Getting Away

As the first blossoms burst on our service berry trees, marking the May start to our hoped-for-June-berries, I begin to get a little antsy to get away.

I was one of those "perfect attendance" kids in school.  I was fortunate (and now realize that more than I did at the time) to be a person blessed with good health.  A few times I faked being well, and went to school sick to maintain those records. As I grew into a worker, I've had the good fortune of maintaining my health so as not to miss many days at all over the course of my working life.  I certainly left lots of pto time on the table when I left positions. 

During my part-time and temporary, seasonal work days as a young adult, I just figured that there would always be a couple days each week when I wasn't scheduled and those would be my days off.   I was a bit lucky that I had managers and supervisors who were willing to be flexible with me to handle my varied commitments to arts, sports, and church activities.

As a school teacher, being absent was actually quite challenging and required lots of preparation, which meant I tried to avoid it.  One block of time away came as a surprise - my daughter, Erin's early arrival - creating quite a scramble for me as a teacher and for those trying to fill in for me.  We had been hoping for a Winter Break birth, but alas, she was just too excited to wait that long.

For a full school year at Northeast Junior High I played the role of a building substitute - filling in for whoever needed the time off.  During that year I worked for every teacher except the Spanish Teacher.  Oh, the looks on the kids faces when I actually tried to cover the band class one day.   And, although my own high school and college French classes were a bit behind me, I  managed to almost fake my way through pretending I was a French language teacher.   The gym class, home economics, math and science classes all gave me quite a perspective on teaching in my own field, English Language Arts.  

As I moved into alternative school and charter school settings, the small team approach put even more pressure on not being "away."  We tried to design our calendar to build in away times in hopes of being able to sustain us through the working days.  The last school, Crosswinds, used a full year calendar with three week breaks after each nine-week quarter.  That calendar created a 45 day count down that I knew I could fulfill with the promise of a three week down time to "get away." In practice, it took a couple years to find a rhythm that would allow me to use all of the three weeks for being mentally away and not lose too many days on each end still in work mode.

Once I had purchased Butter, trying to set up for any days away became quite nerve wracking.  I had bought a business designed to be open 7 days a week and didn't close for holidays.  Asking someone to take on responsibility for the shop was daunting.  Since I barely understood my own busines owner role, trying to explain or describe what I do (and thus what they would need to do) was even more challenging.  I worried constantly while I was away.  Those first couple years, just to manage 10 days off the whole year felt like a miracle.  I relied on my brother and sister (leaning on that family responsiblity card) to take on the shop functions during any time away. 

As I was able to secure and train "managers" for the cafe, I finally found that getting away could be designed to get me time that could be refreshing.   This allowed me to step into advocacy roles and travel to our state capital as well as the national capital.   I began to seek out ways to connect to take on leadership roles that might require me to be out the cafe.   While it was still "work," I felt like I was getting away, helping me balance the "always at the shop" feel as a business owner.

The most difficult choice I made coming out of the pandemic was to drop the "manager" position and take on that role myself.   This was mostly as a reflection of the new normal of reduced traffic for food service, and the need to pay back large debts taken on during the pandemic.   The lack of a manager has definitely changed the feel of "being away" and I've found myself back where I was during the first years of the business.  I just don't take time away if I can help it.

One way we have designed time off is just to close the shop and give everyone on staff time away.  This has helped with holidays and summer scheduling when everyone wants to take some time off without burdening those left behind.  The other design change out of the pandemic was to close on Sundays, so that (in theory) I should be able to get "away time" from the shop weekly.  That, of course, is only in theory.  In practice I tend to spend an hour or two or three at the cafe on Sundays most every week.  At least it's quiet.

This summer, I am choosing to close the cafe completely a couple times - once in late May and once in late June/early July - so everyone on staff can be fully away.  It is a sacrifice of revenue to make this happen and stresses business cash flow to pull it off, but as an investment in our well-being as people, it does feel like the right thing to do.

If all goes well, you might drop by the cafe and not see me in one of my several "office" spaces around the shop this summer.   I do hope to find some time away without having to close up the cafe completely.  It is my hope that you might not even get the feeling I am away, or think that I've just "run out on an errand" as the crew steps in to manage for me.  With a team in the bakery and kitchen who all have 8 to 10 years of experience, the production side of the shop runs itself quite well as long as I keep them stocked.  As our baristas grow in confidence and experience, the cafe is learning how function without me on hand, and hopefully this summer will give them opportunities to test their growth succesfully.

And finally, this includes a team of customers who have understood that the cafe's design as a training space means they too are part of helping staff learn, grow, and build confidence.  You, as a customer, can play my role as teacher and cheerleader when I'm not around, and for that I thank you.  While I am out walking literal green paths through a woodsy wilderness, you can walk my Green Path here at the cafe - building a sustainable community - knowing that I walk alongside you.