What I would do for Starbucks

As I am sitting in school I hear a “Ding!” from my phone. Today is a special day to get notifications. It is November 18th, my birthday and I am turning the big 18! I am receiving texts upon texts of family, friends and accaintences wishing me a wonderful day. However, that last notification was not from friends or family, it was Starbucks. I open the email they sent me and it says, “FREE BIRTHDAY DRINK!”. I am astounded as I look at my free ticket to liquid gold that Starbucks baristas will custom make for me later today.

I sit in class thinking up the endless possibilities of what I can get at starbucks. I could get my regular pink drink, but wouldn’t I want to get a little more creative? Maybe I should get one of those expensive frappuccinos so I can feel like I am getting my money’s worth. Or why not a normal coffee, but I can’t say a coffee order to save my life. I had time to think about what I wanted to get, I was only in my 3rd period class.

I patiently wait for school to come to an end, thoughts of starbucks keep running through my head. My seven-dollar drink will be brought down to zero and that excites me. I do not care about five dollars I might spend on gas to get there, or the brain cells I will lose driving in a traffic rush; I just want my free birthday drink.

As soon as I hear that bell go off I am sprinting out of the school doors. I have been waiting for what has seemed like forever to be on my way towards that green mermaid looking sign. As I jump in my car, I feel as if the only way I could start driving is if I play some Taylor Swift for the trip. I’m blasting T. Swift and speeding down the road, dodging whatever I have to so I can keep my momentum going. Red lights keep holding me back and school buses keep slowing me down. It is so horrendous that traffic is not on my side.

Finally, I make my way to the intersection where I turn right into the Starbucks parking lot. I look up the hill to see a line extend out to the neighboring store’s parking lot. As I am pulling in behind the last car in the extended line, I know I will have to be patient.

At first I was unbothered by the wait, five minutes had passed and T. Swift had not left the car speakers. I made sure that I did not lose that free drink coupon in my thousands of emails and got it ready to scan. I thought some more about what my order was going to be and decided that my favorite drink is the only thing that makes sense on my birthday. After ten minutes of waiting in this line I have only moved up two spots. Taylor Swift wasn’t sounding so joyful anymore as her good songs were running low. With the coupon pulled up on my phone I did not want to text anyone, just in case I couldn’t pull it back-up in time. I just sat there stealing every inch of space between me and the person in front of me.

It had been 20 minutes in the line when I started getting antsy. I gave in and had to start using my phone as my attention needed to be off of the ten more cars in front of me. I was only inching forward little by little, not gaining any actual distance between me and the drive thru window. I started to question myself, “Should I have done an online order?”

After 25 minutes of being in this Starbucks line I had answered all my texts, scrolled through facebook, instagram and pinterest, but I was finally two cars away from the speaker. I started rehearsing my order over and over in my head to get it just right when I watched someone walk out of Starbucks with their drink. I had just watched them walk in maybe 10 minutes ago empty handed and now they have an ice cold drink walking out. After waiting in the car for 25 minutes and having nothing to show for it, I was very annoyed. The car speakers could not play anything in this moment to save the mood I was now in.

Pulling up to the speaker was my changing point. I almost wanted to yell at them saying, “Why am I waiting here for 30 minutes? Can’t you guys go faster?” But when the woman asks me what she can get for me the anger goes away. I state my scripted order that I had time to perfect for her and she gets right on it. I pull up my coupon once again, and I play a new playlist of mine to get some positive energy flow back in the car. What was another 10 minutes compared to the 30 I have already spent in the line? I am now at the point where I cannot back out, I am almost there; I just have to be patient.

The last 10 minutes went by a lot faster than the first 30. Before I knew it I was pulled up to the window handing the cashier my phone. Everything went perfect. The coupon scanned immediately, she had my pink drink all prepared, and she even said, “Happy Birthday” while handing me my liquid gold. The first sip of that drink tasted like success. I had spent a total of 40 minutes in the Starbucks line and I did not give up on my free drink.

On my way home I was thinking about all of the other things I could have been doing while waiting in that line, but I honestly couldn’t think of anything better. I was patient for something I wanted to have and It worked out in the end. I don’t usually spoil myself with a seven-dollar drink, so it was nice to finally get something for myself. I knew that in the middle of waiting I became impatient and ready to leave but if I left I would have nothing to show for the amount of time and effort I had invested in that free drink. I know that if there is something I want to have, no matter if it is a Starbucks drink or whether it be my high school diploma, there is no backing out. I have to have patience for what I want. And as for the pink drink, it was a very good choice for my free birthday drink.

“Starbucks Effect” by Wei Chen is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0