Michael Gates Gill, the son of a well-known writer for The New Yorker, led a privileged childhood. When he told his parents that he wanted to take piano lessons, they bought him a Steinway grand piano that a crane had to lift into their 25-room mansion. After being educated at Yale, he was basically handed a job as a prosperous advertising executive. This job provided him with (lots of) financial security - even if it meant rarely spending time at home with his wife and four children. Then, three things happened: (1) he got fired, (2) he got another woman pregnant and his wife left him, and (3) he learned he had a brain tumor. He ended up getting a job at Starbucks - an experience that changed his life.Gill is such a charismatic writer and I was surprised at - and admire - his candor in this book. His boss at Starbucks is a black woman, and he has to adjust to being the only white person working there. From one part:
"I had been a classic hypocritical member of an old boys' club, congratulating myself for believing in minority advancement in the abstract, while doing everything possible in the practical world of the workplace - which I controlled - to make such opportunity impossible."
Although my situation is certainly not as extreme as his was, I do see a lot of parallels in our lives - and I learned a lot from him and the way he approached his new job.
"My old job involved sitting as a customer in Starbucks unable to find customers of my own. What a relief to have customers eager to greet me rather than my calling for clients like I had done in my old business, and no one wanting to take my calls. I loved greeting these early morning Guests, and serving them. They probably had no idea what a gift it was simply to have them waiting eagerly in line to see me."
This was such a great, inspiring, genuine, and funny book. It almost made me want to give up my loyalty to Caribou Coffee and Borders and test the waters at Starbucks again ... almost :)
First comment. Yessss!! This book sounds really fascinating. I need a new outlook on life right about now. I think I will go and pick it up!
ReplyDeleteI know - it's SO relevant to our lives right now. Let me know what you think after you've read it!
ReplyDeleteDear Library of Alexandria:
ReplyDeleteYou commentaries are absolutely awesome. I can tell that you've had a stellar upbringing to be so astute on these issues. You must be from the midwest--a place for diversity and intellecutalism to flourish. You sound sooo literary, but you're not considering your legal background. Have you considered visiting the real Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt. How does it feel to have a 3000 year-old library to be named after you? Or is that the other way round?!!
Your humble fan,
Dizzy