Dear Diary,
It is 7th July 2026.
I just got home from what I can say the most hectic and chaotic night out of the 1.5 years working on this business.
Suffice to say, this night tops the rest of the other nights that I have experienced.
I am actually working on a different diary entry at the moment but because of this amazing experience, I just have to jump in and create a new entry to share it with you. (Apologies if there are any numbering errors)
Now to start off my rant, I want to bring up something that I have heard of long ago. It is a little known concept called Murphy’s Law. Heard of it?
Well, if you haven’t, let me tell you what it is.
Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. As bad as it may sound, Murphy’s Law is known to be a good thing.
You might be wondering, how can something going wrong be a good thing? Don’t we want things to go right so that we can have a smooth-sailing time?
You’re right! We do! And this is where Murphy’s Law kicks in.
Instead of being a statement of pessimism, Murphy’s Law actually reminds us that in a scenario with many moving parts, something will eventually go wrong.
Like entropy, disorganization is ever-increasing as time passes.
It keeps us in check and gives us a chance to anticipate what may go wrong and make the necessary arrangements to reduce those mishaps from occurring.
That is why people save a portion of their income in emergency funds, or buy insurance. If anything that can go wrong will go wrong, it is only naturally to make preparations beforehand to save us the headache.
Unfortunately, this was the case for me tonight, as there were a lot of things that went bizarrely wrong.
In a food business, it is paramount that you have the shop ready for serving customers at all times while you are open. This requires consistent and constant restocking of ingredients, packaging, clean utensils, etc.
And what happens when you don’t? Orders get delayed, staff grows frantic, and customers become unhappy.
Ding ding ding, all three of these happened in a short 1-hour window.
Chalk it up to laziness or burnout, but nearing the end of the day, I was more interested in coasting until the time is up to close up shop than to sustain a healthy level of prep. It was a Monday afterall, and nights like these are usually slow.
There wasn’t much tea left for a huge order, and the waffle paper bags were running out. It would’ve been a dire situation if our baseline business was higher, but ever since March hit, traffic has been dwindling. As if the population there is slowly going extinct.
So there I was, looking at my laptop and browsing my phone, waiting for time to pass and serving 1 or 2 customers every 15 minutes.
I thought it would be an easy night, that I will be able to have a peaceful clean-up after a long day’s of hard work, when a walk-in customer arrived.
They started the order and I took it all down in the POS system. They just wanted a waffle, that’s all. I looked at the remaining paper bags I have left, still a few more to go. Maybe I should switch off the option to order waffles on delivery.
Then, a delivery order came in.
I looked at the order, 3 waffles and 2 drinks. Not too bad. I checked the ingredients left and sighed. Seems like I have to quickly make a new batch.
No biggie. Not the first time.
I started on the waffles and proceeded to the back of the shop to make tea.
Then another walk-in customer came. Things started to pick up, but I was out of tea. A slight panic, and I asked the customer to wait while I did the leaves and hot water.
Went back to the front of the shop and carried on with the waffles while taking an order at the same time. I have done this plenty of times. It comes with running the shop alone for 1.5 years.
Then another delivery order came. Waffles again.
I quickly checked the remaining stock and froze. There were not enough bags. My mind went blank for a bit, having to juggle between 4 different tasks while only having 2 hands.
Because I had no time to switch off the option, the order came through and put me in a tough spot.
Crap.
I continued to juggle, now struggle, through the different orders. I started to grow irritated. At myself? At the delivery driver asking about his pick-up? At the state of the shop and the situation I am in? Maybe all of them.
I grew restless, and started to see everything that went wrong. Grabbed a spoon, but I lost my grip and it fell to the ground. Grabbed a cup, but grabbed 2 cups stuck together instead. Opened the ice bin, and realized that I was out of ice in front.
Irritation grew into frustration, but I couldn’t stop moving. The only way out of this is when the last order is out. Until then, I am stuck in this situation.
I had no way to vent my frustrations, and they only came out through erratic actions. Angrily opening and closing the ice bin, throwing used shaker cups into the sink which spurt and splashed all over the place, banging my fists in rage over the kitchen countertop while waiting for the blender to finish.
It wasn’t a good look for anyone standing outside the shop, but I couldn’t care less. I should, but when you are in the thick of it, you can’t think straight and just want out.
In the end, I had to solve many different problems, from eye-balling measurements, to calling the customer and check if they are alright with substitutions. I was a mess by the end of it and didn’t want to engage in any small talk with any subsequent customers.
Honestly, I didn’t want to interact with anyone at all.
So for the first time in 1.5 years, I closed the shop early out of frustration. I needed time alone, to clean up, decompress, and hopefully cool off any negative feelings that I have.
Usually, this is the part I will say that it is okay to have bad days, and truthfully, it is; but it doesn’t get much easier just because “it is okay”.
It sucks, and you feel like the world is caving in around you. Your vision tunnels (I’m sure mine did) and you just want to punch your way out of it (this I definitely did, sorry to my kitchenware).
When the bad times hit, it really brings out the worst in us.
Going back to Murphy’s Law, we ought to anticipate anything wrong that can happen. But what if in that moment, right before poo poo hits the fan, it feels like everything is already accounted for and going to plan?
And it’s not like I will cook up a new batch of tea only for it to be thrown out and recorded as waste at the end of the day. Waste is money not earned, and in shops like mine, where earnings are so little, every cent counts.
What is the silver lining here, then? Bad days will come, whether you like it or not. Whether you anticipate them or not. Whether you are properly prepped and ready for them or not.
People like to save for a rainy day, and don’t get me wrong, that is a fantastic strategy. But the act of saving or preparing doesn’t change your will to act when the rain turns into a storm.
Sure, you can have an easier time braving the rain if you have a roof over your head or an umbrella, but whether you stand and wait for it to pass or move forward and look for a way out of the storm matters more.
Bad days can hit us, but if we start to fight back and not allow them to bring us down, it makes us stronger for the next time they come.
There is some good in this experience. It differentiates those who crumble during bad times, and those who are still standing after those bad times pass.
Phew, I think getting this off of my chest makes things sound a little more reasonable. I was working with the knowledge and resources that I have, and I shouldn’t blame myself too much for being put in that situation. Of course, some accountability is expected, and honestly, healthy.
I haven’t been making these posts recently, because the nights have been getting shorter for some reason. Probably due to more “me” time, which I don’t feel guilty for taking.
Until the next post, keep growing.