Overall, from a business-wide perspective, the opening went well. We had a whole crowd flooding in, which I think means that we set up shop in the right place. No disasters. Some really nice comments on the feedback cards, a few really good constructive suggestions and nothing purely negative.
Although I, personally, am going to have to learn a few things. Like wearing the right flipping shoes, because now I’ve actually dug out the old foot spa I thought was a totally useless gift and I’m soaking in it as we speak. Also, I need a podiatrist clinic near Cheltenham, like…stat. If I’m going to be on my feet for that long, five-to-six days a week, I’m not going to be stupid about it. I need good work shoes, and I’m not stopping there; those shoes will have orthotics, whether I need them now or not. The nice squidgy gel kind, the ones you get from podiatrist offices and not online. I’m taking preventative measures here, because I want to be able to still walk when I hit forty.
No one mentioned this when I was talking to them about running a cafe, which I find a bit strange. No one said that they walked so many steps on their first day that their pedometer practically exploded, and they felt like their feet had been swapped for two huge blocks of pain. I find that suspicious, but maybe they all just thought getting custom orthotics fitted was a given; so obvious that they didn’t need to mention it. It’s just a ‘cafe owner’ thing.
I’m going to send Johnny an email about this…maybe get some recommendations for really good Cheltenham foot specialists. Or get the name of the adult orthotics brand he uses, because he’s always smiling after almost two years of cafe ownership, and that would require some serious foot padding.
-Alyssa