Years ago, like 15 or more,
I would occasionally frequent Starbucks for my drink of choice back in the dark
ages - a grande, nonfat, decaf mocha - now there are way more choices. At the
time, I'd shell out close to $3 or so for this concoction & enjoyed sipping
it as I carried around the familiar cup with the Starbucks emblem that showed I
was pretty cool.
At the risk of upsetting any
Starbucks fanatics, please don't take offense at the following opinion. I
hadn't been in a Starbucks in years. At some point it just kind of dawned on me
that I really didn't need to spend $4-5 for a calorie-laden drink that tasted
good, but certainly wasn't all THAT great....once again, only my opinion, don't
yell at me. Hell, I can get a bean burrito & a senior drink at Taco Bell
for half that!
These past couple of days
were spent using Starbucks as my office of choice for caregiver interviews for
my dad & given the length of the lines, I'm pretty sure my opinion is in
the minority. BUT as an "office", the $5 "rent" for an hour
of neutral meeting space wasn't a bad deal at all!
There is a Starbucks on
every corner it seems so finding one that was convenient was simple. We would
agree on a location, I would arrive about 10 minutes early, order a nonfat, decaf
mocha, with whipped cream, (gotta have a little fun) & grab a table. To
make identification easier, I would text the applicant, "I'm at Starbucks,
wearing pink pants & a pink & white floral top. You can't miss me."
As I waited, watching the
shear number of patrons, regardless of the time of day, who popped in to each
Starbucks was eye-opening. I had no idea how many people frequent Starbucks for
all sorts of hot & cold drinks. It seems that there are Starbucks on every
corner now but yet everyone I went to was always busy.
Years ago I read an article
that stated something like - take a product that most people drink daily, can
make at home for pennies or buy for less than a dollar at any number of fast
food or convenience stores, then fancy it up a bit & charge triple the
price. Does that seem like a sound business model for success? Well, Starbucks
has done just that - quite successfully.
All these years later,
Starbucks is alive & well STILL doing the exact same thing. I decided a
long time ago that my opinions differ from the general public much of the time.
The steady stream of customers at every Starbucks where I met potential
caregivers kind of confirmed that conclusion. It still amazes me how many
people spend a whole lot of money on fancy coffee drinks.
This is my second time
around finding a new caregiver for my dad since we moved him to Roseville
My son pointed out to me
that now days everyone uses Craigslist & those headlines are just a few of
the millions of postings on Craigslist. "Plus," he added, "You
put up flyers with your phone number & email address on them around town.
That way people know your real contact info. On Craigslist, the initial
responses are all done through the website without anyone knowing your exact
info." I had to agree he had a damn good point.
The response was great the
first time around giving us several good people from which to choose. This time
it was even better with well-qualified, enthusiastic candidates who made my job
much easier. I received 32 responses in a little over two days of the ad being
live. I'm a believer!
Sure, half of them weren't
applicants we were interested in but I replied to each one thanking them for
their interest. I interviewed four wonderful people today & three of them
are meeting my dad tomorrow. Honestly, I have no front runner so I'm tasking my
dad with making the ultimate choice. I expect to have a new caregiver in just a couple
of days - four days after putting the ad on Craigslist. Ya gotta love this
twenty-first century technology!
Glad it was so positive. I know you will find the right one, big hugs
ReplyDeleteThanks, Darlene. He has his two favorites & is sleeping on it. Wish we could hire them both! Hugs back at ya!
ReplyDelete