This guy...

[Brittany]

who wrote this book just walked into "my" Starbucks in Oakwood, Ohio to hang out with, talk, and have coffee with all the baristas. While I was suppose to be studying, I totally listened in on their conversation... Crazy!

[Amanda]

Did he have anything interesting to say? I liked the book in a low-key sort of way. It seemed like working at Starbucks did help him get his act together- but it also read like a love poem to Starbucks - which was a little over the top.

[Leslie]

Amanda, you mirrored my thoughts exactly. I do wish that my employer 'cared' about me the way that this guy feels like Starbucks cared about him. (Not that I want my boss to like me...but it's kind of nice if some one takes your opinion, acts like you're more than what you accomplish etc.).

[Amanda]

Brittany and Leslie, what did you think about Michael Gates' name dropping? He had indeed met famous and interesting people, but he kept talking about it in a story where his point was that he had fallen from great heights to the place where Starbucks helped him get back on his feet. Enough with meeting the Q of E and E.B. White (although that would have been interesting) - get back to the stupid stuff you yourself did to be in this pickle and how having an honest job to do and learning to do it well helped you regain your self-respect. Name dropping makes me uncomfortable, I feel as if the person is saying, "Hey, I'm not very interesting in and of myself, but once I met a Famous Person, thus achieving greatness through proximity." Which is just yuck.

[Diane]

I agree with you, Amanda. Though I was happy for the guy, I question his motive for writing this book.

[Gwdash]

When I read it, I had a suspicion he kept the job primarily because he knew it was good fodder for a book deal. He was in marketing and knows what sells. I found him to be cloyingly condescending in his descriptions of the people with whom he worked, kind of like a southern lady who exclaims, "Well, bless your heart!".