iamhealed.net

Such is my life now… deciphering drink orders at Starbucks.

It’s really a GREAT job, and I’m loving both it and the people I work with. My manager and shift managers are wonderful - easy to talk to, easy to ask questions of, easy to get along with. Most of the time, I open… which means I get up at 4am, arrive at work at 5, and we open the store at 6. Some days I leave at 9, other days I stay until early afternoon. All-around, it’s good hours. I’d much rather open than close (at 10pm, and then stay til 11).

The benefits are out of this world, and I’m not talking about things like health insurance and vacation time. No no no. I’m talking about a pound of free coffee every week, a substantial employee discount, and I get to drink all the free made-to-order drinks I like while I’m working. I think everyone who starts at Sbux must gain 20lbs their first two weeks. I nearly did! The last few days I’ve tried very hard to cut myself down to two drinks a day - the quad expresso w/4 raw sugars I get when I first arrive, and a syrupped latte or caramel macchiato later in the day, made with skim milk. Once in a while I’ll drink iced orange passion tea or I’ll put passion tea, pomegranate, and a few pumps of orange in the blender with ice (that’s really good BTW). I’m sslloowwllyy losing the weight I’ve put on working there. You know, you’d think that as hard as we work and as many steps as we take, it would somehow compensate. It doesn’t.

I’m not fully trained yet (slowly learning drive-thru and a few miscellaneous things, like how to calibrate thermometers). I love working the bar - it’s so much more fun than register/frappes/coffee.

I still make dumb mistakes.  Like yesterday and today, when I made colossal messes everywhere. It’s the sort of thing you wish the cameras had caught, because the look on my face alone would’ve won the prize on America’s Funniest Home Videos. First, I forgot the little o-ring that goes in the whipped cream canister. When I went to charge it up, it exploded. Everywhere. (Brin, my shift, says “Yeah, that’s what happens when…” and grins at me. Hehehe)

Then, when we froth milk, we’re supposed to set the pitcher down, hit the froth button again to clear steam, then wipe the steam wand off. Well. I’ve gotten fairly adept at doing things all at once. I usually remove the milk with my right hand, hit the button and wipe the wand with my left… it’s slowly becoming a smooth motion. WELL. Yesterday my right hand didn’t know what my left was doing… the pitcher was only about 4 inches from the wand when I cleared the steam. That sends a frantic burst of steam four inches out and into all that lovely foam I’d just made… sending it (you guessed it) … everywhere.

Today, I hit the chai pump just a bit too hard. (actually I banged on it like you have to for the mocha) The pump says “Push Gently” … so the first two pumps went (uh-huh) everywhere… mostly all over me. Fortunately the drink was for drive-thru. If a customer had been standing right near the chai dispenser, it would have been all over them, too. Also, fortunately for me, chai concentrate’s fairly tasty. I’d have hated to get a face full of toffee nut or something like that!

It IS nice to work for a company where you’re allowed to learn and make mistakes and laugh it off. Everyone just laughs with me - occasionally at me - but it’s all in a spirit of comraderie. Most of the mistakes I’m making are things that have been done before by others, so everyone understands. (I’m sure if somebody created ongoing disasters of the same type “often”, understanding would cease.)

God told me to apply for this job, so I wasn’t surprised that I got it - even though I’m one of the oldest employees (at a crispy age of 37), and even though I won’t work on Sundays.  At first, I wasn’t sure exactly why He wanted me here… but as I get to know people, I’m seeing that opportunities abound. Most of the people I work with are unsaved and have little or no church upbringing. Probably half are gay. Several  are dealing with chronic illness within their extended family. There’s a couple of people with financial difficulty. I’ve found that it’s possible to be loving and friendly and even affirming of people, without giving the appearance of condoning their sin. I can acknowledge that someone’s gay and lives with their partner without being weird, cold, or ugly about it. I can listen to colorful cuss-words and maybe be an example when I’m in a similar situation and choose not to swear.

Sbux isn’t a place where it’s possible (as an employee) to flip open your Bible and witness to people (diversity, yadda yadda). However, it is a good place to stand in the gap for those who need prayer, and also to simply talk about what the Lord’s done and is doing in my life (the whole diversity thing means that I can do that ).  One of my co-workers has an ongoing problem. We’ve started talking a lot, about the problem and other things. Yesterday we talked about physical disability. I mentioned that I used to be disabled but that God had healed me. “Did you start taking new vitamins or something?” Err… no! God healed me! Hopefully it opens the door for more.

Sometimes the other Christian employees and I talk about church-related stuff. I’ve also talked with a few customers about ministry/church planting etc. Because it’s a small store, it’s virtually impossible to have a private conversation with two people. Everything just happens in the open. I try not to use Christianese, so that people outside of the discussion will understand what’s being talked about.

Friendships are forming, both with co-workers and with customers. At some point in the future, there may be possibilities to get together with certain folks outside of the job. That would be really neat - first of all, to get to really know people and share… and second of all, not to be restricted by corporate policy.
I’m very privileged to have this job and these opportunities. If you happen to think of me in the wee-early morning hours, please pray for me - wisdom and a sense of God’s timing, and the right words to say…

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 20th, 2007 at 4:37 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.