After I came back from my summer vacation this year, I decided that I needed a job to pass time, but I don’t want anything serious like a business internship that requires me to put in hard work. So I thought about applying to cafes and bubble tea shops. Ever since when I was a little, i always had this fantasy about opening cafes and working as a barista. So when I saw a job opening for Gongcha on Indeed, I was super excited. I thought to myself, your dream is about to come true! If you don’t know what Gongcha is, let me educate you real quick. Gongcha is a Taiwanese bubble tea drink franchise, and I always enjoyed drinking their bubble teas. I applied right away, speed through the interview process, and BAM! I got the job.  

I had high hopes for this job. I imagined it to be super fun and chill and I’ll just get paid without having to work and stress much. Well, I was completely wrong. The difficult part was not remembering all the standard procedures for making drinks, it was dealing with annoying customers.  Before working at Gongcha, I never had any retail experiences. So I didn’t know what to expect at all. I still remember vividly my first encounter with a rude customer. In Gongcha, we have the options of choosing sugar and ice level for drinks. This is supposed to be helpful when it comes to customizing your drinks. But customers think that this process is redundant and stupid. So there I was, repeating ten drinks to this lady and making sure the sugar and ice level were correct so she doesn’t come back and haunt me with it. She stopped listening when I got up to the third drink and started talking to her friends. But I still had to do my job so I continue to list the sugar and ice levels. She shoves me her credit card the moment I finished speaking and wanted her drinks right away. I feel like at this point you can guess where this story is heading to. After we finish making the order, she grabbed her drink and immediately complained after she took a sip. “Excuse me, this is not sweet at all.  And why is there so much ice in these drinks?” At that moment, all I can think of is every possible curse word I can use against this customer. But of course, I had to be as professional as possible so I tried my best to explain to her. My manager saw that I was struggling and she saved me from entering an argument with this lady.  

I just wanted to share this little story with you guys today because the one thing that I learn from working there was that just because we are customers, that doesn’t give us the right to be rude to those who are offering us services. So next time when the person who’s taking your order ask you just one more question, just be patient and answer them. It will make both of your lives easier. 

The writing center workshop with Joey during our Anthropology class was very convenient. I was able to get an idea on how to format and put together the essay I have due this week in Anthropology. I thought I had everything figured out about writing essays, but Joey proved me wrong.
He showed us how to plan the paper before writing the essay and how the thesis sentence was supposed to be and where it’s supposed to be. On that account, I am very glad we had the workshop in class for it gave me reasons to go to the writing center in the future.

A New Day

As the Sun peeps through,

the sky a deep blue,

and orange streaks across the horizon.

The people ‘waken.

The sunshine streams through our  windows

on cue, the veil on our eyes are lifted

A soft breeze

A bird’s song

nudge my soul, to sing along

With my hair flying behind me,

I know,

much is gone.

But, its a new day for me.

There is much to hear,

there is much to see.

-Arpita Bajaj

We were guided into our room where we signed in and took a seat. The moment Mr. Gerald Tang started his workshop, we were given a test. The test was simple, a handshake. However, it was not as easy as it seems because everybody failed. The reason was that we all remained seated when we all shaken hands with the presenter. He explained that because of this, we were naturally looked down upon by him. Ideally, we were supposed to stand, have eye contact, and perform a “proper handshake.” He states that a proper handshake first starts off flat so both parties’ thumbs can interlock. Then the grasp, its doesn’t have to be a strong grip, just with a little strength is enough. This is because the thumbs were interlocked so the handshake was nice and firm. I learned that first impression are a big important part of any interview and can happen at any time. The method for a proper handshake was new to me, I was quite surprised when he showed how a handshake was supposed to look like. and feel like. I’m looking forward to learn more from Mr. Gerald Tang on his next workshop, “Mastering the Job Interview – Expert.”

In antropology we had this person from the writing center and tried to help us with writing an essay that has a flow. In antro. we were given a very long essay question and i encountered a problem with linking all my ideas together and this person helped the whole class with that. He went over an essay and showed up key points that connected the ideas together. The hardest part about writing this essay was the fact that the topic senteces would have to be really good and the person went over alot of examples of good topic sentences. The writing center person made me so prepared for this essay that i was cramming last minute and i really thing it brought the quality of my essay to another level. It would have been very akward to take a picture of such event as the class had this lecture vibe to it.

During Anthropology class a man named Joey came in from the writing center. His purpose was to help us learn to write an essay that ties all of our ideas together with the use of topic sentences. This was the perfect time, as we all had a midterm essay due in about a week. The class could have probably went a lot smoother but everyone was tired since it was the last class of the day. However, he did work with what he had and used his time efficiently to show us how important topic sentences are, as they create synergy and flow in your essay. His lesson completely changed my perspective on the midterm I had in front of me. Instead of answering the questions sort of separately, I saw that I was able to connect them inside one smooth essay. I feel as if my essay is a lot better now thanks to Joey ; hopefully my professor agrees.

Anthropology class is a class where we learn about the importance of the chimpanzee and bonobo and how their life in the tree was critical to our development as humans. In an interesting way at least. When the man from the writing center came to teach us about topic sentences, I felt like a mindless chimp. When given the proper cue, I’d raise my hand and read a text. The difference between me and a regular chimp, was that I knew the material already, I was a smart chimp. That was the atmosphere of the entire class. It wasn’t fair for the teacher since we were used to our anthropology teacher’s booming voice and teaching style who could go the whole class without us speaking once. The man from the writing center should have tried some group discussions to keep us on our toes. Instead, most of the class piggy-backed off the same five students participating, who were actually saving the class from long awkward silences, something our anthropology teacher wouldn’t allow.

The timing was great for this workshop actually. It just hit me a midterm essay was due in this class in about 7 days and I had absolutely no idea how i was going to approach it. So, in conclusion Joey from the Writing Center helped out a lot with this issue. He came in with really corny jokes, kind of expected. He definitely wasn’t the funniest person I met. BUT, he was very helpful. We went over exactly how to tackle a complex essay question and how to stay aware of tying to the introduction. He tried to begin class discussions but I was pretty much the only one participating since everybody else was half asleep because of political science the class before hand. I cant blame them, that class can cure insomnia. As of now though, because of him and his workshop, my essays are completed and I am not stressing. Thanks Joey. I was going to take a picture but it was more of a class type of vibe and if i just started taking pictures i might have looked like a weirdo.

Honesty I feel asleep for the first half of the workshop, but in the end I was able to pick up some new and interesting ways to spice up my essays. Joey from the writing center gave a couple of tips and tricks in ways to smoothly navigate from the thesis statement and into the substance of the essays; as well as, the different ways to connect the topic sentences from each paragraph. Using the literature A Man’s Disgrace¸ he helped the class analyze how easily each paragraph transitioned to the next. He also stated something interesting during his lecture when it came to writing prompts, he said “don’t focus on answering the question in the writing prompts” rather find the bigger picture which will help understand the topic of the essay. This was quite helpful because I find myself to doing this on my writings. He then went on to help give an example on how to organize the structure of our anthropology midterm paper, which I will definitely steal, I mean use. The way Joey masterfully outlined the essay from just viewing the prompt, was very helpful in the sense that it can be used in any writing. I will definitely find myself going to the writing center more for the ways to improve my writing since my writing is terrible.

During Anthropology class last thursday a teacher from the writing center came to visit our class to give us a better understanding of how to write our essays due the following thursday. In class we had to dissect an essay  called “The Disgrace of Man” finding how the topic sentences of each paragraph relate to the thesis statement while at the same time help the flow of the essay along. I learned of new transition words that i can use for helping keep the essay going in a thoughtful manner. Words such as thereby, however, nevertheless and on the other hand can help you make counterpoints or support for your thesis. The teacher from the writing center was very helpful and seemed like he has been teaching for a substantial amount of time.  It was interesting to see how small words can impact your essay and it was a very a good way to find a starting point for my anthropology essays. I plan on visiting the writing center again very soon for more help on english essays.