Starbucks

I interviewed for a job at Starbucks this morning. The pay is lousy. The chain is not politically correct in this town. I like Starbucks - always have, since they came to Chicago and started handing out little sample cups of coffee on street corners. Even in Chicago, where people tend to like their coffee strong, people were not used to coffee this strong. It took the town like wildfire.

I like Starbucks - so shoot me. Call me a yuppie...part of me is. I want to work at Starbucks. I've served in a restaurant, I've sold retail, I've done call center customer service rep (CSR) work. This is another slant into CSR land.

Here are three things I noticed at Starbucks this morning:

1. This work is really hard. There are a lot of things you need to know to make all these different drinks. (I want to watch the Steve Martin movie "Los Angeles" again, where there's that classic scene of all these yuppies ordering their specially customized cappuccinos.) I saw the new girl referring to the cheat sheet on the back wall and eagerly receiving coaching from the experienced pro. You have to multi-task. When the line is out the front door (it was), you have to both keep up the pace and be poised and friendly (even fun!?)
2. There definitely is, as everywhere, a hierarchy. There are people who are more senior, who know lots more. When this is handled elegantly - as it seemed to be in this store with this crew this morning - it truly is not about one-up/one-down. In that first sentence, I started by calling it a "pecking order", but then realized that what I saw this morning involved no pecking. It's just about differences and everyone pulling together to have it go well. Different people have different roles, according to skills and experience. No one is better.
3. Interpersonal warmth - genuine warmth, not just "nice", goes a long ways. The new girl, a lovely young African American woman, was genuinely slow and confused - right on time for being new. I bet that’s just where I’ll be. But she kept her poise and when she was handing someone their drink, she would smile at them like they were the most important person around and she was really happy they were there and she knew she was cool, too. Wow, that smile was dynamite. Even if you were feeling frustrated with the line and the unskilled barista and maybe running late for something, that smile would absolutely melt concrete. To see it – even second hand, like me watching – is to know that you have received a gift.
4. Often the managers are more anxious than the employees - even the interviewees. Why is this? Pressures of the job? Caught in the middle? The Peter Principle? I honestly don't completely know, but it's pretty interesting. At the restaurant where I worked, the only manager who didn't seem anxious was the general manager - and he was ferocious, prone to suddenly firing people, then (sometimes) rehiring them the next day. Which probably explained some of the other managers' insecurity - but not, I think, all.