Cha cha cha cha changes.......

I did it. I gave my notice at Starbucks. I have four shifts left. I worked at Starbucks for a little over two years and I have to say, it wasn't all bad. When I first got the job, I felt like I won the lottery. Benefits, early morning hours, FREE FUCKING COFFEE, and a relaxed atmosphere. My co-workers were fun, and mainly, I was going to get a regular paycheck. Woo Hooooo! I did love it in the beginning. I wrote quite often about it here, on my blog. And then two years went by. I still liked it, but there were gnawing things. My poor body was giving out. Damn, I developed a sharp pain in my hip (I'm eighty years old) from the pivot at the drive-through window. My upper body hurt like crazy on a regular basis. The need to BE at work at 4:15 a.m. was making me tired and crabby. My legs ached daily because we were on our feet for the whole shift, running around like a bunch of lunatics, with a measly 10 minute break. Now you may think I should just blame it on a sedentary lifestyle and old age, but it was happening to the twenty year olds too. Plus, big problem, I noticed the customers getting angrier and angrier about coffee. People would YELL at me. About their COFFEE. "Eeeehhh, you didn't put enough vanilla in my latteeeee!" and "You forgot my cup discount. How many times have you done that? You owe me a refund for all the times you didn't give me a cup discount. Can I speak to your manager?" Really, those things happen. And many customers at Starbucks feel entitled to have their coffee exactly how they want it, and they feel they're right to yell loudly at their barista to get it that way. Ahemmm. Not anymore, baby. I still like Starbucks. I really adore most of the people I worked with. I just love some of the regular customers. I'm sure I'll grab a coffee there on occasion. But I don't have to work there anymore. Did you hear me sing that last sentence? To the tune of naa naa naa naa naaaaa na? Instead I'm going to write coffee table books. Hahaha. Not really. Well, maybe.

Another reason I resigned from my job at Starbucks is that I want to be home in the morning with my son. It's his first year of middle school and I think he needs to have me around in the morning to fix lunch and check breakfast consumption and talk about math. B does a great job making french toast and he's been a tremendous morning presence, but I think I need to be there too (so I can eat B's french toast). Although my son is mortified by me in public, heaven forbid I actually speak, he seems to like me okay in the mornings inside the privacy of our home. I don't want to lose touch with the homework and the friends (whose parents I don't even know) and the upcoming school dance news and the possible future acne problems. And mornings, sitting at the dining table with a cup of coffee, a bowl of yogurt and granola, maybe a piece of french toast, and the sun coming up seem like a perfect moment to touch base on the coming day.

Okay, moving away from the self-evolved, responsible person, I have to ask...have you SEEN Dexter? Good lord, this is the best show on TV. Watch it from the beginning. Season 3 is a little weak in places (Rita, just go away) but it's a tightly written, well acted series. A serial killer with a freakish past that works for the police and only kills people who deserve it. Yeah baby. It's gory and smart and sexy and WEIRD. I still need to check out Breaking Bad, and I do want to watch Weeds, so there are other shows out there, since, ughhh, the last Dexter of the season is on this Sunday. If you don't get Showtime, it IS possible to see it on your computer.

Also, getting back to Starbucks for a minute, as I was writing about it I wanted to give you a way to read all the blogs I've written about it in the past. I mean, who can forget the story about the wild cat attack in the blue car (talk about gory). I'm going to attempt to go back over all my posts and label them so I can steer you to related posts. Hahaha, we'll see how long that takes me.