‘Appy new year!
Hope your fresh start is brimming in optimism. Mine, as of day 4, has been good-ish. I’m putting serious effort into finding a job to fill my days and weary bank account. For ten years I’ve been swimming upstream in suburban utopia, and it’s time to get out and dry off (ew, bad metaphor and two clichés to boot — wait, three…).
The first prong of my get-a-job strategy involves hunkering down in coffee shops all across town, sopping up free Wi-Fi while abstaining from mega cookies and buttery scones. I try not to peek at other laptop screens and/or eavesdrop, but the temptation — oooh, I tell you, it’s not easy. I think the lady to my right has a cool job. She’s drapped in a plum-colored scarf, hunched over her Mac and doesn’t appear to checking Facebook — a coffee-shop anomaly. Another guy in a too-big coat keeps making business calls to people I can tell don’t want to talk to him. He’s using an amped-up, folksy voice to coax them into thinking business with him is so fun.
Okay, where was I? Oh yes, my second prong to the search involves soliciting friends and unfortunate blog readers (Mom, are you there?) for help. I’m conducting a little “grandma research” experiment as part of a potential job idea, which I won’t explain now because, well, you guys are busy, right?
Normally, being a purist, I eschew using a personal blog for anything impersonal. But 2011 is a new year, and I need to get something done.
So I’m hosting a mini-writing contest. Yep.
My contest is this: win a free ten-dollar gift card to Starbucks (I know, not a windfall, but still: free!) in exchange for a dazzling comment to the following prompt:
Tell me how you feel about Starbucks and why.
In ten days, I’ll randomly select a “winner.”
That’s right: ten days, ten dollahs. Exciting, no?
Small Town. Small Times. 
I will gladly whore my writing skillz for Starbucks. Is there a word limit?
Oooh, I look forward to it. My only word limit is more than four words.
Starbucks is my hangout. I don’t know how it exactly happened but Starbucks is to my friends and me and as what The Max was to the Saved by the Bell crew. And yes, I am pretty much addicted to their caramel frappuccinos…that is, until they released the caramel brulee frap. So hard to choose! Apparently now they are also offering artisan sandwiches for breakfast. (Hopefully they taste mediocre so that my morning Starbucks run does not get even costlier). Thanks for the opportunity – $10 is 2.5 free fraps. Who wouldn’t appreciate such a treat? 🙂
Thank you. Your name is in the hat.
Thanks, Jodi. I wish we actually had The Max near us but we have a bunch of Starbucks. The baristas at my favorite one are awesome though and conversational – makes the experience feel less “chain store-ish”.
I love to win some starbucks!
Tracie — can you give me just a little bit more? Why do you love Starbucks?
I, um, I don’t like Starbucks. I swear it’s not because I’m trying to be all locavore or snooty, but I just…don’t. I guess it’s because I don’t like coffee drinks. I only like black coffee and theirs is not good. Not good at all. Their baked goods are disappointing as well. And the atmosphere feels forced and the furniture feels impersonal and the baristas always give me attitude because I only want a black coffee and not a half-caf caramel pumpkin doodah with light whip. Also, they call themselves baristas. Oh, please.
And I do appreciate the irony of commenting on a giveaway for Starbucks with a screed about how much I don’t like Starbucks, so don’t feel you need to add my name to the mix. Plus, the closest one to me is an hour away.
Wait, how is going to Starbucks helping the job hunt?
Gasp! But the doodahs are soooo gooood!
I second your doodah gasp. New Englanders: its Dunkin Dounuts or nuthin.
OK, I live in a small city which just happens to contain the best coffee company ever, where they roast and toast and grind to their hearts’ content. That is where I buy the coffee I brew at home. BUT…
I am the happy mama to a 7-year old girl. And I need alone time. I won’t get it in the bathroom (“moooooom, I have to go pooootty!”). I won’t get alone time in the laundry room (“can you wash my leeeeggings?”). I won’t get it in the car (75 repetitions of “Soul Sister” hummed continuously drift toward me from the back seat until something just snaps and I say “enough already!”) No. Alone time to me means going to a crowded, warm place called Starbucks and ordering a sugar-heavy creamy concoction purported to contain coffee and pretending to be all by myself while reading some absolutely non-enriching novel. So, Starbucks, please save me…..
You know how I feel about Starbucks….we won’t go there.
Course I could probably sell the giftcard if I won. But then again most likely not for more than $10. So never mind.
But, a clever idea.
I really like Starbucks. There are only two things I like there, but I LOVE them…they are mocha frappicinos and their rice krispie treats. I don’t like hot coffee, but frappicinos are cold and oh so yummy!
I love Starbucks! Their drinks are amazing and have so many delicious little treats! Thanks for the wonderful giveaway!
Starbuchs is a cozy place for me to meet my friends. We either run into each other or meet unexpectedly. We are friends with the workers and they allow us to sit, drink coffee and talk at our leisure. We usually grab the comfortable chairs and pull a table and more chairs close by. We talk and laugh and sometimes even cry. I have spent many hours consoling the anguish of lost love at Starbucks. I drink my tea or coffee and the person involved sobs, and sobs. One friend that I remember in particular did not stop crying until I ordered her a large Chocolate Chunk cookie. I was happy that she ate it and stopped crying. Yes I love my Starbucks and my friends.
If we happen to be there after 10 pm. we are usually offered a free pastry or sandwich that was left from the ones that did not sell that day. Sometimes one or two of us accept, and sometimes we don’t and the gesture is appreciated.
janetfaye (at) gmail (dot) com
I do like coffee and Starbucks however I am a bit intimidated by it. Its like a the Marilyn Monroe of coffee shops. I love the atmosphere and the intellectuals that hang out there.
My favorite thing about Starbucks is the coffee shop atmosphere – the coffee smell that hits you as soon as you open the door, the interesting people you see hovered over their laptops or sitting at the small round tables eating their breakfast sandwiches and staring off into space. Or perhaps, it’s the hip music they have playing softly through the speakers that sounds so welcoming and you find yourself wanting to hum along. Or maybe, I just like their huge Tazo tea bags lol.
AHHHHH Starbucks…..my one last indulgence. As a stay-at-home-mom of 3 (almost 4) I have forgone the luxuary of new shoes, purses, make-up counter make-up, and weekend shopping trips to Chicago. I refuse to give up Starbucks. I rarely make it there to meet a girl friend, or drop in to check my e-mail on my laptop, or stop just for some quiet time to read a chapter or two of my very neglected book. No. For me, Starbucks is a very calculated and precisely planned event that somedays…lets be real…keeps me sane and therefore benifits my family. This is the rationale I use when I splurge 2x a month and pay almost $5 for a fancy fu-fu coffee…that I absolutely love. My in-laws know this, and every gift they have given me for the last 4-or-so years, has come in the form of a little green plastic card that, I swear, smells like coffee. My coffee maker at home works just fine and I use it 2x a day for my 8:30am and 3:30pm cups of coffee. But, after a 2.5 hour Saturday morning shopping trip at Meijer with 3 children and a husband, the only thing keeping me together is stopping at the Starbucks (located perfectly by the door) while my husband wrestles the kids, dog food and groceries into the van. It takes me a couple minuites to collect my self after my first hot sip of heaven, find the courage to walk out into the parking lot and I as I get in the van I say, “Wow, they were busy in there!” Bless you Starbucks and Meijer, for a most ingenous partnership! I am forever in your debt…literally.
P.S. Barista’s….call yourselvs what ever you want! If a stay-at-home-mom calls herself a domestic goddess, well then, all is fair! Please…just make my coffee?! Please!
Oh Becca, so true, so true —
— except I, for one, would never refer to myself as a “domestic goddess” or for that matter, the “CEO of my family.” That’s just plain cheese.
I totally agree! “Goddess” my you-know-what! When I am yelling at my kids, I may, on occasion, call myself “THE Boss”!
“I will have no man in my boat,” said Starbuck, “who is not afraid of a whale.”
Starbucks voice was the single one of reason against a mad Captain Ahab and his quest for revenge against the whale that stole his leg. Honorable Starbuck, bound by duty and obligation to follow his Captain to the ultimate death by the ferocious and enigmatic white whale.
Oh…are you talking about the coffee house chain named after the First Mate aboard the whaling boat the Pequod in Melville’s novel Moby Dick?
Quakers. Sailors. Whales. Coffee shop chain? Somehow miss the connection. And what is the deal with the mermaid logo?
They have good coffee but I always get it to go because I prefer to drink it alone. If I won the gift card I would give it to my wife.
Sorry. You know one of Mom’s rules “if you don’t have anything nice to say…..”
It’s Dunkin’ all the way for me. I got 40 bucks in gift cards for Christmas! My kids call it my “crack”
I’m so happy you’re out and ready to take on the world! Wishing you the best ~ I’ll be checking on your progress and look forward to your stories!
Star bucks is a major treat for me.We don’t have one in my town and the closest one is about an hour and a half away so when we go out of town to do shopping we stop at star Bucks and sit around drinking coffee and snacking on yummies for a very long time. I just love it,and really look forward to an outing so me and the hubby can stop at starbucks
jacksoncrisman@yahoo.com
Because they have such a great ability to be super involved with the community and it amazes me everytime how they give legendary service to all. And the regulars are always treated with so much respect it makes me stand here with my mouth open. Seriously the line will be out the door and normally they will have the customers drink already made right after that pay that’s just simply amazing! I love Anericanos and with a ten dollar card I could buy three plus I’m unemployed so a treat would be nice from you thank you!
I hate that Starbucks makes me smell like Starbucks when I leave. It smells bad!
i love starbucks.
things i love at starbucks:
double chocolatey chip frap
chai
peppermint frap
peppermint cap
black decaf coffee
vanilla bean frap
black iced tea
im a total starbucks junkie but i have to buy school books and clothes so i dont have any money to buy my precious starbucks.
please! i really need the giftcard!
The legal drug of America’s inability to slow down. The quick fix that doesn’t fix anything but temporary fatigue and mild discomfort. Yet, through it all, a small dose of love that only the crazies dislike.