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How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else | 
| Author: Michael Gates Gill
Publisher: Gotham
Category: Book
List Price: $23.00
Buy Used: $4.77
You Save: $18.23 (79%)
New (45) Used (49) Collectible (3) from $4.77
Rating:  112 reviews
Sales Rank: 12010
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 1592402860
Dewey Decimal Number: 647.95092
EAN: 9781592402861
ASIN: 1592402860
Publication Date: September 20, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In his fifties, Michael Gates Gill had it all: a big house in the suburbs, a loving family, and a top job at an ad agency with a six-figure salary. By the time he turned sixty, he had lost everything except his Ivy League education and his sense of entitlement. First, he was downsized at work. Next, an affair ended his twenty-year marriage. Then, he was diagnosed with a slow-growing brain tumor, prognosis undetermined. Around the same time, his girlfriend gave birth to a son. Gill had no money, no health insurance, and no prospects.
One day as Gill sat in a Manhattan Starbucks with his last affordable luxury a latte brooding about his misfortune and quickly dwindling list of options, a 28-year-old Starbucks manager named Crystal Thompson approached him, half joking, to offer him a job. With nothing to lose, he took it, and went from drinking coffee in a Brooks Brothers suit to serving it in a green uniform. For the first time in his life, Gill was a minority--the only older white guy working with a team of young African-Americans. He was forced to acknowledge his ingrained prejudices and admit to himself that, far from being beneath him, his new job was hard. And his younger coworkers, despite having half the education and twice the personal difficulties he d ever faced, were running circles around him.
The other baristas treated Gill with respect and kindness despite his differences, and he began to feel a new emotion: gratitude. Crossing over the Starbucks bar was the beginning of a dramatic transformation that cracked his world wide open. When all of his defenses and the armor of entitlement had been stripped away, a humbler, happier and gentler man remained. One that everyone, especially Michael s kids, liked a lot better.
The backdrop to Gill's story is a nearly universal cultural phenomenon: the Starbucks experience. In How Starbucks Saved My Life, we step behind the counter of one of the world's best-known companies and discover how it all really works, who the baristas are and what they love (and hate) about their jobs. Inside Starbucks, as Crystal and Mike s friendship grows, we see what wonders can happen when we reach out across race, class, and age divisions to help a fellow human being.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 107 more reviews...
 Overrated October 13, 2008
Janice (Arlington, VA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Michael Gates Gill's "How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else" is a story of how the author who had to work in Starbucks as a barista after being laid off from a major corporation. He subsequently lost his family when he cheated on his wife. Overnight, it seemed as though Gill lost everything that matters to him. With no prospect and lots of bill, Gill took a job as a barista in Starbucks. The book chronicled how the job changed his outlook in life, and helped to make him a better person.
The premise of the book was interesting. However, I did not enjoy the frequent flashbacks of his WASPy lifestyle or his encounters with various celebrities or famous individuals. It seemed as though the author was too eager to show he was *somebody* who had connections with those individuals. The book started out very promising, but very quickly it lost its appeal. It was also not well written or edited. Mostly, the book was too much of a cliche for me.
 Wonderful Read -- thought provoking October 13, 2008
GB
Great book -- couldn't put it down. Very thoughtful -- made me consider how I was living my life and my true purpose. One of those books that you would read over again, to remind yourself about life's meaning.
I loved it! October 12, 2008
Happiness (bellevue, wa United States)
I finished it in one day! I thought he sent a very clear message; it does not matter your age, or the background you come from, you can find happiness in your work, friends, and life. It is never too late to start over, and be who you might have been...happy and fulfilled. So what if he found it at Starbucks, and promoted them. It is a story about how Starbucks saved his life!!! Hello..Starbucks is going to be showcased! He still took the time to talk about all the wonderful people he has met, and even shared the life lessons he learned along the way to where he is now, and yes that means working at Starbucks. Think how you would feel if a company helped pull your life back together. I know I would not mind building them up as much as I could, and announcing to the world all the great things they have done for me and others. I will keep a copy of this book on my shelf! Loved it!!
 Interesting read, makes you think, but has holes September 26, 2008
zaxwrit
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Interesting premise - spoiled man of privelege is forced to join the serving class and actually finds happiness. I like Gill's writing style and the book kept me interested. I did see some holes, such as details (or at least more info) on the 10 years between the ad agency and Starbucks. And how, exactly, did he embark on the path that caused his family to break up? How did his move at the book's end really come about? I felt much was glossed over or disregarded as irrelevant, when in fact it's relevant to grow this reader's empathy with Gill and his story. Perhaps he was worried about being seen as a bad guy (when in fact, he's just human), or perhaps there was heavy editing by Starbucks PR. Overall, a good, quick, interesting read. I just think substantial info was missing.
 bogus marketing gimmick September 19, 2008
Wingnut
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I bought this book wondering how anyone could enjoy slaving away all day long serving beverages. I have noticed over the years that hardly anyone works very long at any of the starbucks I frequented. Now I realize after reading this book that it's b.s. He only worked there a year. And, being in advertising, he came up with an idea to promote working at starbucks. I'd like to see him work there for 10 years. Now he's getting rich from this stupid book and the movie. This book is poorly written, it continually flashes back and forward in a confusing manner that's hard to keep up with. It's not interesting at all--it's just the usual horsepooh from corporate america.
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