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CAFE

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Business is business, right? When it’s time to have those meetings and conferences, you want everything to run smoothly so you can concentrate on the task at hand.  Tina Speers has been ensuring that happens for four years as a corporate event coordinator.  She is the one making sure the projector runs like it should, and the refreshments are available on time.

Can you explain what you do for a living?

I have been an corporate event coordinator for four years. The majority of my job involves scheduling and planning events. I keep a Google calendar and plan the events and schedule rooms based on the needs of each group.  We also do virtual conferences, which requires IT skills such as basic knowledge of IP based systems.  I also stock our small cafe and make coffee on a daily basis.

When do you use basic math in your job?

Basic math is needed for the cafe.  Each item is 50 cents, or we have all day pricing.  I often need to make change (cafe is operated on an honor system).  I never use a calculator unless large groups pay per person for a certain amount of items.

Do you use any technology (like calculators or computers) to help with this math? Why or why not?

If we need to make copies for our groups they are charged per page copied.  I often use a calculator because of the amount we charge.  A black and white copy is 05 cents and a color copy is 15 cents and we usual make copies in large volumes (at least 20 pages).  I also use basic math to complete the usage and metrics for the event center. We tally our guest totals by month.  I use a calculator for this because the numbers are usually large and uneven.

How do you think math helps you do your job better?

Math helps me do my job better because I am able to move fast when a guest is waiting for change.  I can’t imagine having to  use a calculator every time a guest needs change.

How comfortable with math do you feel? Does this math feel different to you ?

I am very comfortable with this math and it does not feel different or unusual in any way.  I mean,  I learned how to count change in first grade!  In general, I do not feel very comfortable with math unless it is very basic.

What kind of math did you take in high school? Did you like it/feel like you were good at it?

In high school I remember taking algebra, trig, and geometry as well as some sort of review class my senior year. I think it was actually called “Senior Review.”  I have not used any advanced math skills in my job. I took Calc I in college and barely passed.  I also feel I had a lot of bad math teachers especially in my middle school years.

Did you have to learn new skills in order to do the math you use in your job? Or was it something that you could pickup using the skills you learned in school?

I have not used any advanced math skills in my job.

Do you have a question for Tina? An event you need to plan? Send me your question and I will forward it to her.

Boheme Cafe in downtown Baltimore

My friend Martha Lucius owns and manages Boheme Cafe in downtown Baltimore.  She has also catered my book launch before, and so I thought it would be great to introduce you to her — and to the math that she does.  

What is involved in owning and running a cafe?  My job is diverse; I wear many hats.  I make sure that customers can be served the food on the menu (a matrix of salads and items for the pastry case), which also means ensuring that staff follows the recipes (read: math) every time. I also make sure our catering clients get trays of food and that they receive their bill.  And my job includes marketing, artwork, and simple mechanics!

When do you use basic math in your job?  I make conversions every day: pounds to ounces or vice versa.  My entire business profile is on QuickBooks, so often I can ask the program to do the math for me, but simple percentages, and regularly noting where daily numbers are, helps me know how healthy the business is. (Healthy and profitable are actually related subjects.)

Do you use any technology to help with this math?  We do use calculators and computers; they confirm the math that we do in our heads.  Sometimes we talk about food costs, which refers to how much we are paying for any one product.

How do you think math helps you do your job better?  I must do the math on my job or I would be out of business.  Without math, I would not necessarily know if there is money in the bank to do anything.

How comfortable with math do you feel?   I am comfortable with the math I use at work, and at home.  My daughter takes algebra, which I like, but I wish she wouldn’t rush me… it takes me a while to understand the topic they are discussing.

What kind of math did you take in high school?  I took high school algebra, geometry, and trigonometry, and I was comfortable with it.  As time has passed, I have come to love getting the correct answers!

Did you have to learn new skills in order to do this math? No, most of the math I do is just a reintroduction to math I already knew. I just have to reach back there and see what I did know–get back to the page in the proverbial textbook.