In the process of attempting to publish Tripio, I have tried to research any other books in which Starbucks features prominently. I am curious to see if there is another book out there similar to Tripio. I know most of the business success books written about Starbucks the company. In what seems a million year ago I read “Pour your heart into it” by my old boss, Howard Schultz.
This morning I found a book about Starbucks that I had not heard of. It is called “How Starbucks Saved my Life” by Michael Gates Gill. I read a bit about this book and it does not appear to be a novel, but more a real life account. It was published in 2007 and I may or may not read it. I am sure over the course of the next several months I will come across other books, novels or not, with a Starbucks tie-in. I may or may not read them.
It is not so much that I am afraid to compare Michael Gates Gill’s experience at Starbucks to mine. His experience and mine appear to be completely different, as they should be, since we are two completely different people. I would, however, like to hear his descriptions of working the espresso bar at his Starbucks. In Tripio, Jay calls the espresso bar at store #204 “the beating heart of the growing Cosmodemonic empire.” ( Please see post #42, when published, for a more detailed explanation of the use of Cosmodemonic). And for Jay, the espresso bar is the place where he must prove himself to the customers and, more importantly, to his fellow baristas. Because to take the bar on a busy Saturday morning, we are talking 1,000 transactions by noon in those days, and deal with the line was how you earned and kept the respect of your co-workers.
That is Jay’s experience and so it follows that it was also my experience. And, please don’t think any worse of me for saying this: I don’t really care about anybody else’s experiences at Starbucks. Because, I lived mine. I felt the butterflies in my stomach as I prepared to open on Saturday mornings knowing a three hour line of customers awaited me. This feeling mirrors and parallels what I felt when writing Tripio. I temporarily lost interest in reading other novels. I wanted to tell my own story. I am not sure if I am alone in this. I wonder if many, any, or no other writers felt this way while working on a project of theirs. These observations do not at all mean that I don’t want to share Tripio with as many people as possible. Maybe it isn’t that complicated after all. Maybe my apprehensions about putting Tripio out in the world really mean I am just a little fearful about sharing my own very personal story. I may just be coming down with a case of butterflies in my stomach, much like Jay did before those busy Saturday mornings over twenty years ago at store #204.
