Cape Cod greeted us with a light fog and the cries of seagulls. Navigating here was much easier than in New York. The place itself seemed very quiet and peaceful.
We approached the house and texted the owner. He said he would only appear at the end of the month, the door was open, and the keys were on the table. I wondered, is this normal, or is he just careless? :) You never know what two strangers from another country might do.
Our new home
After replying that we had found the apartment and that everything was fine, we started settling into our new place. We were allocated a separate room with our own bathroom, and a living room (a living room combined with a kitchen), which was for common use.
The apartment was well-equipped, starting with a microwave, dishwasher, washing machine, and a large TV with a PlayStation 4, and ending with free Wi-Fi and a room thermostat.
We paid $130 a week, but this accommodation was definitely worth the money. In addition to the convenient location from work (15 minutes by bike), we saved on laundry, utilities (we didn't pay them at all), and free internet.
Living room
A week later, a couple moved into the second room with us, a Ukrainian woman and a Macedonian man. They said that they were also students once and came via Work & Travel, but now they had won a green card and were gradually legalizing in America. They live in Florida, but come to work on Cape Cod for the summer because it is unbearably hot in Florida. Oh yes, and they also had a kitten ^_^
My beds. Kitty is present
On the very first day, we went to buy a bike at the nearest supermarket. We could have tried to buy a used one, but we needed a bike here and now, and we didn't have time to mess around to save an extra 10 dollars. With a bike, getting to work was much easier, 15 minutes instead of 45. Believe me, at 6 a.m. it was very critical.
Coming to meet the employer, I immediately asked to call the manager. But while she came, I had time to look around. Everyone speaks English, knows what they are doing, and works very quickly. It looked difficult. Especially considering that until this moment I had never worked in my life. Will I definitely manage? I couldn't believe it.
After a minute, a charming woman named Krista approached me. She was my manager, and I probably haven't met a kinder person :) Seeing that I was starting to get dull and shy, she decided to show me the ropes and tell me about the work. My duties were to include preparing food and drinks, selling donuts, working with the cash register, cleaning, washing dishes, and so on. In general, everything necessary for the continuous operation of the cafe. At the beginning of the day, you are assigned to a specific position, but in the process of work, everything can change more than once, so you had to know everything. After the story, she gave me a piece of paper where she wrote the date and time of my first shift at work.
On the way to work
A few days later, I came to learn how to work. I expected it to be something like this: you study information, take some tests, after which you start working as an intern under the supervision of a manager. In reality, it turned out differently.
The cafe was conditionally divided into 2 zones: front and drive. Front is the part of the cafe where visitors come on foot and place orders. Drive is for cars, but the work there was much more intense. I would say, for the experienced.
So, I approached the front, and they told me: "You will make coffee, you can start working." Cool. Where is the tutorial?! What should I do? How do I make coffee?!
It's good that we had several Russian-speaking students who arrived earlier. They already knew how everything worked and helped me get into the work.
At first, everything was terribly incomprehensible, my head was bursting with new information, my legs were buzzing from the unusual load and begging to sit down. But you can't! The first working days went like this: I came to work, I don't know what to do, they give me some cups with inscriptions and tell me to prepare something. Naturally, I didn't know anything and constantly pestered other students with endless questions. If I saw that they were busy, I would pretend to be busy and wipe one spot with a rag. Like I'm cleaning :) I don't know how well it worked, but it was easier for the cashiers to do everything themselves in 10 seconds than to ask and explain to me 20 times.
Tip: don't be afraid to ask and ask for help at work. The sooner you figure everything out, the sooner you will start enjoying the process, and the fewer problems you will have in the future.
Gradually, I got comfortable at work: I learned how to make coffee, remembered the sizes of the cups, the names of coffee and donuts, and finally started to understand and speak English. The work brought me unreal pleasure after I learned. I studied everything I didn't know or remember with genuine interest.
A month later, I was so well-versed in everything that they started putting me on the drive. The work is more intense, but I was good at it, and it was fun! My legs got used to it, I didn't feel tired at work at all, and I woke up with joy for every new day.
Then we had new students who also didn't understand anything and wiped one spot with a rag :) Ha-ha. It was funny to watch them try to hide from responsibility. Well, nothing, all beginners do that. I already knew how to work well and was happy to help them, explaining and showing every detail.
My English progressed every day, and one day they started putting me on the cash registers at the front and drive. In theory, students are not allowed to do this, but by that time I was already coping like a full-fledged ordinary worker, if not better :) And the manager praised me for my constant positivity and infectious smile, which was another reason for my work at the cash register. It was nice to exchange a few words with Americans in English, learn a little about them, and also tell them about myself. Almost everyone asked the question "Where are you from?" I honestly tried to explain to them what Belarus is and where it is located, but in the end, I just gave up and agreed that I was "Russian". For them, everyone who could speak Russian was "Russian", and explaining the difference was an impossible task :)
One week, a funny incident happened. I already knew how to do everything in principle, and many people needed to give up their shift and take a day off for one reason or another. As a result, everyone who wanted to replace them came to me. And I was only happy to work! Thus, by the end of the week, I had worked 82.5 hours. 42.5 hours of overtime, Karl! For those who don't know, overtime is the time worked over 40 hours a week, which is paid at a rate of 1.5x. Thus, in a week I earned more than a thousand dollars, and my longest shift was 18 hours in a row.
When everyone found out about this, especially the managers, they were very surprised. No, they were just shocked by what was happening. The main manager came and started checking everything. She couldn't believe it and called it all a mistake. She came up to me and said that I probably forgot to close the shift. But when it dawned on her that there was no mistake, her eyes just popped out of her forehead :)
After that, the analysis of the flights began. Nothing happened to me for this. I didn't want problems for them and said that I could refuse my hours, but they said that everything was fine. As the main manager said, "I worked honestly and earned my own, but I earned even more than she gets."
After that, all replacements were put under strict control, it was strictly forbidden to ask me, and I became something like a local meme. When workers and managers from other cafes came, they asked, "Oh, are you that guy who worked 82.5 hours?" Yes, it's me :) It happens to everyone.
The remaining time I worked my usual 40 hours, scattered throughout the week.
We were paid $10 an hour + small tips. By the end of the season, I had accumulated a huge bag of coins, which I sorted into packs and handed over to the bank. I don't know how much they weighed, but during the trip to the bank, I had a persistent feeling that I was carrying a corpse. A little more, and the backpack would have torn, and on the spot, you could have filmed a new season of Fort Boyard.
Enough for your own treasure chest
On weekends, I preferred to relax on the beaches, explore the surroundings by bike, try unusual food, or get together with other students. Sometimes I managed to get to the nearest cities (for example, Boston) and even watch whales.
After work with free donuts
That's how my whole summer passed. It flew by very quickly. I liked the work so much that I just didn't notice how the days, weeks, and months flew by. It was very sad to realize that soon everything would end, and I would stop doing what I was so good at. But a grand journey awaited me ahead!
Beach
Having visited the beach once again and packed my things, I went to say goodbye to the people who had become so dear to me in just a couple of months. After hugging everyone and promising not to forget each other, as well as giving a magnet to manager Krista, I wandered towards the bus to New York. It was supposed to be the starting point for a journey that would change my life.
Goodbye, Dunkin
