I am not cool enough to work at Starbucks, but I love them anyway! Starbucks is my longest relationship to date...we've been making each other feel good for almost thirty years. My first Starbucks mocha happened when I was looking for my first Chicago apartment. Walking the city streets in the Gold Coast, sipping this weirdly wonderful mix of coffee and hot chocolate and feeling dirt blow against my legs is forever ingrained in my soul. I applied to work there when I was at my coolest; a Chicago actress with an Oprah commercial under my belt. I'd heard they offered even part time employees health insurance, and I wanted in! I didn't even get an interview, but I kept sipping that precious brew all my life. One of the best things about Starbucks is the people they employ: edgy, warm and friendly. People uniquely interested in making YOUR day with their products.
I was delighted almost every time I drove through the Starbucks drive thru. I bring my own cup to cut down on trash and help the environment. Using my own travel mug also keeps the coffee hotter longer and I like the aesthetics of the personal mug. Starbucks gives me a tiny .10 discount for this(although if it was bigger, even .25, more people would take advantage of it yielding more impact.). Last year Starbucks stopped using preservatives and artificial everything! GLORIOUS. Then of course the app for my cell phone earns me free stuff even though I am not a daily consumer. I pre-spend money at Starbucks through the app's 'card' and love it.
Today, I was sad and disappointed. The lady in the drive thru was obviously not enjoying her day. I even tried to encourage her but she closed the window quickly. Where they in the midst of a robbery or something terrible? I'm not sure she even smiled, let alone offered the witty exchanges I am accustomed to from Starbucks employees. This sadness piled on top of the signs apologizing for having limited availability of their regular food items pasted inside and outside most stores. I Googled the details in my disgruntled mood and saw it is a union conflict you can read more about here. I'd like to see Starbucks use their power to change this situation for good and help Union workers get paid better.
Then...my coffee was tepid! FULL STOP. I tested my husband's cup; also tepid. I tried to call the store but then thought better of it. How could I both complain and encourage them to enjoy this morning? How could I effectively share that when I stop at a Starbucks I am buying more than coffee? I don't need their coffee. I no longer order foofy drinks, I order black Pikes Place. I grind my own Starbucks beans at home and steep them in a french press. I go to Starbucks to feel good. I go to feel more hopeful about my day, to smile and interact with a human even briefly. Starbucks is a step above every other quick service restaurant. I pay more because I expect more. I pay for that 'other place' experience. If the employees aren't soaked in that part of the Starbucks mission, if they don't choose every day to enjoy and be grateful for their job, then I feel shorted.
I have trained folks in customer service, on phone skills, in sales from apartments to production music to used cars. A smile is only the starting point. A smile every time, every customer. Even my past with McDonald's started there. Starbucks should be much, much better, and usually they are. This morning makes me sad for that woman at the drive thru window. I wonder what might be going on within that team, with the managers, that they are missing the spark today. Starbucks is the Disneyland of Food service, and I am rooting for them to remember that, to choose to enjoy the work before them, and to give every customer hope and joy...and maybe hot coffee.
Today, I was sad and disappointed. The lady in the drive thru was obviously not enjoying her day. I even tried to encourage her but she closed the window quickly. Where they in the midst of a robbery or something terrible? I'm not sure she even smiled, let alone offered the witty exchanges I am accustomed to from Starbucks employees. This sadness piled on top of the signs apologizing for having limited availability of their regular food items pasted inside and outside most stores. I Googled the details in my disgruntled mood and saw it is a union conflict you can read more about here. I'd like to see Starbucks use their power to change this situation for good and help Union workers get paid better.
Then...my coffee was tepid! FULL STOP. I tested my husband's cup; also tepid. I tried to call the store but then thought better of it. How could I both complain and encourage them to enjoy this morning? How could I effectively share that when I stop at a Starbucks I am buying more than coffee? I don't need their coffee. I no longer order foofy drinks, I order black Pikes Place. I grind my own Starbucks beans at home and steep them in a french press. I go to Starbucks to feel good. I go to feel more hopeful about my day, to smile and interact with a human even briefly. Starbucks is a step above every other quick service restaurant. I pay more because I expect more. I pay for that 'other place' experience. If the employees aren't soaked in that part of the Starbucks mission, if they don't choose every day to enjoy and be grateful for their job, then I feel shorted.
I have trained folks in customer service, on phone skills, in sales from apartments to production music to used cars. A smile is only the starting point. A smile every time, every customer. Even my past with McDonald's started there. Starbucks should be much, much better, and usually they are. This morning makes me sad for that woman at the drive thru window. I wonder what might be going on within that team, with the managers, that they are missing the spark today. Starbucks is the Disneyland of Food service, and I am rooting for them to remember that, to choose to enjoy the work before them, and to give every customer hope and joy...and maybe hot coffee.
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