Using my new Vitamix today, I was whisked back to the summer of 10,000 frappuccinos. Starbucks has always used these turbo blenders. I worked at the new Starbucks in Potomac, Maryland circa 1997. At sixteen/seventeen, just having moved back to the United States from 8 years of living in Japan and surrounded by a lot of immature, spoiled teens (save a few gems), I had a place to be with interesting people. I was the youngest person there by at least 4 years. There was this guy, John, who was in a ska band. The first openly gay man I knew worked there. I remember him being an aspiring theatre performer. A woman in her 50’s who struggled with EVERYTHING fascinated me. Whenever she and I worked together, I did both of our jobs. I didn’t mind.
From time to time, baristas from other stores would come in and do a shift at our store. Once there was a bohemian girl doing one of these guest shifts with me. She was very sophisticated. Wordly. Lived on her own. Mysterious. Maybe 25 years old. She asked me how I was preparing for college. Many of my peers were studying at The Princeton Review with Chelsea Clinton, a very expensive SAT prep course. I told her I really planned on winging it and she gave me a “you’ve got to be kidding me” look. I want to say her name was Claudia. Claudia gave me a list of 3 books to purchase, her address and we set a date. I took the bus to her studio apartment in the city (Washington D.C.) one Saturday where she spent about 2 hours showing me how to use the books. I read and workbooked then took the SAT a second time and scored 100 points higher.
I wonder what Claudia is doing now? I hope I sent her a thank you card. What inspired her to take an interest in me and help me?
Has a stranger ever helped you like this? How have you helped someone in this random kind of way? Will you keep your eye out for someone who could use a little of your expertise?
(photo by Terry Johnston, via Flickr)
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