Starbucks Revisited

This past week was a little hectic at Starbucks with the Fourth of July holiday travelers. The holiday ended with the joy of one delightful customer. His eyes barely reached over the counter. He ordered with confidence a short child’s latté in an adult tall cup. He ordered for his mother – a grande nonfat latté. When I told him how impressed I was at his ability to call out his drinks and the cup order he told me he wanted to work at Starbucks and asked if he could talk to the manager. So I fetched the manager and told him he had a customer who wanted to talk to him. I reassured him that he would enjoy this conversation with the customer. So the boy proceeded to tell the manager he wanted to work at Starbucks. When asked his age, he replied that he was four but his birthday was the next day and he would proudly be turning five. Would that work? As well he reassured the manager that he would be attending kindergarten. The manager told him he would be a great worker, but we need to wait maybe a few years and to come back when he was 10. The hope of working at the age of 10 at Starbucks delighted him, as did the chocolate chip cookie we gave him in celebration of his birthday.


In finishing a hectic week of work, it was delightful of God to send me a reminder through a four year old– to live exuberantly in the present moment , to delight in anticipation of tomorrow’s celebration and to hold on to the hope of a dream for the future. If you want to inherit the kingdom, you must become like a child. It is simply amazing how God shows up at a coffee shop!

by Trish Dick, OSB