Between the hours of 5am & 9am today...

I realized a few things. 1) Hot tasty donuts from B&B Donuts are extremely delicious when you are forced to crawl out of bed most mornings to make coffee for other people. 2) Not everyone will know Jesus Christ & his love which is extremely sad & exhausting sometimes when I deal with that realization a few times a shift.

Event 1- 

Approx. around 6am a lady in her mid thirties approached the counter with her toddler in a stroller. She was interested in trying a London Fog Tea Latte (real good! Go get one!). But as I was helping her out, she made it a point to tell my co-worker that the last time she came to our store she was charged incorrectly & that she was upset about. Her mood went from nice to mean in the blink of an eye. My co-worker apologized & walked into the back because of shock. I helped the lady out & she switched back to calm mode almost instantly after my co-worker disappeared to the backroom. I was a little nervous & just made the lady her drink. When I handed her the drink she said "thank you". I couldn't help but say, "Your daughter is very cute by the way, what's her name?" & the lady responded, "Never mind that, thank you". It was one of the saddest moments when I realized after she had sat down in our cafe that she was homeless, as was her child that had to be no more than 2. she has been coming from the shelter this last week to get warm in the store with her baby & she has intense mood swings. I forget there are so many homeless people, not to mention the children they have & the lives they will live on the streets-it was sad.

Event 2-

Around 730am we started to pick up with business & crowd gathering around the hand off bar. I was on register ringing & smiling & joking with customers. It was fun. Bill, a regular customer, was getting his usual order & had a few gift cards to combine into one. So this sometimes takes a while, but my theory is, "If you're in line at Starbucks on a weekday & you're running late...DON'T STOP FOR COFFEE." Just keep right on driving & get to work on time. Well the lady behind Bill didn't share my theory. She was tisking & tasking & grunting. Bill apologized to her, & she replied, "Well I'm late for a field trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific & I don't have time for this-why couldn't you have done this some other time when there aren't people in a hurry?!"  : (   Finally she got to the front, complained some more & I told her, "I'm sorry ma'am. But eew, I hate Long Beach". She about had a fit! "That's the nice part of Long Beach, not the ugly side". Long story short-the lady got her drink, lunch, & hopefully made it to the nice part of Long Beach.

Event 3-

Approx. 830am rolls around & I got in line with the rest of the crowd & waited to be rung up for a free beverage. I'm behind a guy that goes over to the community board, stares at a flier advertising a protest against the Palestinian/Israeli War. He takes a picture with his camera phone, then he ripped it off the board & put it in his pocket.

 I asked him, "Are you going to be attending the protest?" & was going to inform him of the one held in L.A last Tuesday to inquire if he had gone to that one too. 

His response was polar opposite of what I expected...

"No I am NOT going to that. That's ridiculous that it's in this Starbucks. Do you work here?"  

"Uhhh yea" I said.

"Does your manager know you have this hanging in here? I don't think corporate would agree with a political matter hanging in their stores, Do you?" 

I replied, "You know...I'm not sure. But I know the manager allowed it, & if you feel like you need to tell her about this issue-she's right there (I point to her)".

"No, I'm calling corporate, I'm turning this flyer into them & I don't need to talk to your manager". 

So I was pretty irritated with the guy & before I could think about what I was saying or doing I just blurted out, "So what's the issue? What exactly is your problem with it? Just because it's not your political view, it's not to be hanging in a Starbucks? Do you or don't you believe in the freedom of speech? " 

He was pretty pissed & said, "Anything political doesn't belong on a wall at Starbucks". 

I left it at that. It was a really exhausting morning. People will continue to flabbergast & all I can do is smile & have an open mind to better understand what they go through on a daily basis & how me being a Christian---all I can do is love. I already feel better about meeting these people today because I know that with every broken person, there is a broken hearted God waiting to mend.