Shoots and Ladders (TL;DR)

Up on the ladder,
I try and call out your name.
Up on the ladder,
You're all the fucking same.

I work for Caffe Artigiano, one of many in a chain of Vancouver based cafes. In fact, I am currently the stand-in(And to-be full fledged), General Manager to one. The cafes themselves are on the more prestigious and "Upper class", albeit sometimes pretentious, side of the coffee industry. It's known world wide for exceptional coffee quality, and customer experience.

I was hired early February. I undertook two weeks of initial training, where I stood out as a quick learner, an amiable coworker, and a leader. At the end of that first two weeks, I was chosen to be First Manager, the position with the most the most opportunity to grow and advance within the business.

I was transfered temperarily to another location, on Hornby Street, still in Vancouver, where I undertook intensified training; Learning to set the Espresso, expand my pallet, run an incredibly busy bar, and perfect the morning routine, including weekly inventory.

The Hornby location of Caffe Artigiano is one of the highest grossing cafes in the world. I won't tell you how much they make, but for a cafe, it's a ridiculous amount of money. The business volume there is uncanny. Once finished at Hornby, returning to "My" cafe was hard, as it grosses less than a quarter of Hornby. Working in the slower cafe though, allowed more room to focus on the business aspect of running a cafe, and this is where my problem begins.

My entire training up until this point was done with Kyle S., who is an incredibly advanced Barista, and General Manager to a Caffe Artigiano. Once back at my location, I went under the tutelage of a fellow named Shawn, to learn the intricacies of running a business.

He knows what he's doing and he does his job quite well, though he's somewhat forgetfull(Forgetting to give me access to information I really need). My problem is that after months of training and growing within the company, with the well known aim being to run my own Caffe Artigiano, I have a small sense that I'm being lied to.

First of all, I'm just going to say it, my cafe is not making all that much money. This is due to being very new, in an area where traditional-style and top-notch coffee is a completely unheardof, and thus new experience to all. Because of this, raises for employees are hard to come by. I manage this cafe. After the first week of training I was bumped to $12/hr. I was promised a raise once I became full fledged First Manager. Well, I've been that for a while. My "Raise" came all right. What I thought was going to be a increase in income and switchover to Salary, turned out to be only the latter. I now make 26 000 a year(This translates into a higher number, and is just base earnings). Sure, I have full benefits, but for running a cafe, I am not being payed enough. Every single other First Manager is making at least 28 000 a year.

Oh, and did I mention, I'm to be the General Manager of the next Caffe Artigiano to open in Vancouver? Yeah. Shawn's told people this, including telling me. At my last staff meeting, Shawn said and I quote, "We have much potential in our Managers with all our cafes, and this cafe will be the first to produce a new Caffe Manager." Somehow I'm starting to doubt this, just by how I've been treated, or should I say, by how I'm neglected.

Secondly, Shawn is now on vacation. I'm running this cafe on my own. The customers love me, my staff and I get along incredibly, and everything runs smoothly, in fact, people like it better when I'm managing than when Shawn is managing. There are things though that I'm simply left in the dark about. I feel like I'm not taken seriously. Emails are never returned, necessary information left out, favors unfulfilled. Some things I've just never been informed about. I've had little to no communication with anyone outside my cafe, or to any superiors, since Shawn left. It's frustrating because as adept and as resourceful as I may be, I'm new to running a cafe, and I have to be provided with answers when needed. Especially now. Feels like I'm not being taken seriously.

Thirdly, very simply put, I am bored and unchallenged with my job now. Business is easy to handle, and in fact just tedious when I don't have anyone to communicate with concerning it. There's no challenge left in running bar, and I'm unrivaled in latte art. The ONLY reason I can still find any enjoyment in that place is because I work with some amazing, likeminded individuals, who I'm glad to call friends(Meeting people ain't all that easy in this city).

Fourthly, being a chain, there's a chain of command, hierarchy that basically rules with an iron fist. There's no creative control in the cafes, even though customer relations and experience are directly effected by location, architechture, and atmosphere(Music, furniture, lighting etc.). They should not expect a cafe on West Broadway to operate in exactly the same fashion as a cafe in the downtown business core, down to a tee. Different building architecture and customer base are just a start. Things like Music could drastically change. I have had countless people make formal complaints against our music. Countless people point out how empty and tacky our cafe feels. Too bad I have zero creative control over these type of aspects, and thus no ability to please customers, who we've most likely now lossed, Mostly to places that don't play shit music, and have internet access.

Now, I'm bored and depressed over my job. Unchallenged and unfulfilled. Underpayed and underappreciated. I'm just hoping if I keep down this road, what has been said for my future will come true.

Waiting for answers,
Give me a sign.
I've been climbing up this ladder,
Have I been wasting my fucking time?