The Summer of 10,000 Frappuccinos or Pay it Forward

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)