They Know My Name

Last month I started studying at a local coffee shop on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It gave me a chance to enjoy a good cup of coffee and interact with some people from the community.

I love going to that coffee shop on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I would actually study there more than two days a week but that gets hard when a cup of coffee costs $3.50 (I usually spend about $50.00 a month on coffee)! Why do I enjoy going there twice a week? Because the employees go out of their way to make me feel welcome.

It was recently revealed that Starbucks coffee had nine and a half billion dollars of revenue in the 2007 year. This is a four billion dollar increase from their sales in 2004 (five billion). It is doesn't seem possible that a company could make more than nine billion dollars by selling coffee and desserts! But those who work at Starbucks as well as the people who get their coffee there know it sells more than just coffee. It sells what has been referred to as the “Starbucks experience”.

Everything in a Starbucks coffee shop, from the paintings on the wall, to the music is focused on one goal. To help people reconnect with one another. The furniture is made up small circular tables two or three friends can sit and talk with each other easily. The smell of coffee is the first thing you experience upon walking into the shop. It is planned that way because that smell puts people at ease and leads to having casual conversaton. The employees are asked not to wear any kind of perfume or cologne so the smell of coffee is not overpowered.

But the most ingenious thing that Starbucks does is asking for your name when you order a coffee. Actually there are two reasons why they do this. The first is so that you can be called when your coffee is ready. But the other is so they can learn the names of the customers who come regularly.

The coffee shop where I go twice a week is patterned after a Starbucks in almost every way. Right down to asking for your name when you order. One Tuesday morning I came into the coffee house and ordered just like I always had, and then it happened. The girl at the register didn't ask for my name at all instead she just punched some buttons and the name John magically appeared on the screen. As simple as that was the fact that she actually knew my name made me feel good.

A few days later as I left one of the employees called out to me, “see you later John.” Again I became excited that this young man who I didn't even know would call me by name. And this morning when I came in I was greeted with “hey John how are you”. They have called me by name a number of times now, but I still get an adrenaline rush when I hear them say it.

That experience at my local coffee shop has reminded me how we all as individuals crave love and attention. Sometimes we feel as if meeting that craving takes a complex plan and lots of hard work. While many times it does, that need can also be met with something as simple as remembering someones name.