Hello, my name is Gelasia, I’m a second year DEVS student who enjoys reading, dancing, and Netflix. One of my favorite shows to watch on Netflix being the Office. I mention this because the office has sparked my interest in workplace regulations, even though it mainly parodies them. My first job was last year as a Starbucks Barista at Canada’s Wonderland. As a result, I learned the struggles of being a barista while also having to learn the specific protocols of working at an amusement park. Similar to professor Weinberg we had a strict dress code that involved every Starbucks employee to wear all black including the shoes and have natural hair colours (no bright ones allowed). Working at Starbucks helped me learn both teamwork in the context of a workplace and how to provide customer service effectively. This can be seen when a customer presents a problem, to which the worker must first apologize, ask the customer to explain the scenario, provide a solution, then apologize again for the inconvenience. In terms of this course, I’m most interested in learning more about the health, safety and injury in the Canadian Workplace. Mainly because during my time at Starbucks I did sustain a workplace injury after a co-worker spilled hot tea on me. Wonderland policy was that I was immediately sent to first aid and filled out an accident form. Since the burn healed pretty quickly, I was able to still work by the end of the week and did not have to follow up with another doctor. By the end of the week however I had to be questioned about possible treatment and work leave. Even though I sustained a minor injury, I would love to learn what protocols and preventions are in place when it comes to more serious work injuries being sustained. As well, I took Law 201 last semester and the section on workplace law has spurred my interest in the human rights unit that we will also be studying in this course this semester. With this in mind, the knowledge of workplace policies from this course will hopefully help me at my next future jobs in terms of knowing rights and regulations. As well as maybe acquiring knowledge that could help with a job in Human Relations.
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Gelasia's workplace 
Hi Gelasia,
I enjoyed reading your blog entry.
I need to make time to watch The Office. Everyone loves it, but I tend to be drawn to shows based on crimes.
Your first job sounds fascinating and challenging. There are moments I think I would enjoy the social aspects of working at Starbucks, but then I remember how I feel when I am waiting for a caffeine fix and can’t imagine spending hours dealing with sleep-deprived caffeine junkies.
I am sorry to hear about your workplace injury. Although it was minor, you got a taste of a lot of the safety standards that are in place to protect organizations and workers when these things happen. One of my colleagues recently retired from a senior position with a rail company. His stories about workplace injuries are terrifying, but they make you understand why many organizations have a zero-tolerance policy for safety violations.
I hope you have a great experience in this course.
Cheers,
Julie
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Hi Julie,
Thank you, I definitely recommend the office when you need a break from crime shows. However, I do understand the appeal of crime shows in fact my friend recently got me into crime podcasts. Also I can confirm your assumption that the social aspects of Starbucks were great, it was quite bonding making drinks with co-workers especially with the amount of new frappucinos that pop up every month but I definitely got a lot of cranky customers because wonderland had strict policies that normal Starbucks did not. Such as the fact that we weren’t allowed to give out water because there were fountains everywhere in the amusement park or bottled water for purchase, this got many people upset since everyone loves free Starbucks water. As well, I’m very thankful that when the hot tea was spilled on me was not at a hotter temperature for sure and i can only imagine what kinds of injuries that would appear for your friend in the rail industry.
Wish you all the best in the course as well!
Gelasia
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Hi Gelasia. Working at Starbucks in general seems like a stressful job, but even more so in an already-stressful environment like Wonderland. I can only imagine the unique customer service challenges you might encounter there. I am impressed that they were so diligent about your injury, and also glad that it wasn’t too serious in the end. It’s definitely an essential topic — I think sometimes we think that workplace injury and laws to protect workers are archaic, but they really aren’t. It’s important regardless of industry for sure, and only one of the important areas that I too hope to learn more about over the course. I have never had a serious workplace injury, but one of my early jobs was as a courier, where my coworker had been in a similar role for 20+ years and was very careful to, for example, avoid taking the stairs just because it was quicker, instead waiting for the elevator which was safer, to her. I never asked, but I guess now that I think about it, that caution was probably hard-earned. It’s definitely good to have systems to protect workers.
All the best with the course!
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Hello!
Yes the added stress of working in a cramped space with hot and cold drink orders coming in every second was quite stressful added on with the policies that come with amusement parks. Such as having to have certain ID badges or you couldn’t work. As well, the strict dress code was a lot sometimes if you forgot the proper footwear you would have to be sent home because many people have previously slipped on spilled drinks because of how cramped and messy it can get during a lunch rush. I’m also so blessed the hot tea did not create further serious injury and can relate to your co-worker deciding to be patient and the precaution of using the elevator. After my injury, I became more aware that I was dealing hot drinks in a cramped space so whenever I served a hot drink I realized to check all around and say “hot drink coming through” to make sure someone would not bump into me again. Moreover, being a courier must have a lot of interesting stories attached!
Hope you enjoy the course as well!
Gelasia
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