Michael Jordan Versus Kobe Bryant - The Question Answered

Michael Jordan answers the question: Who would win in a one-on-one battle, him or Kobe?

Q: Who would win in a one-on-one game — you or Kobe?
MJ: Kobe would win because I'm older. In my prime? Not even a contest. Let's just say I have a better chance of stopping him than of him stopping me.



I'd agree with him. The only edge Kobe would have over MJ is that Kobe's a better 3-point shooter. That's all. Nothing more. MJ in his prime is better at slashing to the hoop, He's got better footwork, and he's a better defender. It's just too bad this matchup is only something hoopheads can only dream of.

Sometimes I wish Jordan never retired. I miss seeing MJ throw down on them young 'uns (even in those awful two seasons with the Wizards)!

Last Day For Free Tea Lattes (And Weather So Bad They Broke Out The Boats In The Streets)

Today's weather was crazy. It rained so hard that it was so flooded on the main streets that sandwich the Mall my store's in that people were literally going through the streets in boats! Guys were charging 20 bucks per head to ferry people in a dinky little boat through waist-high water.

The creek beside the highway and the national railway pretty much overflowed with the floodwaters. Manholes were also gushing water from the sewers, and as much as possible, nobody really wanted to go through all that filth (hello cholera). The end result was pretty much people stranded, and traffic stuck up to the side streets that don't normally get used by anyone.

Oh hey, look, a crappy video!



I just decided to go back to the Coffee Bean and log in a little overtime. Hey, if I'm gonna wait for the flood waters to go down, might as well earn a couple more bucks, right?

Well, most of the other baristas were stuck as well. By evening, there were six baristas and 3 managers, and not enough work to go around. Except for the ENB station, which was once again overrun with Tea Latte orders.

We were already doing everything we could to help the two guys manning the station, like restocking powders, cups, lids, and prepping all the paper cups and sleeves and making sure milk was quickly available for steaming; but tea lattes would be queued up all the way to a waiting list of up to 30 orders! These were pretty much all free tea lattes, coupons from a promo we've been doing. Today was the last day, and as expected, it was the most insane. Hordes of people crammed into the store, ordering lattes by the eights and tens, and it was incredibly hard to keep things going fast, even as we assignd another group head to tea lattes to speed up preparation.

That was pretty much it. We were up to our heads in tea latte orders, but barely anyone was ordering any Ice Blended drinks or gourmet dishes.

And seriously, what is wrong with these people getting free lattes? I mean, not only are they getting a free, great-tasting drink, but they can also see that we're being overwhelmed (as well as being informed of it) despite our best efforts, and some of these guys still have the gall to complain about "Waiting for so long" and crap like that. We're going as fast as we can, and we're also trying to be as nice as we can.

FREE DRINK. LONG LINE. WE INFORMED YOU BEFORE YOU ORDERED. YOU SAID OKAY. SO WAIT AND BE NICE.

New Tea Launched: African Sunrise

We just launched a new tea here in the PH: The African Sunrise Tea.

The head office discussed this with us at the general meeting a few days ago, as well as doing a wee bit-o-tea sampling. Needless to say, I think this tea is awesome. It's got creamy vanilla and citrus notes, and it's a great tea for people just stepping into tea drinking. The flavors are very pleasant and not overwhelming, so it can be enjoyed by both casual drinkers and tea aficionados, methinks (as some people find the Chai and Moroccan Mint Teas a bit overpowering).

Just brewed a cup today (supplies are a bit moderated...), and it turns blue before it turns red. O_o Good good stuff.

Me? I like it as a tea latte best.

Photo Credits: first and second images both taken by ashrei.

Tea Lattes Like There's No Tomorrow!

Today was pretty crazy. Hordes of people came in, ordering tea lattes like there was no tomorrow. The ENB (espresso-based beverages and regular ole' brewed coffee) station was pretty much overwhelmed, swamped by tea latte orders by the fives, sixes, sevens and eights, and there was but one portafilter to work it all through with (we seriously need another for tea lattes!).

Most of the day I was stationed at the ENB, doing all those tea lattes and espresso based beverages in between. Another barista would come and help me by pulling shots while I steamed milk and mixed and finished beverages. I'll be honest with ya, I've only been on the job a few weeks, and while I've gotten pretty comfortable with most of the beverage preparations, I'm not that fast. But I ain't slow either. I just do my best to make sure that the drink I'm making meets the set standards I was taught and nothing less.

That's why I got seriously pissed when this veteran barista starts getting on my case to go faster. I told him I was doing the best I can, and going as fast as I can, and he says that's not good enough. I say that I can't do what's not possible. I could only do what I could to the best of my ability. And this guy goes "that's no excuse". Douchebaggery! *fingerwag*

This is the same guy who told me to slow down and try to focus, when he saw me making mistakes when I tried to do things too fast. Now he tells me to go faster than I realistically can... which will likely make me make more mistakes and thus slowing down everything in effect.

Well, I just decided to shrug it off. What's he gonna do, crack a bullwhip to make me work faster? Shyeah. (Truth is, dude's actually a pretty cool guy. I guess the situation just got to him and it stressed it even more that a newb barista [me] wasn't working as fast as he would have liked).

If I work hard enough, I think I can get to be as good as that guy someday. But right now, I'm just me.

Anyway, I completely missed lunch due to the hordes of people coming in. We also ran out of milk, and we had to ask other nearby stores for help. Everything was running low and the counters were a mess. Paper cups, cup lids, cup sleeves, you name it. We were also seriously undermanned, which made matters worse. People were piling up at the pick up counter demanding that their drinks be served yesterday, and complaining that they've waited x number of minutes and so. We just tried our best to reassure them that we were working as fast as we could on their orders, but it didn't seem to satisfy them.

Things even got so crazy that at one point, some people just left and didn't claim their orders, just leaving them on the pickup counter. Well, those go on the wastage form, and I hate having to be the one to report stuff like that. Makes it look like it was my fault (which of course, sucks, anyway you look at it). I also prepared some tea lattes that on of my finishers (some baristas rotated in and out as my starters/finishers) didn't finish for some reason, and those too went on the wastage form (again, I hate being the guy who reports these things).

Oh well, it's a learning experience. I just hope that the next time I have to "learn", we're not understaffed so that we'll be well-equipped to deal with and satisfy everybody's orders.

s{k} out.


Other stuff today:

• My Great-grandma died this morning.
• My throat infection seems to have gone away. Hooray for garlic as an antibiotic.
• ...Still got to do something about this lack of energy, though.
  

Shot Log:
Good Shots: I lost count.
Bad Shots: 6.
Bad shots were mostly over-extracted ones. I'd rather go over than under, though. Need to lighten up a bit on tamping.