SATURDAY...
1:40 am. My eyes open and I glance up at the large, blue digital numbers on the clock. The ones that are supposed to dim to a more humane level to accomodate a dark room. They don't. They never have. "Yay" I think to myself, "I don't have to get up yet." I close my eyes... 5:04 am. Again, I look up at those horribly bright blue numbers. Another hour to sleep... 5:50 am. The soft alarm begins to chime. If I don't hit that stupid snooze button now, it will just get louder and louder until Andrew wakes up and yells at me to "shut that fuckin' thing off." He rolls over and puts his arm around me, still mostly asleep. This is nice, I think to myself. I wish I could just stay here and sleep-in with him. He's so cuddly in the morning. We lay in bed and talk for 10 minutes and then I get up.
I'm scheduled to work at Starbucks today. 7:30am till 12:45. I enjoy working at Starbucks. I do it for two reasons. As a suppliment to my regular income that allows me to pay my bills and have enough left over to do things that I want to do, like vacations now and then with Andrew and/or the kids. And because I enjoy it. I had a customer today that really made my day. He and his wife/girlfriend came in and I took their orders and he said to me "We don't even go to the Starbucks at Target or the grocery store anymore." I asked him why that is. He responded, "because when we come to the Starbucks that are in their own buildings, like this one, the people working here are so much more cheerful and nice, not grumpy and cold." This really kinda made me feel good. I greeted this man and his wife/girlfriend in a warm and friendly way, like I do all customers that come in and they really appreciated it. I explained to them that the reason for that might possibly be that those Starbucks at the Target stores and in the grocery stores are not actually run or managed by Starbucks. They are what we call licenced stores. Managed and staffed by the establishments in which they reside. Starbucks employees are taught and encouraged from day one to make every customer's experience "legendary." Not only is it good for business and makes people want to come back to my store, but it makes me feel good too. I know there are a lot of people who hate "Starbucks, the enormous, coffee giant, evil big company trying to take over the world." I just don't buy into it. I'm not just saying this because I work there. It's only a part-time second job for me that I could leave any day. But if I did, I don't think I would find another company to work part-time for that puts as much stock into it's employees and as much importance on making sure the customer has a good experience.
12:50 pm. I say my good-byes to my co-workers and head home.
On my way home I pass Andrew's and my favorite wine shop- First Avenue Wine House.
I decide to stop in and pick up a few bottles. I walk in and I'm instantly greeted very warmly by Ron and Traci, the owners. Andrew and I are almost always together when we stop in, so Traci asked right away if andrew was working today. I told her "no, he's at home. I'm just on my way there now." She turned to Ron and said, "see, Ron, you wouldn't have seen Andrew if you'd gone into Starbucks this morning anyway." Appaprently, according to Traci, Ron has become quite the Starbucks addict and enjoys stopping in to see Andrew and get his coffee quite often.
Again, another example of how great customer service really does make a difference. Before we discovered First Avenue Wine House, we would buy our wine at another wine store or the grocery store. After meeting Ron and Traci and having such a great time talking with them and sharing our mutual appreciations of good wine with them, we rarely buy wine anywhere else. We never leave their shop without being offered at least 4 samples of either new wines or old favorites of theirs. Truly warm and welcoming people and it seems a lot of people think so. Their business has seemed to flourish in the few years they have been open.
I think we're going to go out for a nice dinner somewhere tonight. Seems like there hasn't been a good opportunity for just the two of us to go out together for such a long time. This weekend is going to be great. Niether of us has anything we have to do. Just the two of us, spending time together.
I like weekends like that.
I'm scheduled to work at Starbucks today. 7:30am till 12:45. I enjoy working at Starbucks. I do it for two reasons. As a suppliment to my regular income that allows me to pay my bills and have enough left over to do things that I want to do, like vacations now and then with Andrew and/or the kids. And because I enjoy it. I had a customer today that really made my day. He and his wife/girlfriend came in and I took their orders and he said to me "We don't even go to the Starbucks at Target or the grocery store anymore." I asked him why that is. He responded, "because when we come to the Starbucks that are in their own buildings, like this one, the people working here are so much more cheerful and nice, not grumpy and cold." This really kinda made me feel good. I greeted this man and his wife/girlfriend in a warm and friendly way, like I do all customers that come in and they really appreciated it. I explained to them that the reason for that might possibly be that those Starbucks at the Target stores and in the grocery stores are not actually run or managed by Starbucks. They are what we call licenced stores. Managed and staffed by the establishments in which they reside. Starbucks employees are taught and encouraged from day one to make every customer's experience "legendary." Not only is it good for business and makes people want to come back to my store, but it makes me feel good too. I know there are a lot of people who hate "Starbucks, the enormous, coffee giant, evil big company trying to take over the world." I just don't buy into it. I'm not just saying this because I work there. It's only a part-time second job for me that I could leave any day. But if I did, I don't think I would find another company to work part-time for that puts as much stock into it's employees and as much importance on making sure the customer has a good experience.
12:50 pm. I say my good-byes to my co-workers and head home.
On my way home I pass Andrew's and my favorite wine shop- First Avenue Wine House.
I decide to stop in and pick up a few bottles. I walk in and I'm instantly greeted very warmly by Ron and Traci, the owners. Andrew and I are almost always together when we stop in, so Traci asked right away if andrew was working today. I told her "no, he's at home. I'm just on my way there now." She turned to Ron and said, "see, Ron, you wouldn't have seen Andrew if you'd gone into Starbucks this morning anyway." Appaprently, according to Traci, Ron has become quite the Starbucks addict and enjoys stopping in to see Andrew and get his coffee quite often.
Again, another example of how great customer service really does make a difference. Before we discovered First Avenue Wine House, we would buy our wine at another wine store or the grocery store. After meeting Ron and Traci and having such a great time talking with them and sharing our mutual appreciations of good wine with them, we rarely buy wine anywhere else. We never leave their shop without being offered at least 4 samples of either new wines or old favorites of theirs. Truly warm and welcoming people and it seems a lot of people think so. Their business has seemed to flourish in the few years they have been open.
I think we're going to go out for a nice dinner somewhere tonight. Seems like there hasn't been a good opportunity for just the two of us to go out together for such a long time. This weekend is going to be great. Niether of us has anything we have to do. Just the two of us, spending time together.
I like weekends like that.
posted by Scott in Iowa at 1/27/2007 03:41:00 PM
4 Comments:
It's a shame you're not in the UK. I spend all my working day looking for people with an attitude to customer service like yours...
I work for an airline with a reputation for fun and great service. It's getting tougher to find people who actually enjoy looking after others and really, REALLY want to provide great service. They are still out there, we're just having to look a bit harder to find them.
Good for you! Starbucks is extremely lucky to have found you.
oh. I forgot to mention. You kind of inspired me recently. Your blog entry about the female fact digging device "So.." mentioned that all of your family knew about you but your colleagues weren't aware that you're gay. I commented that, for me, things are the other way around. That was until yesterday. After 37 years I told my parents. It was one of the most difficult conversations I've ever had. I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest. The dust is settling and my parents will (hopefully) become more comfortable with it as time goes on.
Any tips?
sigh
Hey Scott - I found you through Matt... great blog and this is a really wonderful post - very sweet... I will be back if you don't mind!
Spider, Glad to have you aboard! Please stop by anytime. I love entertaining guests!
Garth, I'm very flattered! I inspired you to come out to your parents? Wow! That's cool! Congratulations!
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