How do I get there?

So I know where I need to end up. In a (preferably good) grad school program for OD. I'm just having a bit of trouble figuring out how to get there. I have a very good resource list of all OD grad programs in the country, but I can't really figure out where to go from there? How do I pick? Which ones do I choose? There's no http://www.pickagoodgradschool.com/ to help unfortunately. There seem to be a lot of choices, and I don't want to go stumbling into a bad program just because its close by. SJSU and USF have OD programs, and USF seems less rigorous than SJSU, but SJSU seems to be more of a broad program that can be specialized in. Do I limit myself to local schools? I've never done this whole grad school thing before, so I'm pretty lost as to how to go about applying for it.

A Simple Favor

Today at work, a guy came up to the register, and told me that he had just ordered a mocha, but it had spilled in his cart outside. I looked outside, and saw there was a shopping cart, with a few odds and ends and a couple small cloth bags in it. It had no visible sign of spillage, and the ground was dry; if he had spilled something, he did an amazing job at cleaning up. I began to wonder if he was lying to me. I looked through the previous drink list, and didn't see any orders for a mocha in the recent history. I asked him what his name was, and he said "oh I'm a friend of that guy that was just in here. It was his drink." Now, the guy that was just in here, named Tony, had ordered a large white mocha. Tony also didn't really seem to notice that this other guy even existed. I looked at the bum who was trying to scam a free drink off us, and asked him what the name of that last guy was. His response was predictably non-committal: "oh, that guy that was just in here." By this time, after these few simple tests, I was fairly sure he was trying a scam. I asked him one final question: "did you keep the cup?". And, surprise, he said he had already thrown it away.
Now at this point, I had a decision to make, with two very clear choices, and only a split second to make it. I chose to buy into the whole thing, and make him a drink. I didn't make him a large white mocha though, I gave him a medium mocha. I gave him the drink, and told him to have a good day. He smiled, said thanks, and began to fill up a cup for water. I continued on working on other drinks, and he stood there for quite a while stirring his drink. Things quieted down, and I could tell he wanted to say something, but couldn't seem to muster the courage to catch my attention verbally, so he was waiting to make eye contact. I figured the only way I'll get this guy on his way is to make eye contact, so I looked at him. He had a one-dollar bill in his hand. He set it down on the counter and said "here's a tip man, thanks for the drink". I nodded, smiled and hoped he'd have a good day. I put the dollar in the tip jar, and he went on his way.
I knew he was scamming, and I think he knew I knew he was scamming. I did him a favor of giving him something to drink anyway, which is all he was after. And he felt grateful, and decided to provide a bit of compensation.
And that was my story for the day. Enjoy.

Organization Development

Today I met with my professor, like I mentioned about a month ago. We talked a bit about my ideas on corporate culture and how I like to observe the behavior and interaction of people at work. And as it turns out, there's a rather large field called "organization development", or "OD" for short, that deals with just that. My professor said that OD is broken down into a few different facets.
First, there's the clinical side of OD, which deals with a lot of one-on-one coaching with different managers and directors on how to manage their employees. Its very much like having a "work shrink" or having someone whispering in your ear.
Second, there's a training side, which does a lot of leadership and team-building workshops and classes. Though rather than working with the directors and managers, it would work directly with the employees.
Third, there's an assessment side, which uses different statistical data gathering techniques to glean some information about a certain problem within a company.
My professor said that most OD consultants work for consulting firms or are independent, and nearly all have Master's degrees. Most are women, and from a non-technical background. This ends up being an advantage for me, being both male and having a technical background. I'm more likely to be able "prove" myself to high-tech companies, because I can "speak their language."USF has a MSOD program that my professor said was pretty good, and SJSU used to have one as well, but the doctor who was heading up the program retired.
And at the suggestion of my professor, I've found the ODNetwork, an online resource for everything OD. I'll be doing a lot more research into this field, but I'm feeling very good about it so far.
So it looks like I'll probably be going back to school, I just have to figure out where, and how.

Memories

Today, I read some of the customer feedback at work on my break. I like to read the feedback, to try to get a sense of how some of the more vocal customers feel. I mostly read the feedback for my current store, and my old store. I stumbled across one for my old store today, written by a customer I remember very well. She was complaining how the new staff can't seem to get her drink right. Once I figured out who this customer was, it instantly occurred to me why they couldn't get her drink right. She orders a "tall nonfat cappuccino dry dry dry"; and effectively she wants two shots of espresso, and the rest of the cup filled with foam. No milk, or very little milk. It took me a while to get her drink down. We'd have to steam up a special pitcher (sometimes two) of very foamy milk to get her drink right. And if her store has a lot of new employee's, I'm sure their milk steaming isn't quite up to par.
Working though my closing shift today, as I was counting drawers and rolling coins, I was sort of day-dreaming, and thinking about my old store. I started to remember a few more of the regulars. In some weird way, I miss my old store. Its always going to be my first, and it'll always feel like my "home" store. So anyway, I remembered that there was this one guy who would always come in, and get a small (this was in the days of the old 8oz small) coffee. But the weird thing was, he always wanted his coffee in a cup that has a green print on it. I never asked why, nor ever figured it out; just one of his quirks.
So I'm just going to list some names and drinks. Probably not going to mean anything to anyone, but these are some of the people I remember from the "old days". Joyce: double-short lowfat latte macchiato. Charlie: triple iced espresso. Joanne: tall nonfat cappuccino dry dry dry. Chris: nonfat tall latte. The guy that would come in with a huge thermos and would fill it with decaf. The Golden Dragon Oolong iced guy.
There's probably lots more I can't remember anymore; but I do miss that store.

May I see your IDs miss?

So as most of you probably know, many people nowadays are putting "Check ID" on the back of their credit cards instead of signing it. The reasoning is supposedly to make credit card theft a bit more difficult for the thief.
Today at work, a couple came in, who appeared to be in their mid to late twenties. They seemed pretty laid back, and having a nice relaxing Saturday with each other. They came in, ordered the stereotypical espresso beverages (non-fat lattes and the like). When it came time to pay, the girl handed me her credit card to pay. I swiped the card, and then checked the back like I do for all credit cards to see if she had written "check ID". I check every credit card I get because once, when I did check, and the customer's card did say "check ID", and I did check the customer's ID, he thanked me saying "most of the time people don't check for ID". And so, when I checked this girl's card, instead of "check ID", she had written "see my tits", in all caps.
Now, I know most of you are probably coming up with excellent ideas on how to exploit this situation to its best, but when I was there, actually there, I couldn't think of anything to do except maintain my composure during the transaction. Had they come in later in the day, I might've been able to think up "excuse me, ma'am, but I need to see your tits", but my mind wasn't functioning fast enough. Probably all for the best; I doubt any transaction that ends with a customer flashing an employee will end well in the long run.
EDIT: I thought up a better name for this post. Its a bit more appropriate.