Melody reports on her Starbucks tour: "It is truly a Disneyland-like place for me!"

Starbucks superfan MELODY writes about her visit to the "Coffee Holy Land" (Earlier: Melody gets an invite from Starbucks):

I have this great thought of putting together a long post from today's SSC tour but I don't think I can! It was like sensory overload and I met SO many people and had such a blast. It is truly a Disneyland like place for me! The coffee cupping was AMAZING. I learned a ton. I hadn't really been able to experience and understand the differences in body and acidity of the coffees until this experience and being able to try them side by side like. I want to say that the October Clover Coffee are going to be curl-your-toes-with-pleasure-fabulous. I got to try a Clover cup of Kenya Gichathaini and basically I nearly died and went to heaven. What a complex and beautiful flavor without being overly heavy and fairly medium body to it. Very bright citrus notes that just pop out at you through the Clover. Amazing. I got to put on a green apron and learn how to work the Clover too!! That was SO much fun. I spent a full 4 hours there. By the time I left it was close to 5 pm, and I was dead tired too. The enthusiasm and energy from the partners I met at the SSC was just limitless. I met an 18 year partner who truly impressed me. She worked at the Oak Tree Starbucks (store #308 in Seattle) like 18 years ago, and that's the place where I first fell in love with the siren. It was fabulous meeting someone else who remembered things like the Starbucks Jazz Cruise in the Puget Sound (Kenny G was on the boat!) and the whole experience of the customer passport books. I walked out with quite a goody bag! I do love Sanani and there was a pound of it in my goody bag which will definitely be quickly used! Time for bed now. I'm so tired.

Comments

[Melody]

Oh my god webmaster-Jim. I'm so embarrassed. Could we just have one Melody thread? That's an early morning shock to your system to wake up and see yourself as another entire SG thread.

[Jim Romenesko]

Melody, I'm sure Starbucks Gossip readers will have many questions about your tour, so I wanted to put it on top of the site. Thanks in advance for answering their inquires.

[Matthew]

There's an error in the post. If Kenny G was on the boat, then it was no longer a Jazz cruise.

[20secondshotguy]

Hi Melody!

"A Disneyland-like place"
That's fabulous! I'm glad to hear you had a great experience. There are some great people who work there.

I was wondering, were you able to ask the questions you were hoping to? Were the responses helpful?

You've been inside the "castle" and you live daily in the stores. When you connect the dots between the two, what do you see?

What do you think the impact of your visit was? At the SSC? For the stores? How you perceive either?

Was there a Howard sighting? Do tell!

Is there anything you learned from your visit that you want partners to know or not forget? Customers?

So many questions. I'm sure more will come in the posts that follow.

[20secondshotguy]

Hi Melody!

"A Disneyland-like place"
That's fabulous! I'm glad to hear you had a great experience. There are some great people who work there.

I was wondering, were you able to ask the questions you were hoping to? Were the responses helpful?

You've been inside the "castle" and you live daily in the stores. When you connect the dots between the two, what do you see?

What do you think the impact of your visit was? At the SSC? For the stores? How you perceive either?

Was there a Howard sighting? Do tell!

Is there anything you learned from your visit that you want partners to know or not forget? Customers?

So many questions. I'm sure more will come in the posts that follow.

[Melody]

LOL - at the Jazz Cruise comment & Kenny G.

On meeting Howard:
We were in the cupping room and spent quite a bit of time there. I had a ton to learn as I had never done a cupping before. Everyone should do a cupping!

But anyways, we (Jason from the coffee team, my host Bridget from PR, and me) were in the middle of discussing the cupping and in whisks Howard.

Everytime I see him I get so stunned that I am completely speechless and confused and high.

He said something about interrupting a meeting that he had to get back to but that he wanted to say hello and he shook my hand. He thanked me for being such a passionate customer. He definitely remembered me from having run into me (several times actually) at Starbucks.
Howard: "I've met you in the stores"
Melody: "I spend a lot of time at Starbucks."

He asked about how it was going (the tour) and I stuttered, and said "I want to live here."

What I really meant to say was something more along the lines of both like this heavenly and I feel like I'm at home because everyone was so welcoming and genuine.

Of course then I realized that I was babbling at Howard and it only got worse, as I tried to fix my babbling. "No, no, wait, I don't mean that I want to work here, I mean that I want to live here. I already have the perfect job but want to live here."

It looked like Howard just wanted to go and he said something about being in a middle of a meeting.

Then I said, "but wait you can't leave without your present."

And then I pulled out the neatly wrapped thank-you gift (with card) that I'd been carrying around with me. Then he looked stunned. It was obvious that he wasn't expecting presents.

I explained as coherently as I could (though honestly if I'd been myself I would have chosen my words better) that, of course, all moms teach their kids that when you get a very special invitation you don't go empty-handed to it, and so this was his thank you gift for my afternoon at Starbucks.

Then he hurried away very fast. As fast as he had hurried in.

I think, no joke, all of that took like two minutes.

I did not get a chance to have him sign my Starbucks card. :( I did leave it behind at the SSC with the thought that it might still get signed and mailed to me.

God, I would love to have him as a captive audience for like 15 minutes some day. It would only be 10 minutes of conversation, because it would take 5 minutes for me to adjust back to my normal self.

I didn't see him open the gift, so I have no idea if that has happened yet or not.

[JD]

Melody,

I'm so glad that you had a good time.

[Venti Urnex Latte]

Melody, what was your gift to Howard?

Why didn't those caffeine-filled coffee samplings perk you up? You should be energized, not tired.

What else was in the goodie bag you received?

And, of crucial importance: WHAT DID YOU WEAR?

[Layla]

Did you get all of your questions answered? Do you feel like you were able to influence them in any way? What did they say about your bring back bold campaign??

Details girl! You have a whole thread dedicated to this event!

Help us understand the whole experience in a way where we were right there with you!

How was meeting the MSI team?

[Smalrus]

Pretty awesome. I went to Disney World once when I was 10. It stunk. I think the SSC would be a much more enjoyable experience.

[Ken]

Melody
I know I spend a lot of time on here bashing Starbucks. However, I will reserve that for another thread, and say that I am very happy you had such a great time there, and you seemed to find your "happy place". Sounds truely like a once in a life time afternoon you had. Congrats, its obvious that you are more then excited about your visit.

[StLouieDrip]

What a hoot! And Melody, you're a riot, truly. I think your answer "I want to live here" was absolutely perfect, and I'm sure your intended meaning was well understood. I'm like Ken in that I criticize sbux, but I'm really glad you had a wonderfully fun time in the disneyland of coffee. And I'm even glad Howard took a couple of minutes to stop by. Nice. :-)

[snagger]

Did you meet the real Howard or the look alike that they use when he's out of town?Isn't the clover coffee great!Try the Kona.

[Melody]

LOL - Snagger you're too funny! A look a like! Yes I met the real Howard. That's probably the 5th time I've said 'hello' to him and he still has this bizarre effect on my brain where suddenly stupid stuff comes out of my mouth.

By the way, the other new Clover Coffee I tried was the Medina Guatemala - It was very good! Between the two though, I really like the Kenya even better! I'm so looking forward to October small-batch coffees. :-)

I've had Kona in the Clover. It was featured with the Clover in January this year.

The MSI/V2V group I met with included Anali, Cecile, Brad Nelson, and Matthew. It felt like I was sitting down to chat with people I already knew. They are just like their online profiles, if you know what I mean!

And the trip to the partner store was pretty cool. Many of the clothing items were like work out/athletic clothes. LOL. Not so fun for those of us who are couch potatoes! But I did buy a Starbucks messenger bag. I had really wanted one of those coffee-master backpacks that you sometimes see in the stores, but there were none there to be had. :(

I left with a lovely gift bag that had a pretty 8 ounce french press, a pound of Sanani, a MSI mousepad, and some chocolates in it too.

[Mike]

So I'm not seeing anything here that discredits my original claim that this whole thing is a PR stunt. I guess like Melody we're supposed to look at Starbucks as the "good guy" here, welcoming a customer to an experience that most of us only dream of, as we're left wanting more, but also nodding in agreement that hey, maybe Starbucks isn't so bad. Look at all the goodies! And even a visit from the big man himself! So dramatic too, as he swept in and swept out...makes me weak in the knees...

Gimme a break...

Meanwhile back on the ranch I have a new DM (after my last one was suddenly and discreetly laid off) who I haven't even had a significant conversation with even though he's been my DM for almost two months now. I don't know an SM who isn't looking for a new job, or at least brushing up their resume. Do you have ANYTHING that might give those of us who bust our asses for the company every day some hope?

Oh, but then again...that's right...it's not about the partners anymore...

Maybe Leadership will bring some good news, which I think most of us are hoping for...I know a lot of SMs who if they were being honest would tell you what's announced at Leadership will be the deciding factor in whether they stay or go...

But nothing of significance to report from this visit Melody? After all the conversations that were had on the original post? I thought they were bringing you in because you offered some kind of unique insight, that you hold a lot of weight in the Starbucks Community. Are you telling me you were there on the inside and all you did was collect gifts and go cupping for four hours? And for what? So you'll come back here and tell everyone what a wonderful time you had, and how nice everyone was, and how you wish you could stay, and maybe one day you'll go back...

Anyone care to hear about MY family's trip to Disneyland over the summer?

Didn't think so...

[Ari]

I am glad that Melody had a good time, but i smell PR stunt.

[Christin]

If it's a PR stunt, is it solely geared at the vistitors of this website or was there press?

Even if it is a PR stunt, that doesn't make it any less cool.

[espressoblend]

the whole thing has a weird willy wonka vibe to it... It was so a PR stunt though, through and through. I'd be pissed if I got fired from the SSC even more so after reading this... They have all these extra folks around to give tours but they laid off some folks who actually seemed to be doing real jobs... Classic SBUX.

[Melody]

Mike & Ari:

I don't really have anything too profound to say. There was no opportunity to sit down and have a free form question and answer period, where I controlled the questions directed at persons with executive level power.

But more importantly, I don't think I hold any great weight. There is no one single customer that can create the kind of change you're looking for: More labors hours, better DMs, better barista wages.

If I held some weight, you're right, Howard would not have whisked in and out of the room in two minutes flat. I'd get to sit down with him, if Starbucks thought I was really important, in that kind of a way.

I arrived at about 1 pm ish, and spent the first half hour in the partner store (I didn't really keep track of time - I don't wear a watch). Then I met with the internal and external communications groups. I definitely met some very enthusiastic and engaged partners, but the communications teams are not really the right people to talk to about some of the ideas that we talked about. I met with large enough groups that by the time we got through introductions, and each partner talking about his or her role, that the time was nearly gone!

On one of the teams, I met with a woman who works on putting together the in-store work books which show how to put together promotion displays. I did ask her about how often that the stores have to constantly change displays and getting the information about new displays and products to the stores. Even discussed the issue of timing: They know that when new product info is on the portal, it'll be here lickety-split.

By the way, although the communications teams were a whirlwind of faces and roles, I will say that there was genuine enthusiasm there for their jobs ... That means something to me. Enthusiasm is contagious. Hopefully it will make its way out of the SSC to the stores and hopefully there will be great messages for you at Leadership. I was left a sense of optimism for that, yet I don't have any concrete knowledge of what LC will be like.

By the time I was finished with the partner store and meeting the 2 communications teams it was about 2:45 in the afternoon, maybe later.

I then met with Brad Stevens, vp of Customer Relations Management. I wish I could've had more time with him. Mr. Stevens was the only executive person that I got to have a meeting with. If I had had 3 or 4 meetings with people like him rather than the large group 'here's what we do, and who we are' whirlwind then I could have been much more effective in talking about the passionate partner concerns from the original thread. I needed more one on one time with individuals in strategic positions.

Brad Stevens, given his position (though his title is confusing, it looked to me that essentially he is a marketing and promotions type guy), was very interested in talking about promotions and pricing. So we talked about treat receipts, and I definitely brought up the HUGE price jump on a cup of Clover coffee effective 8-26. I think most people didn't even realize there was a price jump because they hadn't been exposed to the Clover before hand but the cost of a cup of coffee really went up.

There was one particular executive that I had requested to meet (I'd love to sit down with him, and I'm not referring to Howard) but unfortunately I didn't even get to see him at all. That executive had emailed me the night before and indicated that he would likely be unavailable.

The coffee cupping/roasting information part of it (where Howard swept in in the midst of it) lasted from sometime after 3 (3:15 ish?) to about 4:30, which is about when my day ended.

In all honesty, I did nothing profound. What I did learn from this is that Starbucks genuinely wants to reach out and listen in news ways to customers, like it hasn't done before. Frankly, I think I was a bit of a “test” to see whether it might an idea to do this kind of a thing regularly.

And why was I a test? Likely because I'm visible, and very local. I don't think you can expect me to suddenly create high level change, and my circle of influence is small. I doubt I said anything at any point that they hadn't heard before.

But I still think I was just a “test” – Should we do this? Should we invite in customers on a regular basis? Get them intimate with the SSC and talk to them that way? Find out who they are that way? I was an easy test. I’m a five minute bus ride away.

The key here is that Starbucks is listening to people. I really believe that your emails to Starbucks, your contacts, comment cards, and maybe even more trips to the SSC in the future - it's all part of a process where Starbucks believes in big open ears.

And maybe this is new for Starbucks. Maybe they hadn't done such a good job of listening before - or at least went through a time when they stopped listening to customers and partners. But I think with the introduction of MSI, Starbucks is starting to see a side of their customers that they hadn't seen before, and they're hearing a lot more messages. It's all probably very stirring for them. We’re only talking about a process of better listening on their part over the past 8 months or so …

Big corporations evolve and change and it's strong human nature to look at the past with a sense of nostalgia and think that it must've been better then. It's definitely very hard to go through such radical change and not know where you're going.

If you look at the history of big corporations (or even relatively large size companies) you can see that sometimes they do sometimes go through a complete metamorphosis. Eddie Bauer started out as a place where you literally bought your hiking/ sporting gear. Eddie Bauer would re-string tennis rackets for customers in downtown Seattle.

Nordstrom was originally just a shoe store in downtown Seattle.

My personal favorite metamorphosis story is Pacific Fabric and Crafts: A smaller privately held craft store chain in Seattle. It opened in Seattle in the very early 20th century as a Pacific Metal and Iron, a place for iron and metal works. Slowly, over time, the craft side of it developed from thrifty women in the 1930s and 40s buying carpet remnants there to make things out of.

Slowly, the manufacturing industry side of it faded away, and now it's entirely a craft store, 91 years after its birth. It's a place that I go for very friendly knitting help, and a place to buy cheaper yarns (unfortunately, they don't carry many high end yarns, but that's another story).

Mike and Ari (and anyone else who is actually reading this painfully long post) - I am not saying that Starbucks is going to go from being a coffee house to a book store. I am saying that it's not the right big picture vantage point to get totally hung up on whether one single beverage is a bad or good introduction: Or even what the importance of one single customer visiting the SSC is!!!!

The big questions are whether the corporation is maintaining its ethical corporate culture, and producing quality products where the people who work there feel a sense of pride.

I have used Eddie Bauer as an example many times in my posts here, and that's only because I was employed there for a few short months. I still have a dear friend at EB corporate. The culture there is still very much that it's a business with great pacific northwest heritage. While no longer outfitting people for their long climbs up Mt. Rainier, the focus is life's every day adventure.

I still have a ton of faith in Starbucks being able to get through this period of change and growth. And I believe that it can be done in a way that harmonizes with Starbucks core values – and it will be. I believe that Howard has that unique energy, and that that energy is there at the SSC – everywhere – and that will create the abutments to carry the stores through this phase of experimenting with all sorts of very new ideas for Starbucks: Oatmeal, Vivanno, warmed Piadini. They genuinely have to try a variety of things to figure out what’s a good fit for their stores!

I think that this post closes my participation in this thread. It’s a serious toned post, and not with answers (most of you) you want to hear, and close to 1500 words long!!

[Ari]

Thanks for that clear interesting post. I still have some faith in Starbucks too, but i am also cynical. It sounds as if they whisked you around and wowed you with stuff to keep you too busy to ask anything huge....but I know that If I were given the opportunity to go to SSC, I would be too wowed myself to say what i really feel.

[BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL]

We are glad you got a special "Starbucks Experience."

[Uncle Howie]

A nice post, but ultimately what you want to know is what she gave me as a gift - correct?

[Renee]

Melody,
I'm glad you got to see firsthand how no one at starbucks really gives a shit but like to pretend they do.

Signed,
Barista

[Decaf Drinker]

Melody,
Great post, and I'm glad you had a good time. I too have so much faith in Starbucks, but do think the company suffered a big blow to its brand by expanding so quickly, imho.

I've always thought that when Starbucks starts to suffer, our economy is in serious trouble; but I never expected to be one of those that would be affected by it. I'm one of those customers who is just maxed out. I had to give up my daily visits because of a transfer to a work location 44 miles from my home, and gas is taking it's toll on my pocketbook. Thank goodness I drink decaf so I only had taste withdrawls and not caffeine withdrawls! I do still stop in for a drip coffee and to socialize.

I'm a huge Disney collector and for years have followed their growth and corporate development. Back in the 1930's not one single person had any faith in what Walt Disney was planning and creating. Disneyland opened in 1955 - can you imagine being up against 20 years of skepticism? Today, although some of those core values have changed with the times, the creativity that the public enjoys is never finished. Those are words Walt Disney lived by.

Starbucks has to keep changing, You mentioned thoughts about your visit being a "test" ... what a great thing, and if you came out with all that enthusiasm (I could never imagine you wouldn't!) so will other people. Maybe they should even use one of the closed stores as a "test kitchen" for an experience similar to yours.

[Ken]

Again, I normally am pretty hard on starbucks here. I think I am going to accually defend them here.
To the guys that said this is a PR stunt. OK, it might be. However, they weren't looking to change anyones mind. Melody was already a loyal and happy customer. To me, they were just looking to reward a loyal employee. There is nohing wrong with that IMO.
If they were looking to change some minds, they would have invited someone like myself, or the many others on this site that don't always have a lot to good things to say about Starbucks.
To me, they were just giving a happy customer one more reason to be even happier.
Word of mouth is as good, if not better then any advertising. I think, as much as I disagree with a lot of what they do, it was a smart move for them. Will the benifit from it, probably not a ton, but what did they loose? A mini french press and a few pounds of coffee?

[spence]

Melody,
I think some people got way too excited about you going to Starbucks Disney. I can't say that I ever expected Starbucks to make you the barista laison. That in itself would be silly.
What they did was great. They offered their home for you to visit. I do not doubt that you were a great guest.
Most of us are jealous.

[20secondshotguy]

Hi Melody,

A very nice post. You did a nice job describing what you took away from the visit. You also didn't fall into any traps, like making the kinds of conjectures that are too easily done about what your visit did and didn't say, about you or Starbucks. I applaud you.

Last night like many people, I was watching Grey's Anatomy. I think sometimes that I worship at the Church of Grey's, LOL. One of the things I like about the show is that it's so full of life. Episode to episode, folks take a step forward and then one or two back. Episodes don't resolve in nice packages in the last few minutes, the way many shows do.
It's complicated, not because they're saving the world (as in Hero's). It is that way because life is that way.

One visit. A great experience for a loyal customer. Hopefully there's another one too. I bet the experience was a good one for many of the folks at the SSC who participated. Hopefully they'll get another chance to share their passion also.

Isn't that what folks hope for in the stores? That every customer has a great visit? That every barista and shift supervisor has the opportunity to share their passion?

As a customer, I love that experience. When I was a barista, customers made my day, a lot. But not every customer knew or appreciated how hard I was working. I heard about the day's of some regulars, but that didn't mean I knew why the person complaining about their latte was irritated. And sometimes I said the wrong thing too. SM's do it. DMs, folks in PR. Howard does too.

The lesson of last night's Grey's Anatomy was "everyone makes mistakes." It's such a fundamental truth.

At Starbucks, there's no one decision to be made or visit from a customer or Howard that will set things right. McCain could stop his campaign and fly to Seattle, but that'd be just a photo op that would cause more problems than it solved.

The only way to get to the other side here is to move through it. That means figuring out if your values are still Starbucks values. If you can say yes to that. Then you stay and work through challenges with your DM or your RD or your SM as they emerge. Complain when you need, absolutely - this really is a great forum for that. Hopefully it's not the only place you have. Complaining isn't a bad thing. Do it so that you can keep your focus on the next cup, the next customer.

If complaining becomes your only focus, justified or not, you're out of balance. You need to get yourself right. What that looks like will be different for everyone.

Along the way, keep in mind, everyone makes mistakes. There is no one solution that will make things right. All you can do is do right by the customer in front of you, be they your team, your district, your region, or the tall drip that comes in at two pm every day. What's her name?

[Melody]

One more note about the October Clover Coffees ... wow wow wow.

So in the cupping room, I got a small bag of the Kenya Gichathini to take with me. It wasn't even a full bag, but probably only enough beans for 1 8 cup french press, and then maybe another smaller french press.

I wanted to quickly use the last of the beans while very fresh, and wanted to experience it in a way that I would again learn about the coffee.

I ran up to a Starbucks with my very favorite SM, who is also an ardent coffee master. He made the french press, and paired it with the new chewy fruit and nut bar. It was an amazing press. He was blown away. And this is someone who loves coffee, (and not necessarily all Starbucks coffees) and considers himself to be quite a coffee snob. The aroma had strong floral tones to it, and the citrus flavor of the coffee again just somehow pops out at you with this coffee.

I'm writing this because I genuinely loved the coffee, and some people reading this may want to really have such an exploration with exquisite coffees like this too. I know that (obviously) there are only a very small number of Clover stores, but hopefully some of you around a Clover store will get a chance to try this coffee:
http://www.starbucks.com/clover/

I think Starbucks does do coffee really well these days ... better than ever before ... well okay ... the best they've done coffee in many recent years.

[Kathy]

Melody,
I know exactly how you felt. It's like your brain just goes out to left field. Don't beat yourself up, I'm sure he was impressed with you. The thank you gift was a nice touch. Please go into more details about your conversations, the whole cupping experience, what if anything you learned, etc. We have been waiting on pins and needles for your report. It sounds like you had a blast & that is what we were all hoping for you. LUCKY GIRL!

[LookingOverMyShoulder]

Glad you enjoyed your experience.

Anyone who thought this was going to change anything is pretty short sighted. Seems to me like if there was any potential degree of opportunity for Melody to represent anyone's opinion from this site they made sure she was "Palin"-ated - that is no tough questions allowed. Meh... I didn't expect to get anything out of it personally, but then again, if I were to visit some mecca of mine, no employee from there should expect anything from my visit either.

How gracious of Howard to give you ( literally ) 2 minutes of his time..... ( hey at least it wasn't over 3 minutes!!! )

[Melody]

Kathy, I had never done a cupping before. Never.

So it was an eye-opener (so to speak) to break the 'crust' that forms on the cups and really compare the aromas of each coffee side by side. I kept second guessing what I was smelling. Was that what I thought it should or would smell like?

And coffee is definitely not just coffee.

The 'body' of the coffee has to do with the weight of the coffee in your mouth. It's like going from non-fat milk to heavy cream.

Guatemala Antigua is so light! I've ordered that coffee now and then when I sort of feel blah and indecisive about coffee. It seems to go with everything, and it is a light coffee. It's classified as a medium coffee, but as far as I'm concerned, it's mild.

The funny thing was that by the time I got to Sumatra, I felt like I practically needed to chew the coffee. Yep, Sumatra felt chewy in comparison to where we had started.

In a cupping you compare numerous coffees side by side starting with the lightest/mildest first, and ending with a heaviest coffee.

You slurp and then spit. It was also extremely weird looking at these weird metal spittoon like things that I was supposed to spit into. Felt very ... uh ... weird.

Btw, please don't laugh, the spittoons were about the height of a slightly short chair, and I kept having this temptation that I should sit on one (we stood in the cupping room for a while), and then would have a sense of momentary revulsion at the idea of sitting on a spittoon. Needless to say, I did not sit on one!!

There were 3 very tiny little roasting ovens going in the room adjacent to the cupping room. I could hear the noise from the beans - it did sound a bit like popcorn (we toured this little room too), and I was bewildered that anyone could discern a first pop from a second pop when multiple ovens were going.

Also as an aside, the roasting room had some very old signage in it that made me emotional to see (though I didn't say that to anyone).

When I discovered Starbucks, and fell in love with her, the Siren had two tails and a belly button, ... she was green, not brown. She was like the current siren, but it's just that the current one has been amputated at the waist.

There was a very heavy old sign on the wall of the beautiful old siren with 2 tails and a waist ... right from the era when I learned of Starbucks. My understanding is that she became the current siren in 1992. That old depiction was in place from 1987 (??) to about 1992.

I just wanted to take the old heavy siren off the wall and take her home with me. She reminded me of the days of buying whole bean coffee at the Oak Tree store in Seattle, and the days of stores that REALLY smelled strongly of the smell of coffee. Yep. I had this compulsion to take her home with me, but I refrained from any acts of theft.

I promised no more posts in this thread, and I've broken my promise!

[Melody]

[quote]How gracious of Howard to give you ( literally ) 2 minutes of his time..... ( hey at least it wasn't over 3 minutes!!! )[/quote]

I keep thinking, he's 5 minutes away ... maybe he'll give me a second chance. ;) LOL ... yeah right.

[StLouieDrip]

Melody, I've thoroughly enjoyed reading every thing you've written here, including your very longish posts. It's truly been great fun reading your description of your visit to coffee heaven, and all the impressions you got from it. I say just keep on writing if you want to, and there's no need to apologize either. :-)

[Pat Nerr]

Melody... when you love something, turn it loose. If it comes back to you it`s yours, If it doesn`t, it never was.

Maybe you should send him a quick note that says, "Do you like me?"... with two check boxes... yes and no. ;-)

[buckaroo]

I find all this gushiness a bit unnerving...

[TheNicestGuyYou'llNeverMeet]

Melody, I must say that I am very glad you had a great time there at the scc. And I am glad that you had the opportunity to meet with mr schultz even if it was for just a brief encounter on that day. Its great that they treated you with adoration and attention. Maybe they can get to treating their partners with the same adoration. The partners in the stores are the ones who are creating the environment for customers. Its not the DM's, the RM's, or anyone else in promotions, product development, or at the SCC, etc. Maybe things will go up hill if store partners were the ones given more due. But in the eyes of many we are the peons...Hopefully not in your eyes though melody.

[spence]

Melody,
If you think of anymore tidbids, feel free to jot them down. If someone doesn't want to read it, that's fine. The one's that do . . . well, that would be at least me . . . will consider it bonus tidbids.
Thank you.

this is so retarded