Have (Coffee) Passport, Will Travel...

Okay, so I worked the early shift and I was done this morning, and I am just now posting my blog because I have a confession to make- I have become LAZY. In my own life, I mean. Doesn’t that happen when we start a new job that is t-i-r-i-n-g? I mean, suddenly, my own cleanliness habits at home, such as washing dishes, have taken on a “work” type feeling. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not living in squalor, I AM my mother’s (white glove) daughter, haha, but I don’t have the luxury of wanting to scrub every crumb and dust every speck after picking up for people I don’t even know all day at Starbucks. Yes, the dishes that I used to NOT mind doing at all have suddenly taken on an “I guess I will do these even though I have been up to my ELBOWS in sink water all day” (not really, but you get the idea). Oddly enough, sweeping the floor used to my least favorite activity (I was an expert “foot pusher” of dirt or drop the Lysol wipe on the floor and scrub away with my bare feet) and now I am sweeping about 10 times a day, even when I get home, just to keep up the habit, my hardwood floors have never looked better!

This evening, among my laziness, to get motivation, I was taking a stroll around the perimeter inside my apartment pool area, which allows me to hear the various conversations taking place on the balconies of my 1st and 2nd floor neighbors (3rd floor is out of earshot making me glad to be on the 4th floor and well away from eavesdropping walk-bys such as myself)…and I allowed myself the indulgence of taking bits of the conversations, four of which were phone conversations (the best kind because they are one-sided and I can just use my imagination when trying to piece together a semblance of what might be being said on the other end). Tidbits of what I overhead on my journey of eavesdropping: (discretion being key, I might misquote as I didn’t want to loiter for fear of seeming stalkerish): “…and that is why I DON’T want to be involved because you always skew what I say…no…I didn’t EVEN mean it that way…” (this was said by a 20something male). “She TOLD me exactly that same thing…but I still want to go because if I don’t go then they will think I am trying to NOT be there because HE is there…” (this was said by a 30something female and is probably the best quote of the evening as she was dressed up to go out and I would have loved to have “been there” when she ran into “him” haha!). “Mmsmphshshmmm…shhmsmsphdhn” (this was a guy whose voice was too deep to understand anything he was saying and I don’t think it was any more clear to the person to whom he was speaking as there were many gaps in the conversations…and lots of silence on his end except for the random mumblings).

A note on Starbucks- I am becoming increasingly defensive of my company the longer I am invested in the work at the store. Like a mother hen, I regard Starbucks as an upstanding coffee producing shop that delivers quality and customer service better than any place like it. Our coffee is good for a reason, because we take great care in providing the best. For many reasons. The people that do not like Starbucks (and there ARE still skeptics out there…I know them…and I know their names and where they live…haha) are either 1. Intimidated by the choices they cannot pronounce or 2. Not aware of the beverage offerings of the company. We have something for everyone. And for those people that make fun of the expensive coffee that we serve do not know the quality with which we handle this product from start to finish.

It reminds me of something akin to making fun of a sibling. If someone EVER made fun of my sister, I would knock them off their rocker. Now, my sister isn’t one to be made fun of anyway…if anyone was going to make fun, it would be at MY expense, as I am the more “make-fun-able” one of the two of us, and my sister would jump to my defense even if I didn’t need it (as I can hold my own in a fight…I think…not that I have been in many fights…if the moment called for it, I am sure I could throw a punch or two…or maybe a tae-kwon-do kick of some sort at least…).

Starbucks doesn’t need me to defend it, but if the times calls for a defense- I am ready. I have my coffee-tasting “passport" and I’m not afraid to use it. I have sampled our coffees and I know my business inside and out and I have the caffeine jitters to prove it and the eye twitch to boot! haha!

Now, do you want a Cranberry Orange scone with that Hazelnut Latte or am I going to have to pull out the big guns?