B1 #22 · Jemand anderen bitten – oder es selbst machen

My first job was in a small café in Brighton when I was seventeen. The owner, Mrs Price, was very strict. She made us wear a white shirt every day, and she never let us use our phones behind the counter. She expected everyone to arrive ten minutes early, and if you were late, she made you stay ten minutes longer. In the first week she wanted me to wash the dishes and nothing else. I was bored, so I asked her to let me make the coffee. "Not yet," she said. "I want you to watch Sam first." Sam was the oldest waiter, and he helped me learn everything: how to use the coffee machine, how to carry three plates at once, how to talk to difficult customers. By the end of the summer I could run the café by myself on quiet afternoons. Once I burnt myself on the coffee machine, but I didn't tell anyone, I just held my hand under cold water and carried on. On my last day Mrs Price made me a cake herself. "You've taught yourself a lot," she said. "Would you like me to write you a reference?" I still have it.