Lily loves me. That’s the good news.
I love her, too. Funny thing, though, I don’t even know Lily’s last name. You see, she works at my local Starbucks. She makes a mean flat white.
I do know how to say “thank you” in Vietnamese — sounds like “gahm un.” Her folks hail from Vietnam. One day a man spoke Vietnamese with her and she lit up. So I learned those two words in Vietnamese.
The bad news — or the other good news — is that she recently hurt my feelings.
You see, after my heart attack of a couple months ago, I scaled back my flat white drinking. When I first ordered a tall (that is, a small) instead of my usual venti (large), well, my Starbucks peeps thought there might be a tear in the universe.
I explained that I wanted to cut down on my caffeine and milk intake post heart attack.* Which immediately got them onboard with my change.
But soon I backslid to a grande (medium). Then, with the price difference to move up to a venti size so enticingly small … well, I was back to venti.
The other day when Lily was delivering my drink, she saw its size and questioned, “You’re already back to a venti?”
Ouch! It felt like when I’ve disappointed my kids or wife or other loved ones.
Because … Lily is a loved one. I care about her — like so many of her workmates whom I’ve gotten to know. And she cares about me, a venti-size concern! She wants me to live. More than the extra 20 – 30 cents her employer might make from the larger drink.
When I mention Starbucks, many think about it being a liberal corporation.** I, however, think about the mostly young people I’ve met, working their butts off to advance themselves while being so kind and decent with customers; thoughtful in conversation.
Young people these days … I love ’em.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
Illustration created with ChatGPT4o and Firefly
* For the record, this change wasn’t something my cardiologist specifically advised; just me trying to improve my diet to live a long time.
** Consider that back in 2020 Starbuck’s pioneering CEO Howard Schultz wasn’t “progressive” enough to be comfortable running for president in the Democratic Party.
7 replies on “Lily Loves Me”
I’m very sorry to learn of your heart attack! Since my exile from Facebook,* I’ve been too far out of the loop!
Certainly, if your cardiologist were to advise you to limit sharply your intake of coffee or of caffeine, then you should do so. But you may be short-changing yourself, not only in terms of enjoyment but in terms of health.
About twenty years ago, based upon the medical evidence at that time. I gave-up coffee. But the weight of the evidence changed; the medical benefits of coffee itself now seem to outweigh the costs for most people.
I’m someone who has a harder time getting off the proverbial wagon than staying on it, so I didn’t start again drinking coffee until early February of this year. But I make a practice of drinking about twenty fluid ounces (about 0.59 liters) of coffee each day.†
However, I don’t put creamer of any sort in my coffee, and I use a combination of sucralose and dextrose in moderation to sweeten it, rather than sucrose, glucose, fructose, or somesuch.
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* My account was compromised by a hacking of Facebook. I recovered control, and reported the matter to Meta. They responded by locking me out until I provide documentation that they can scrape for personal information about me. The document that I’m least worried about their scraping is my birth certificate, but I don’t remember where I stored my copies.
† I believe that Starbucks uses “venti” for 20-ounce hot drinks and for 24-ounce cold drinks. But I brew my coffee at home.
This is really about me cutting down on “too much” caffeine and especially too much whole milk and its calories. But I’ll never cut down on the love I get at my local Starbucks. That is never “too much.”
I’m sorry to learn of your heart attack. Hope all is well.
I used to be an occasional consumer of Starbucks but I stopped years ago after learning of the company’s history of outsourcing tech jobs.
We want you to stay around, too, Paul. Your cardiologist, I’m sure, has recommended a low-fat, or mediterranean diet. No. Eat more meat.
Please look up Dr. Shawn Baker, Dr. Ken Berry (who’s OK with coffee), Dr. Rob Cywes (also OK with coffee), Dr. Athony Chaffee, and Dr. Paul Mason. If you like eating meat, you’ll be glad you did.
I was just at the McDonald’s at Markham and University. An older gentleman was one of the cashiers. We had a short chat. An African-American woman with enormous false eyelashes was another cashier. They gave me my order plus two burritos. This was in the center of the city. We don’t know each other’s names. They probably won’t be there next time.
Dean Ornish’s book: “Reversing Heart Disease”. Only had a few patients actually stick with it long term. Those had marked improvement.
My go to coffee shop is Bitty and Beau’s on Church Street in downtown Charleston, SC. They hire adults with special needs. I’m a “repeat offender”. So when I walk in, one or more of the Baristas shout, “We know what he wants!!!” Needless to say, I haven’t changed my drink in years. But it always comes with an extra shot of “TLC”. The original coffee shop is in Wilmington, NC, with franchises popping up around the country.