Hard to believe, but it's been four-and-a-half years since I started working at Starbucks. I've barely ever lived in one city for that long at a time (and definitely have never gone that length of time without changing houses/apartments), yet here I've worked for this company for 54 whole months. Granted, I've worked at 5 different stores (one of them twice) in 4 different states and 5 different cities, but still. It's been good. Obviously the flexibility/transferability of this job has been a huge blessing with all of my moves. Also, I've met so many wonderful and fun people that I've been privileged to work with over the years, many of whom I consider friends, and I've had so many great experiences in each of these places. So, in commemoration of this "anniversary" of sorts, here are some photos from the three stores where I've been the longest: Archer Road in Gainesville (26 months altogether), North Park in Chicago (12 months) and Holleman/Texas (10 months and counting). I also worked at City Place in West Palm Beach for my first two months or so and in Alcoa, TN for about two months in 2008.
Archer Rd Part 1 (June 2006 - May 2007)
Chicago (June 2007 - June 2008)
Archer Rd Part 2 (October 2008 - November 2009)
Texas & Holleman (a.k.a. "The Happiest Place on Earth" - December 2009 - ??)
off-the-clock fun with coworkers
fun and tasty creations, courtesy of coworkers
(except for the whipped cream/caramel drizzle. That was me.)
Miscellaneous tidbits from my Starbucks experiences that are emerging from my oh-so-tired brain (and therefore are really quite random and probably not that interesting):
* Three of the eight managers I've had over the years at the various stores have been named Robert. Two of them even look alike.
* Consistently favorite drink: caramel macchiato
* Favorite coffee: Sumatra
* Store with highest percentage of amazing customers: Archer Rd
* Memorable quote, even years later: "It is what it is!" -- Gina D. (Thank you, that was brilliant.) :)
* Least favorite product: matcha powder. gross.
* Favorite Starbucks romance: Ryan and Gina :)
* Coworkers who most frequently made me roll my eyes: Tim and Leslie
* Coworker who's played the "meanest" trick on me: Sir Robert of the Green Shirt
* Best cup-decorator and caramel-designer ever: Aja
* Store with the least amount of drama: Texas & Holleman
* Another random fact: I didn't get my first brand-new Starbucks apron until I was in my third year (see above photo)
* Store with the best/worst tips: City Place/Texas & Holleman
* Store where I've been given the most nicknames: Texas & Holleman
* Most-recently-discovered yummy flavor combination: cinnamon dolce with pumpkin spice (Aja's ingenious idea!)
* Store where I've clopened the most: Texas & Holleman
* Store where I had the most consistent schedule: Archer (opens!)
* Store closest to where I lived: North Park
* Store where I have sustained the strangest injuries: Texas & Holleman
* Favorite Starbucks pastry: cinnamon swirl coffee cake (and the chocolate chip cookie. warmed up.)
* Favorite drink to make: iced caramel macchiato
* Least favorite drink to make: green tea latte (and at Christmas, eggnog latte)
* Favorite Starbucks utensil name: spoodle
* Newest store I've worked at: North Park (helped open it!)
* Oldest store I've worked at: Texas & Holleman
Edit (4/4/11): Texas & Holleman may have now bumped Archer out of its first-place position for best customers, most likely because so many of my customers are now people from my amazing church... And my current pastry addiction is the cranberry orange scone. Exciting, yeah?
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