Employment

I volunteer in a local community cafe one day a week but it’s been a while since I had paid employment.

Do you enjoy your work in the café?

Most of the time but I have the freedom e.g. to take a break if it becomes too noisy or not to volunteer if it is too hot The cafe was actually started by two women who both have sons with Down’s Syndrome to provide work experience so a lot of the volunteers have various conditions of one sort or another - I think there are 5 or 6 volunteers with one form of autism or another. I mainly work front of house making sure everything is kept on top of - I tend to leave serving customers to some of the younger volunteers - and put tables etc away at the end of the day. I also only do half a day with one or two breaks for subsidised coffee and cake so what’s not to like.

At one point the cafe was doing a better job of supporting those of us who are autistic than our local autism hub but fortunately the local autism hub now has a new manager and things are looking up again on that front.

(The cafe’s also 5 minutes walk from my flat compared to 45 minutes on the bus to get to my autism hub.)

Taltunes said:

They have also been quite successful in that a few of the volunteers now work part time elsewhere as well although I don’t know in every case whether this is paid or unpaid.

That’s great, the café has obviously given these people some brilliant opportunities.

Taltunes said:

A local woman makes the cakes. I say coffee and cake but if I have a normal order it tends to be green tea and a flapjack.

Nice choice.

A local woman makes the cakes. I say coffee and cake but if I have a normal order it tends to be green tea and a flapjack. Having said that I alternate between coffee and green tea so if I have two breaks I’ll have one of each. It also depends on the cakes - some go better with green tea and some go better with coffee.

The main problem the women who run the cafe normally have is giving everyone who wants a shift a shift. Quite often there are more volunteers (on duty or off duty) or family / carers in the cafe than customers.

They have also been quite successful in that a few of the volunteers now work part time elsewhere as well although I don’t know in every case whether this is paid or unpaid.

A local woman makes the cakes. I say coffee and cake but if I have a normal order it tends to be green tea and a flapjack. Having said that I alternate between coffee and green tea so if I have two breaks I’ll have one of each. It also depends on the cakes - some go better with green tea and some go better with coffee.

The main problem the women who run the cafe normally have is giving everyone who wants a shift a shift. Quite often there are more volunteers (on duty or off duty) or family / carers in the cafe than customers.

They have also been quite successful in that a few of the volunteers now work part time elsewhere as well although I don’t know in every case whether this is paid or unpaid.

Taltunes said:

They have also been quite successful in that a few of the volunteers now work part time elsewhere as well although I don’t know in every case whether this is paid or unpaid.

That’s great, the café has obviously given these people some brilliant opportunities.

Taltunes said:

A local woman makes the cakes. I say coffee and cake but if I have a normal order it tends to be green tea and a flapjack.

Nice choice.