Lowkey or to flex?

These are some collections of thoughts and reflections in my notes during the service. Not intended for formal essays, blogs nor academic writing.


The secret to unity is to be more humble rather than boastful. The enemy of unity is pride, conceit, and disrespect.1 I tried to think of the times where I'm prone to move towards pride instead of acting in humility. Working in Starbucks came to my mind. 


After years of hiatus, I came back working as a barista again and formally undergo through training even the basic ones. My patience and humility have been tested on 2 major components of the profession.


1. Every time there is a new hire or re-hire of the company the person has to undergo through watching training videos and answering the quizzes by the end of each chapter. Some people, and at least for me has the tendency to skip these parts and are tempted to say, "I know all this. I don't have to do it".





2. The other major component is making drinks. In Starbucks, we just don't make drinks, but we handcraft them. We specialize in customizing the patron's drink up to the smallest detail of the coffee. One time this week, I've been positioned in the bar for my very first time again after 2 years then my co-barista corrected my methodology in making the drink. Now, the question is how would I respond?


 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. - Ephesians 4:2


    This would be my 4th store for the past decade working for the company and have worked with different baristas along with various leadership administrations of the manager. Whenever I receive feedback or teachings from my co-workers, supervisors, or even manager (who just have been 4 years in the company) I have to decide to be humble or prideful. 


    Humble enough to know that my knowledge of recipes is obsolete (which they are) and humble enough to acknowledge my need of reviewing the proper ways of the system. On the other hand, I can be prideful through arrogance and being boastful. Letting them know how to make drinks more quickly without compromising their quality. I could also show off my multi-tasking skills of chatting with the patrons while making drinks with accuracy and efficiency. But if I were to do that I'm not moving in love with them. And no one will love me for that. Everyone knows flexing to uplift your own sake and degrade others is never acceptable to society.

Apostle Paul says to "[bear] with one another in love".2









Footnotes:

1 Panlilio, Rodolfo. "Joy of living a life worthy of the gospel Christ". Sermon at ENCM, Mississauga, ON, September 5, 2021.

2 English Standard Version Bible. (2001). ESV Online. https://esv.literalword.com/

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