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How Starbucks Saved My Life |
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Saturday, 27 October 2007 |
By Michael Gates Gill
(2007, Gotham Books,
288 pages, $23)
Remember your first job?
No matter whether you were hired on a handshake, or you went through three interviews and sweated til the offer came, it’s hard to forget your first-ever job, but what about your second job? Most people have to think hard about the job they took next, or the one after that, or the one after that.
So, what if you’ve only ever had two jobs in your lifetime? Author Michael Gates Gill has only worked for two companies—ever. It took getting sacked from the first one before he gratefully accepted the second one, as you’ll see in his new book, How Starbucks Saved My Life.
As the privileged son of a society-born mother and a raucous editor father Brendan, Gill grew up summering in Connecticut, taking lessons on a grand piano his father went to great pains to install in their New York mansion, and being spoiled by a much-loved cook he called Nana. Gill went to an Ivy League college and, upon graduation, went immediately to work at an ad agency, a job that he got through family connections.
During the years, Gill rose through the ranks of the agency from lowly writer to a position of power. He was eventually responsible for the ad budgets of auto makers, shipping companies, and other big-money firms.
Then, after 25 years with the agency, everything came crashing down around him.
A new owner took control of the agency and Gill was fired. A woman with whom he had been having an affair became pregnant, and Gill’s wife filed for divorce. Doctors diagnosed a slow-growing brain tumor in Gill’s head, and he was told that he had to have it removed. The private consulting business he founded floundered. Kicked out of his palatial former home, away from his family, and almost totally broke, Gill was in a New York City Starbucks when a manager there offered him an application.
Though he had never held a job that wasn’t high-power and high-paying, a lifeline is a lifeline and Gill accepted the barista gig. Nearing the age when most people start thinking about retirement, Gill had to learn to work. He had to be taught to clean and scrub, remember orders and chat with customers, take money and make change.
He never thought that it would change his life.
How Starbucks Saved My Life is a charming story, albeit with a little too much preaching. I was smitten with author Michael Gates Gill and the way he completely embraced the challenges he faced, but his musings on the difference between his “old” life and his “new” life felt repetitious about halfway through the book, and his over-gushing of gratitude was almost embarrassing.
Still, if you lost count of all the jobs you’ve ever had, if you’ve ever been fired, or if you’ve taken a job because you “had to” and came to love it anyhow, you’ll love How Starbucks Saved My Life. Grab a cup o' java and settle down with this quick-to-read book on your next coffee break.
The Bookworm is Terri Schlichenmeyer. Terri has been reading since she was three-years-old and never goes anywhere without a book. She lives in Wisconsin with two dogs and 10,000 books.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 03 November 2007 )
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