Extra Credit 1

Every day, every minute, in fact every second, we are interacting and building connections with everything we see and do. For this assignment, I want to focus on my encounter with Starbucks staff. I probably am one of the biggest Starbucks fanatic anyone will every encounter. I love the thrill of going to Starbucks, and anticipating and thinking about what my new Starbucks concoction will be. Reflecting upon my Starbucks experiences, I have come to a conclusion of whether we know it or not, our unintended communications turn into a relationships that we fail to see. To test my thinking and prove it valid, I went to the Starbucks that I have been going to for years now. Here goes my thoughts, “What do I order? What am I feeling today? What is the new drink that came out?”. As I walked in, I examined the same feeling of thrill and excitement that rushes upon me. As I wait in the long, almost endless lines at Starbucks, I especially examine other people’s orders and get inspired for my order. As the line lessens, I am finally able to reach upon my decision of my order. Instantly, the woman taking my order my order found me quit familiar and said, “hello, how’s your day today? Would you like chai latte or caramel macchiato?” and I found it surprising on how she knew exactly what I want. Reflecting upon the situation, I realize how going to Starbucks often, I run into the same people, the same staff and essentially built a relationship that we don’t realize. Saying good morning to the staff, gestures as good by, hello, and etc. come naturally to us, but serve as an important meaning. Our actions become a heavy indicator of our relationships and interactions that we participate ourselves from our day-to-day life. We are all busy doing our day-to-day activities whether it’s us working, doing chores. Relating this to Starbucks, everyone is busy with their own duties. Behind the scenes, all the employees are cleaning up, organizing new products that have come in, and at the resistor, the woman is patiently taking everyone’s order as the line continues to get bigger and bigger. Though everyone is super hectic with their own work to do, employees have the time to appreciate other customers with simple gestures such as saying “hello”, and “thankyou”, “have a nice day”, which make a vast difference in the impression of both the place and the product. From when you enter, to when you leave, the employees make you feel as though they care about their customers. In short, I found it surprising as is particularly noticed the reactions and gestures of employees which I often foresaw before. It was surprising how much of a relationship we built just from doing out day to day activities.