The Cupcake Crew

I needed a change. Life wasn’t going as well as I had hoped and I needed something to change or I had the distinct feeling I would be miserable if I kept going down the path I was on. So I went for a job interview at a bakery I would’ve never considered in the past, one that was an hour away from my house, and hoped that the fresh start was exactly what I needed. I got the job and thought all my problems were over, except the first two weeks I cried every day on my way home, wondering if I had made a horrible decision. The boss, while pleasant during our first encounter, proved to be completely different during the work day and no one who worked there spoke to each other, NO ONE! Apparently it was some sort of rule that we weren’t allowed to have conversations with each other while working for fear that it would take away from our concentration.

Now let me explain something, and this is something you have probably already picked up on, I am a talker. I talk, it’s what I do. Look at all of my report cards for as far back as you can go and there are always two comments on them, “Christine is the mother hen of the class, always making sure that everyone is ok” and “Christine never stops talking.” Take these two comments and believe me when I say, nothing has changed. So when I started working at a place where no one was allowed to speak to each other and everyone seemed miserable about it, I worried if I had made the wrong choice.

At first I thought I would work there for two years, making it something I could put on my resume, after the first week I had decided I would only stay one year because two years in that environment seemed unbearable. Halfway through the second week, I had it down to six months, and by the end of the week I didn’t want to come back and start the next. I kept telling myself how ridiculous the entire situation was, and the weekend before I went in to my third week of work, I made a decision, things were going to have to change because I couldn’t continue working a full work week standing next to someone in silence, and if the boss didn’t like it, the worst they could do was fire me.

It was the best decision I ever made.

Everyone was nervous at first, we would have secret and quiet conversations trying to get to know each other that would quickly stop the moment we heard our boss coming. We all quickly realized that we had more in common than we thought and the work day was a lot easier when we had someone to go through it with. The change in the atmosphere was obvious, we suddenly were a team, we had a each other’s back and looked out for each other. We started laughing more, realizing that we all had the same complaints about the job, but it was more enjoyable when we realized we weren’t the only ones.

We became a family.

Our youngest employees started at sixteen years old and the oldest were in their mid thirties, but you would never have known with the constant flow of support and excitement for the milestones in each other’s lives. During one shift you could hear us talking about prom, college graduation, adoption, family struggles, and that one TV show I got almost everyone hooked on. It never mattered if the person by your side was ten years older than you, or younger, all that mattered was that we were a family and we were going to get through our long shifts together.

It’s funny looking back to when I didn’t think I would stay six months, because I turned into the one employee who stayed there the longest. I worked at the bakery so long that I eventually became the owner with my own group of girls that reported to me. I would love to say the transition was difficult but the truth is, it wasn’t. Over the years the women I had working by my side knew that there was nothing I wouldn’t do for them, and that wasn’t going to change now that I was the boss, and they knew that.

I showed up for work at 6 Market Street for seven years, I decorated more cupcakes, served more coffee, and baked more cookies than anyone who had ever worked there. I don’t say this to brag, I say this so you understand that I am the best person to make this statement: The best part about Sugar + Sunshine Bakery was and always will be, each and every member of the Cupcake Crew. As the years go by the memories of difficult customers and large custom orders will fade, but what will ALWAYS stay with me, are the memories we made laughing and sometimes crying together.

It has officially been six months since I closed the doors of the bakery, and not a single day goes by that I do not think of the Cupcake Crew in one form or another. I measure out the beans for my morning coffee and think about all of the times we had to sweep up spilt coffee beans from the floor. I hear an old disco song and remember the rolling of the eyes everyone did when we heard that song for the fifteenth time that week. I open my refrigerator door and remember the time Brittany pulled off one of the doors on our bakery case by accident and I had to fix it before the boss came back. I drop a piece of food on the floor and remember all the times I had to give Jill “the look” because she would “accidentally” drop a cupcake so she would then be allowed to eat it. I sometimes answer my phone and the first thought that comes to mind is, “Sugar and Sunshine Bakery, Christine speaking, how can I help you?” I see a dry erase board and remember the notes Jenn used to leave for me to see after her shift was over. I hear someone order decaf coffee and remember that Elle could never drink regular because it would make her too hyper. I overhear girls chatting about boys and remember every time Maggie came home from school for the summer and I would ask, “So, any new boys?” Or when someone says their name is Anna and I remember our Anna is pronounced “Ah-Nah.” I remember every time I would call Eva, “Evaaaa” because it reminded me of the movie Wall-e, or how Sara and I would talk about becoming mothers through adoption (Something I am excited to say she was one day able to do!) I hear Beyoncé and instantly think of Nadia and every time I see a chocolate chip cookie I hear Sarah saying, “I hope you one day find a guy that you look at the way you do chocolate chip cookies.” I will also add that I always think of these wonderful women the moment I see a large tray of sushi or drive past a Chipotle.

So many memories, memories that have become as much a part of me as the air that flows through my lungs. My life changed the moment I walked into Sugar + Sunshine Bakery, and some will say it’s because it led me down the path to eventually become the owner of my own bakery, but I will always know the truth, my life changed the moment I walked into the bakery because the members of the Cupcake Crew became my family.