by Melody on December 23, 2011
The story of one Starbucks partner’s wedding dream:
One of my regular blog readers (Anne) recently emailed me, asking for help with a quest to get a Starbucks partner a dream wedding: The partner who wrote me is a Starbucks store manager in Laguna Niguel, California, and one of her shift supervisors (Sarah H.) is trying to win a dream wedding from Your Wedding Day California magazine.
Sarah has been a partner for over two years, and is a student at Cal State Long Beach also. She lives in Dana Point, California with her fiance Michiel, who teaches sailing at the Dana Point harbor. I think it would be absolutely wonderful if we could give her the dream wedding that she wants. There is more about the wedding contest here. The contest is currently in its first round, and every couple is trying to get as many votes as possible before January 3, 2012. The top 5 couples with the most votes enter a final round. You can vote more than once! Each computer can vote up to 999 times.
To vote for Sarah and Michiel, click through this link here, and scroll down to their profile – it’s about half way down the page. Here’s that link again: http://www.californiaweddingday.com/component/jvotesystem/box/1-say-i-do-wedding
I think that in order to get Sarah and Michiel enough votes, we’re really going to have to spread the word! Please share this via Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or your favorite social media. There is a lot of competition!
Please vote for shift supervisor Sarah and her fiance Michiel. Starbucks partners do a lot to put a smile on customers’ faces, maybe we can put a huge smile on Sarah’s. 
~Melody
by Melody on October 14, 2011
Ethiopia Reads is a non-profit organization with the goal of creating a reading culture for children in Ethiopia. They build libraries, and help bring books to children. They sound like a perfect organization for Starbucks to partner with! Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, and getting children into reading is always a great goal! Wouldn’t it be great to see them featured on the Starbucks Digital Network?
A Starbucks partner in Texas wrote to me recently and said that Starbucks partners in her local area were working with Ethiopia Reads to raise $10,000 to build a library. Here’s what she wrote:
“I wanted to find out if you can help spread the message of our a silent auction that we are hosting in an effort to raise $10,000 so that we can build a library in Ethiopia! Ethiopia is the “birthlace of coffee” and this is a great way for us to give back. ‘Ethiopia Reads’,a 501c nonprofit organization, set up a Starbucks fundraising page set up to help us reach our goal. A donation as little as $2 can help support our literacy cause! “
Part of the fund raising is coming from a silent auction, and of course some donations come directly through the “donate now” link on the EthiopiaReads/Starbucks page:
http://www.ethiopiareads.org/starbucks
I definitely think this is a very cool partnership, and I’d like to help spread the word. I don’t know if there are any Starbucks matching funds for partner donations, but whether you’re a partner or a customer, if you can make a donation, I hope you will do so. I made a small donation. I realize that not everyone can give, but I must have at least a few readers who can.
So I just wanted shine a spotlight on some good things that partners are doing, and hope that Starbucks will find a way to grow their relationship with this non-profit.
Consider this, by the way, as your most recent episode of “From the StarbucksMelody.com mailbag.”
Please share!
by Melody on September 22, 2011
Lots of people email me. Anyone can click on the “contact me” tab and send me an email. I really do read all my email, though I don’t actually reply to every single one that I receive. I wish I could write everyone a beautiful reply, but I get enough email that I don’t have quite that much time.
I have been thinking about doing a column – perhaps a bi-weekly feature – calling out a particular question in an email, or a particular comment. Not sure if this will really work, but this week is the first week that I am giving it a try.
Once again, email me by clicking here.
So here’s the first of the “From the StarbucksMelody.com mailbag” emails:
Hi Melody, I’m a partner barista in district xx. I’d like to know what other stores are doing for barista recognition. Partners who are taking the on the job of barista recognition could share ideas and ways to recognize those who are on the front line each day. What are the possibilities?
Are there any partners who want to chime in the comments about the things that you do recognize partners? I have to say that the things that come to my mind are the more obvious things like, “Partner of the Quarter” and such. In previous episodes about
Starbucks t-shirts, we saw that Starbucks used to do things like “Manager of the Quarter” t-shirts. (I assume there is the same thing out there for other store-level employees.) I think it is a great question.
If you readers think this is a bad idea for a regular column, please tell me! I’m willing to gamble this could be an interesting regular column. And please post in the comments, if you have any thoughts on partner recognition ideas. The next “From the StarbucksMelody.com mailbag” column will be October 6, 2011. Please email me now if you wish to submit a question to be posted on the blog.
(Edit: This column will have both customer-focused ideas and partner-focused ideas. Either one is fine. I just happened to start out with something a little more partner-focused.)
The story of one Starbucks partner’s wedding dream:
