Experiencing Adversity

Yesterday morning at the place where we get hot water for our instant oatmeal and pour over coffee the barista said to me, "I don't know how much longer I can give YOU water.  My boss is becoming impatient.  You come here ALL DAY and don't buy anything."

We did not feel safe.  The place has a policy that all people who enter the store whether they buy something or not are customers.  We felt all of our emotions from the projection of the employees' hate of themselves onto me.  We searched ourself for how to respond in a positive way.  We will copy our thought process below.

    Hello Journal we had a barista here say "I don't know how much longer I can give YOU water.  My boss is becoming impatient.  You sit here ALL DAY and don't buy anything."

    Okay well what will we do?  How will we respond?  Well we just googled starbucks store policy and we are welcome to continue as we wish.  How will we respond to the "Boss" who is having a personal problem with me?  We feel unsafe.  Shall we contact Starbucks Customer Service 1(800)782-7282, maybe.  Let us find out the name of the barista and the name of the boss and any employee who has the same perspective about me which is inconsistent with store policy and makes me feel unsafe.  Catherine Connors is the name of the manager.  Gabby, the barista said "It doesn't matter if I have the same opinion."

    Okay well we will write our testimony and call customer service.

The above was how we coped with the adversity.  We wrote to customer service about our experience.  I really wish we copied our submitted testimony of our experience for this post.  We called customer service three hours later.  The customer service associate Evan asked if we would like the district manager to contact us.  We responded in the affirmative.  We imagine apologizing to the district manager as the store manager is a reflection of the district manager's ability to discern quality attributes in people.

Today, the environment at the store was much more welcoming and safe.  We are thankful for the store policy and the effectiveness of the company’s response.  We are thankful for all the progress we have made in responding to our emotions and environment.