The summer before I graduated college, I spent two months on the road driving across the country.  We tried to take local routes instead of freeways, and never planned more than a day in advance.  Often breakfast came in a wrapper from a gas station, and dinner tended to be McDonalds pretty often.  It was not a matter of choice, it was just the only food that was available on the sometimes rural roads.  We would see a sign for a town in 50 miles and get really excited.  Once, I think in Texas, the town consisted of one gas station, and the price was well over $3 a gallon.  This was at a time when gas was typically just over $1.

My point is that sometimes we frequent a business just because they are the ones that provide the service we need at the moment.  I often go to Starbucks for this reason.  They have a store (or realistically many stores) in about every neighborhood in the Portland area.  Often their locations are open a bit later than the local shops, and they usually have decent size tables with a predictable environment.  I may offend some here, but I really dislike their coffee.  I get around this by drinking tea, hot chocolate, or a vanilla steamer.

Last week, I was out running errands, hungry, and didn’t want to devote much time to eating.  So I ran into the Starbucks at Hillsboro’s Streets of Tanasbourne, to pick up a drink and a banana walnut bread.  I wanted a vanilla steamer, and ordered a vanilla bean listed on their menu, thinking it was the same thing.  When the barista handed me a cold drink, on a wet chilly day, I said “oh I was expecting something hot”.  It looked good so I was prepared to try it realizing I made the mistake, not her.  She quickly said she would replace it with whatever I had expected and started steaming milk.  The supervisor overheard, came over to me and handed me a certificate good for a free drink.  She told me to use it next time, and to please take both drinks.

As I left it occurred to me that I made a mistake, left with the correct drink, another drink for a friend, and a certificate to get anything I wanted free of charge on my next visit.  Wow, what service!  Thinking about this I realized that maybe Starbucks did not grow to have a shop on every corner because people like their coffee.  It’s not all about product.

When I started out as a freelance photographer, I thought my skills in photography were going to be everything I needed to be successful.  Since then I have discovered it takes more than being a great at what you do to succeed.  Client relations, organization, time management and so much more is needed!

While I still prefer a bit of diversity that the local small business offers, I have a new appreciation for the other things about Starbucks.  Good thing since I ended up spending Saturday morning last weekend in not one, but two Starbucks!