I Hear Ya, Universe. I Swear.
I didn't realize I play favorites with the strangers in my life until I sat in the drive thru line at Starbucks. As I waited for the voice to greet me over the speaker, I realized I was hoping to hear a ray of sunshine.
That ray of sunshine belongs to the barista who wears his joy proudly. His voice smiles and his heart shines through with his every syllable. Everything about him is happy and there is no way to walk away from an encounter with him without grinning. He doesn't try to be joyous. He just is, with every fiber of his being. I've said maybe 20 words to him ever, but each and every encounter has left me basking in the glow of the sunshine he radiates.
His voice was not the one that cut through the silence, though. Instead, it was the voice of an actress. She's the barista I was dreading because it is so very evident that the perky and polite mask that she wears is exactly that -- a mask. She tries very hard to come across as happy, but the efforts are hollow and transparent. She follows a script that she seems to hope will convince people that she's kind, but sometimes she forgets her lines and she's left exposed. I saw it happen for myself once when I ordered Alexis the exact same drink I have ordered for her for a year. "We don't carry that. We've never carried it," the actress replied. What do you say to that? I BOUGHT IT YESTERDAY! She threw down her script and argued the point, showing her true colors as her voice dropped an octave and her eyes turned dark with anger and spite.
She tries to convince the world that she's happy, but she really isn't. All it takes is a few seconds around her co-worker to see the difference between trying to be happy and being built of joy.
As I approached the window, there seemed to be a delay. Of course. People who are trying too hard to be a character they aren't need time to put reposition their masks once in a while. Once the wolf in sheep's clothing finished with the car in front of me, I pulled up and waited. She smiled her artificial smile as she leaned out the window to hand me my drink.
"The car in front of you paid for your drink," she told me. I smiled at the random act of kindness even as I smirked that someone who was trying so hard to exude generosity was being upstaged by a random stranger. I handed over the gift card I had already pulled out of my pocket and handed it to her.
"I'd like to pay it forward, please," I told her.
She smiled her fake smile and continued on with her fake day. She is the barista who once made Alexis cry when she refused to make a favorite drink, but I like that the universe set up my revenge to play out that way.
It's always a good thing when the universe reminds you that kindness wins. Always.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Reader Comments (10)
Wait... Starbucks has drivethrus??
I was so sad when my favorite drive thru barista quit. She knew who I was as soon as I ordered (maybe they have cameras?) and always talked to my kids. When the kids weren't there, she joked with me about being "free" and was always genuinely sweet. No one else is as genuinely nice as she was, and I even asked the new people where she went... Maybe that's creepy, but she brightened my day!
Sorry your barista made Alexis cry. :(
A) Awesome.
B) LOL
C) I love when the karma train forces certain people to wake up and look around.
D) LOL
I love this story. There was an older gentleman who worked as a cashier at Whole Foods where I used to live. Even though he was slower, I always got in his line. He would have a real conversation with you in the 4 minutes it took to check my groceries out, and it was worth the extra time. I miss Adam.
Nice. I love pay it forward.
There's a particular cashier that my daughter and I will search out when we go to Costco (almost every weekend!). His name is his mood - Bright! He remembers customers and always gives and gets smiles with his conversation. I may be feeling blah when I go there, but my spirits are lifted and much higher when I leave.
i'll be honest, years ago when i was a bank teller i had to fake the nice with a few customers. remind me to tell you the stories of the things they did that drove me and my coworkers insane to the point of whispering "not it" when certain people came into the bank. practically every damn day they came in. maddening. so i forced the smile, forced the nice, forced a pleasant exchange.
and then it hit me. i was never going to change their behavior. i had to change my attitude. i started to look at them as parents and grandparents. i started to see them as lonely and in need of companionship. i started to see them as the very reason i had a job in the first place. i kind of fell in love with the very same customers i loathed before. my fake nice turned into genuine nice. eventually i got to the point where i was excited when those loathsome customers stepped into the lobby.
so i guess i am trying to say that the "trying to say the right things while not earning a huge salary to sling pricey beverages" woman might just eventually come to love the customers that give her a job. and she isn't a total bitch since she didn't pocket the money from the car in front of you since they wouldn't have noticed. anything is possible. one day ages ago an attitude adjustment worked for me. maybe this woman will fake it until she makes it.
:)
p.s. i love that you paid for someone else's order.
Great story. When I read it, I immediately thought of this old(er) guy who is a cashier at the Monroeville Target. He is the happiest, friendliest guy ever, and if I see him checking people out when I am there, I head to his line. The world needs more people like these people!
There is a physical therapist who works at my facility who sings "I'm walking on sunshine , wooah" every time he glides up the stairs. Everyone in the lobby smiles.
You wrote a blog post many months ago that stuck with me and really chnaged my attitude and how I looked at people and how they behave. Made me more compassionate and understanding because you just don't know someone's life circumstances. One line from that post was "Those people are my neighbors. Their stories are far more complicated than they seem."
I am surprised at your attitude towards this barista. Maybe she is not "built of joy" becausee of some difficult struggle in her life. Maybe the mask covers up exhaustion from taking care of elderly paretns, or caring for a sick child, or maybe is herself has an illness and must work to have health insurance. Perhaps she battles depression. Or maybe not. Maybe she is just an unhappy person. The point is, we don't know, and maybe giving her the benefit of the doubt is the kinder way to be.