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Reality Bites Starbucks Fantasy

By Harry Kimball, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 6, 2009 3:41 PM CST

(Newser) – Many Americans fantasized of tuning in, dropping out, and working at Starbucks, Mary Schmich writes in the Chicago Tribune, but that dream died with the economic slowdown. “Starbucks was the great American backup plan,” Schmich writes. “The emergency exit. The parachute,” fueled by the “promise of part-time employment, a pleasant workplace, health care and free coffee.”

“Simplicity. Security. A little style. That was the Starbucks dream,” Schmich writes. Of course, the realities of retail coffee-hawking aren’t so sweet: “You're not going to get rich, your hours are irregular and it's retail so people are grumpy and demanding,” one former barista said. But the point is moot. “The luster is off” the Starbucks illusion, Schmich writes. “Now a dreamer needs a backup to the backup fantasy.”

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Protesters smash the windows of a Starbucks store in central London. (AP Photo)

Starbucks chairman, president, and chief executive officer Howard Schultz. (AP Photo)

A Starbucks. (AP Photo)

Starbucks employees listen to their manager during a training session at a store in New York. (AP Photo)

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In reality, life on the backside of the espresso bar might not be so rosy. It didn't matter. Fantasies don't require fact-checkers. What mattered was that a prosperous Starbucks company let people envision a simpler, happy work life. -

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