Thanks a latte for the memories.

Almost 14 years working for Starbucks.  A full 40% of my life.  My entire adult life.  Even though I've known about the elimination of my role since April, I kept holding onto the belief that another job would come up right until the very end of the fiscal year deadline.  Even with that long to process the possibility that became probability, I'm still in a bit of a state of shock that I'm no longer a Starbucks partner.

I started as a barista during my last year in college.  With plans in the works to move to Seattle with a boy that I liked at the time, I thought it would be a good idea to have a job that would allow for an easy employment transition.  While having a job lined up was easy, getting used to the pace of of slinging java in the coffee mecca was not.  Cheese & rice, I could not believe how pretentious & demanding Seattleites can be when it comes to their precious espresso beverages.  One the one hand, if you're paying $4+ for a hot drink, it's not unreasonable to get what you've asked for.  On the other hand, like most things in life, there's no need to be a butthole about it. 

Once I got into the swing of things in the PacNW, I learned to enjoy the groove of a day in the coffee shop.  I became friends with the other partners & many of the regulars.  Pretending to be nice to meanies became much easier once someone told me to just give 'em decaf with a smile.  When things fell apart with the boy who took me to Seattle, my co-workers became my family.  My mid-20s were fun.  The coffee gig had taught me that I'm a morning person(!) & I loved having a full 8 hours of work under my belt by what was lunchtime for everyone else.  I'd typically go home after work to meditate & take a nap, then get up in time for dinner & a show.  I went to a bunch of really great concerts & could close down the bar, go home for another long nap before getting up to start again.  Sleeping in a couple of shifts a day worked just fine when I had but a 10 minute walk to work & could start chugging caffeine as soon as I unlocked the doors.

Things changed a bit when I took a job at the help desk 4 years into my time at Starbucks.  I didn't have much trouble adjusting to even earlier hours, but it was a bit trickier because my brain needed to be firing on all cylinders in order to perform my job with a modicum of effectiveness.  I liked that I'd managed to get an office gig that allowed me to sit down & wear nice clothes that wouldn't end up covered in milk stains. I loved the pay increase & working directly with partners instead of the general public, but worked hard to find a less frustrating role that better suited my personality & skill set as quickly as possible.  

The same guy who helped me get the job at the help desk eventually hired me to serve as a vendor manager with him.  Similarities in our personalities helped to make us a good team & I was thrilled to finally get to use my natural strengths productively at work.  We had an amazing manager for the first couple of years & I was able to develop as an analyst.  After 4 years in the role & 10 years with the company, I took advantage of the amazing Sabbatical benefit & took a 6 month career coffee break to travel with my husband.  

When I returned from globetrotting, I was on a new team & grateful to be out of a service support role, but the company still capitalized my vendor expertise on a couple of year long projects.  Then my son came along & I took over the departmental budget when I came back from maternity leave.  It was a perfect fit for my niche skill set.  Teaming with leadership that actually demanding accountability, we pulled the budget back to black & I genuinely loved my work.  

I suppose that's my primary disappointment in being forced to leave Starbucks: putting in more than 13 years to finally contribute in a way that I was *really* good at & brought me such joy only to have to leave because the job title management wants to apply to my responsibilities would require me to live in Seattle. It sucks. I've been so lucky to have never had a real gap in gainful employment & have thrived on the consistency that Starbucks has brought to my adult life to date. I don't do well with uncertainty. So what now?