Yesterday I went for a cup of tea, where I sometimes go. It's one of two or three places I know where the tea is made and served, the money is turned into returned change and the tea is made - all by people with intellectual disabilities. My whole transaction, from start to finish, was done with the staff of the cafe - not with the staff of the staff.
My order was taken by a fellow who found the box of green tea, plopped it into a cup, asked me what size of cup I wanted and then poured the right amount of water into the cup. When it came to doing the money, he called for help - but he called for a fellow cafe staff. The two, both with intellectual disabilities, punched numbers into the cash register. Well, that not quite right, the other staff, who was obviously good with numbers - simply showed the tea maker which buttons to push. He seemed to know that it was the other man's sale and the other man's responsibility - so he didn't take it from him.
It was great to watch such teamwork. It was great to see them rely on each other without calling for help from one of their support staff.
This means of course that their support staff are doing a really, really good job.
They must understand that their job isn't to be there and do for ... but rather teach a whole whack of, a real variety of ... skills.
We had our tea, I had gone with a friend from work, and chatted in the cafe. It was full of sound and laughter and great good spirit.
My tea was good.
The whole experience was better.
7 comments:
One should appreciate quiet, confident serving - wherever you find it. I hope your tea was delicious - it was obviously warming.
ABE
Hi all, in the last few days I've had a spike in comments getting past my filters and onto my blog. Last time this happened I put on comment moderation for a week or two and then took it off again. That seemed to work for a long while. I'm trying again. Sorry for the bother.
Oh good, I saw those random messages but didn't know what to suggest.
There's a thrift shop here that's the opposite of what you described. (>_<)
It is sad to say - but I think the time has come for such moderation. Some of the comments on your blog are not about your blog - but self promotions or worse. It dims the integrity of your efforts. Sorry for the extra work. Thank you for your extra work :-)
I want a place like that in my neighborhood in Los Angeles!
I thought maybe my comments weren't showing up because I left too many in a row! I've been catching up on your posts since being off the internet.
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