January 5, 2007
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My Starbucks Peeps
For a long time in San Diego, I frequented the Starbucks near our church. It was always busy, it was expensive to go there a lot, and the left turns you had to make at the deadly intersection of Palm/Saturn made it a treacherous venture–but I still went. Why? The people.
The people there were great. I enjoyed talking with them, they were very friendly, and the made the experience something worth looking forward to. It was unique-not all Starbucks are like this (as you may know). In fact, towards the end of my time in San Diego people started transferring stores, the manager changed a couple of times in the span of one year–to the point that going back there means seeing nobody familiar anymore.
Once I moved up to West Covina a year ago, I’ve been a regular at the Starbucks on Badillo/Grand. It took a little while, but I got to know their crew, and mostly the folks in the picture here. They know me as “Good Foam” because I always order my Caramel Macchiatos with good foam (it’s the best part of the drink, really). I also like to decorate my offices with Starbucks stuff, so I’m always asking for old posters and things they would normally throw away.
It’s fun. Fun to go into a business and experience a deeper level of customer service than you would anywhere else. It’s fun to know that people are truly happy to see you, and even though we’ve moved farther away from this location (and closer to a few other locations) I still like to go back there every once in a while to see my peeps. I HARDLY get to see them all at once, which was the case today, so a snapped a picture. I know-I’m an idiot, but why not?
From left to right–Amber, Sharifa, Daniel, & Edward.
Yes, her name is Sharifa…the blond one…and congrats to her for earning her black apron!
Comments (25)
you EARN the black apron? Cool.
oh yeah–you don’t just GET one. It takes major WORK.
supercarol? Fill us in…
And you jst HAPPENED to be wearing black and green that day right????? Great picture though. Nice to see your happy face. We miss you down here in S.D.!!
You’re weird.
Badiddly-o.
You need new colors on your page, it’s very drab.
How do you get a black apron? So I love the bold green sweater on you, Daniel, but I must admit, it clashes with the Starbucks green pretty badly. Next time you wanna take a group Starbucks pic, wear a darker shade, kay?
^^OK
sorry.
Black apron?! Yes! Carol needs to fill us in! I’ll call her right now! I like exclamation points!!!
^^^YES!!!! I LOVE IT!!
Ok, people, my loverly sister woke me up from a nap to answer this question, so listen good.
A black apron means that the person wearing it is a Coffee Master. You earn this title by basically knowing everything there is to know about every Starbucks coffee. They can tell the difference between the different types by smell, taste, etc. I will never attain the coveted rank of Coffee Master, seeing as how I don’t even really like coffee (*gasp*), and can’t really tell the difference by taste between anything but the really strongly flavored ones. I could probably tell you what region it was from, though…
This has been a message from your friendly Starbucks expert-ish person.
I called her! I woke her up! We’ll see if she remembers the conversation!!!! Exclamation points rule!!!!!
Oh snap! She so posted 2 seconds before me!!!! Creepy!!!!
I love my blog
^^ FWAA HAA HAAAAA!
oh-and THANKS supercarol and eponine203!!!!
geez, we’ve got Daniel in real-time! 0_0
How funny that you have Starbucks peeps.
) They change so fast around here that I barely recognize people from week to week.
^^I know. Well, these dudes have been around for at least a year…
Hey, I was at my old store for over a year before I transferred to my current one! And now I’ve been there three months! Egads, has it really been three months…? Well, I still say hello to all my old “regulars” when I see them, and get many happy greetings when I stop by! And not just from the people behind the counter.
Can I buy a black apron on ebay??
re: your comment. Thanks. It’s nice to be able to share that with you guys, too. Sorry Christy wasn’t feeling good.
Technically, you’re supposed to return your aprons when you quit, but I’m sure there’s *somebody* who kept theirs.
Yup, I just looked, and found one! Just for you, Mike.
I don’t think it matters how good the food, coffee or whatever it is you are ordering is, when the service is GREAT you will come back! A friendly smile and sincere comment goes a looooong way! Hey did you find the taping you were looking for? I don’t have it but if you were not successful I can ask around.
^^I didn’t find it…would you ask around?
^^will do =)
when I read your blog I couldn’t help but have the “Cheers” theme song playing in my head
“Where everybody knows your name,…and your always glad you came……”
^^^Oh dude! Totally. I actually thought of that sometime a few days ago…I was going to see if I could loop it on here when people visited, haha