate memory like a short-term buffer - load the order in, do the order, forget it immediately. If you'd asked me ten minutes later what the order was I would struggle to recall it, because I'd discarded the information.
This skill is also useful when you're in a job that deals with lots of numbers, but where you have to be accurate. I worked accounts payable for a bank for a short time after being a barista and it was the same basic idea. I'd be 'loading' literally hundreds of multi-digit numbers over a day, but I only needed to keep each number in my head for a minute so while I processed a piece of work. Then it was gone, boom.
So to second wutangclan's comment, it's a combination of caring about it enough to want to do a good job, but also not freaking out and over-focusing. You will eventually find a rhythm and it will become second nature.
posted by Happy Dave at 6:31 AM on July 6, 2016 [3 favorites]
Best answer: Start repeating the order to the guest in an upbeat way even if it one or two drinks. Every time. You'll find you can make the chain longer as you get crisper, repeating to each guest as you build the chain, then practically sing the whole order back. Place the drinks in that order for smooth service.
posted by vrakatar at 9:26 AM on July 6, 2016
posted by vrakatar at 9:26 AM on July 6, 2016
Best answer: You don't do this "in your head". You mark each cup as you get the order.
So for eight drink orders, here's what my workflow would be:
Person says basic drink type (coffee, tea, cocoa, whatever) and hot/cold option: pull the correct cup for that beverage.
Pick up sharpie.
Person gives details: note those details on the cup.
If it's a place where you note the person's name rather than just calling out their drink order, get their name on the cup as well.
Place each cup with correct order noted at the relevant station (espresso bar, pour over area, iced drink area, etc).
If there are multiple other baristas fulfilling drink orders, they now have all the information they need to get the drinks made. If I'm doing everything, I now have a foolproof method of making the right drink for all eight people.
Every coffee shop I ever worked at had their own protocol for things like how to abbreviate cappuccino vs. coffee, where cups should be lined up and in what order, etc. One didn't write on the cups but notated everything in china marker on the counter next to the cup. The coffee shop where you eventually work will train you in these protocols.
There's no more memory required than what it takes to listen to an order and write it down. Rather than prepping your memory, practice things like handwriting, quick and legible note taking, and listening skills.
posted by Sara C. at 9:43 AM on July 6, 2016 [4 favorites]
So for eight drink orders, here's what my workflow would be:
Person says basic drink type (coffee, tea, cocoa, whatever) and hot/cold option: pull the correct cup for that beverage.
Pick up sharpie.
Person gives details: note those details on the cup.
If it's a place where you note the person's name rather than just calling out their drink order, get their name on the cup as well.
Place each cup with correct order noted at the relevant station (espresso bar, pour over area, iced drink area, etc).
If there are multiple other baristas fulfilling drink orders, they now have all the information they need to get the drinks made. If I'm doing everything, I now have a foolproof method of making the right drink for all eight people.
Every coffee shop I ever worked at had their own protocol for things like how to abbreviate cappuccino vs. coffee, where cups should be lined up and in what order, etc. One didn't write on the cups but notated everything in china marker on the counter next to the cup. The coffee shop where you eventually work will train you in these protocols.
There's no more memory required than what it takes to listen to an order and write it down. Rather than prepping your memory, practice things like handwriting, quick and legible note taking, and listening skills.
posted by Sara C. at 9:43 AM on July 6, 2016 [4 favorites]
Best answer: I'm an interpreter, and a good portion of my job is remembering things that I won't need in five minutes.
The key? TAKE GOOD NOTES.
Develop a notetaking system, with symbols that make sense. And then practise, practise, practise until you get good at taking down orders quickly and correctly. Get friends to make mock drink orders just so you can practise writing them down.
Good luck!
posted by Tamanna at 11:01 AM on July 6, 2016
The key? TAKE GOOD NOTES.
Develop a notetaking system, with symbols that make sense. And then practise, practise, practise until you get good at taking down orders quickly and correctly. Get friends to make mock drink orders just so you can practise writing them down.
Good luck!
posted by Tamanna at 11:01 AM on July 6, 2016
Best answer: When I was a cocktail server/bartender it came naturally after a while. You "see" the dining room and all the people, almost like a chart or map, then you "see" what they ordered in front of them. I also had a mental file almost of everyone's order, almost analogous to footnoted index cards I could mentally flip through if I lost their order.
The thing is, I didn't have that on day one. Its a skill that develops over time.
posted by stormygrey at 12:47 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
The thing is, I didn't have that on day one. Its a skill that develops over time.
posted by stormygrey at 12:47 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
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More industry specific advice:
* Actual research study: You look like the steak, rare, am I right?
* Askme: Why do waiters at certain restaurants NOT write the order down?
* How waiters and baristas remember your order with cool memory tricks
* How To Memorize Orders
* How do waiters memorize every order?
* How To Memorize an Entire Restaurant Menu In One Night
* waitstaff memory: how do they do it w/o a pad or pencil?
Bonus: see Flash Anzan for an example of just how well people can remember "arbitrary" data that's literarly flashing them by.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 3:55 AM on July 6, 2016 [15 favorites]