Starbucks in Portland

Just got back from Portland, OR. The lovely wife & I went down with her folks for a lil' shopping and R&R.

Note: Apparently, some poster on "I Hate Starbucks" thinks that me calling my wife "lovely" is somehow "sexist". A feminist! Isn't that cute!?)

Turns out that most of our vacation was spent repairing my father in-law's car (which was my old 2001 Jetta TDI). Poor pops. He spent a lot of time at Fixum Haus in Portland. Here's hoping Helmut (the stereotypically German name for my VW) is up and running today!

Anyhow, TUE morning, I went downtown to Starbucks (which seemed to be the only coffee shop in Portland with decent coffee) while the lovely wife and her mom went shopping.

I have to say that I really liked the service I received.

The partner had just started his first day there, and was all apologetic about how "slow" he was. I told him not to be sorry; what kind of JERK gets mad at someone who is in the middle of the learning curve? :(

You know what else I noticed? The new guy had a wedding ring on. I had to admire this guy. Having been a partner myself, I know that working at Starbucks isn't easy, the pay is not that great at first, and the customers be rude and unreasonably demanding (unless they want multiple stars, hee hee).

But this guy was NOT one of those "I'm-too-good-to-work-at-a-coffee-shop" types. He was proud to work, and let me tell you, with his good attitude, he should be proud of himself.

As it turns out, my drink was made wrong (twas waaayyyy too sweet). But I didn't complain. Not gonna ruin some nice guy's first day at work.

And of course, I got multiple stars for my two purchases (and the nice new barista rang them up cheerfully!)