How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else

How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else | Michael Gates Gill | The Proof is in the Outcome

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How Starbucks Save...

	How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else Michael Gates Gill Gotham, 2007 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 121 reviews view larger image
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One of the Best Career Books Ever

This is one of the best books ever written about mid-life career crisis. The story of the advertising executive who ended up cleaning toilets at Starbucks is filled with wonderful anecdotes that can be best appreciated by those who are middle aged and beyond. Young adult readers may not appreciate or understand the life-changing lessons (as seen by some of the one-star ratings from other Amazon reviewers) and some of the book comes across as almost too hard to believe. But the book is never preachy--just a narrative progression through a life that was changed due to corporate downsizing and personal selfishness. It is also very well edited, mixing the author's current progression at the coffee shop with his recollections of knowing Jackie Kennedy, Ernest Hemingway and others. The end result is a lesson in humility and the need for respecting others you would normally consider beneath you. It should be required reading for college career courses.

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The Proof is in the Outcome

The only place to read HOW STARBUCKS SAVED MY LIFE is on location--INSIDE Starbucks--where you can sample a steady supply of coffee and pastries, and mingle with the partners. Regardless of why Michael Gates Gill wrote this book (and if he has a speck of sense and an ounce of American blood he wrote it not only to champion Starbucks and the new friends he made there, but also to pay a few bills) there's a worthwhile idea at the heart of it--dignity and respect for everyone--service providers and guests alike...and yes, even sons of privilege. We could all do with a few more books that celebrate a good 'ol American work ethic at ground level. Unfortunately, there are plenty of "self-help" books on how to claw your way to the top of the corporate ladder--not so many on how to retrace your steps gracefully on the descent (the only one that comes immediately to mind is the lovely little book HOPE FOR THE FLOWERS). After reading Gill's book I have a new interest in Starbucks, its workers, its coffee, its pastries--yes, even its benefits. I hope they call me. In the meantime, BRAVO for Michael! He did what many people wish they could do--he got out of the rat race and he wrote a best seller that will soon become a movie. How many of us can claim similar success in the stretch of a year?

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