Broadway, between 10th & 11th
Sep. 30th, 2007 10:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ziasudraToday's post is about Glen. I don't know if I've posted about him before... I think I have, back a year or two ago. Back then, he was just another person in the street who stopped me for food; but now, I actually look forward to seeing him. And over the last three weeks, I've missed him.
Glen had, in the past year, become my "regular" just as much as my morning Starbucks customers had been my regulars. I've worked virtually every Sunday morning in the last 13 months (except when I'd specifically requested off), and at the end of my shift, I would always walk down Broadway, with drink in one hand and a bag of expired pastries in the other.
Between 10th and 11th Streets, on the right side of Broadway going southbound, would be Glen, greeting passersby with the enthusiasm of a street evangelist. "Hey, how ya doin'?" "Good day, sir, got a few dollars?" "Hello there!"
It was probably four or five months ago that I started taking along a few pieces of expired pastries after work specifically for Glen. On days when there wasn't any expired stuff I'd hop into the deli on 10th Street and buy him food, but he seemed to like the pastries whenever I had them with me. The selection varied from week to week: donuts, bagels, apple fritters, cinnamon sticks, muffins, croissants, etc.
It's been three Sundays since I'd last worked at Starbucks, and today, I found myself missing Glen terribly. So I went back to my store (I'd been there earlier this morning to get coffee), bought some AM pastries, said hi to everyone ranging from fellow baristas to the District Manager who happened to be in the store to Dean of the "Joan & Dean" I wrote about in my customers appreciation post (Justin & Mike were there too, but I didn't get to say hi to them)... and walked down Broadway looking for Glen.
He was happy to see me and took the entire bag of pastry. That sent another wave of nostalgia crashing over me: I've missed this, still miss it, this job I loved and everyone associated with it, including Glen at Broadway between 10th and 11th Streets.
I can't recall how many times I had paused in the middle of pouring coffee to realize how much I loved my job. It isn't just a Starbucks thing either. I loved working at the Chinese restaurant in New Jersey, and before that, I loved working at McDonalds. These are supposedly "lowly" jobs, but... I loved them. I feel like I've traded my passion for normalcy, turned in what I really love for the temptation of a better salary. Sometimes I feel like a part of me has gone missing and I'll never be able to find that piece in the corporate world. Sigh... I'm definitely in mourning, and it's going to be a long mourning process.
Anyway, this post is supposed to be about Glen. So I've decided: from now on, I will try to stop by my Starbucks on Sundays to say hi and buy pastries, then walk down Broadway to see Glen. *nods* Good plan, that.
Glen had, in the past year, become my "regular" just as much as my morning Starbucks customers had been my regulars. I've worked virtually every Sunday morning in the last 13 months (except when I'd specifically requested off), and at the end of my shift, I would always walk down Broadway, with drink in one hand and a bag of expired pastries in the other.
Between 10th and 11th Streets, on the right side of Broadway going southbound, would be Glen, greeting passersby with the enthusiasm of a street evangelist. "Hey, how ya doin'?" "Good day, sir, got a few dollars?" "Hello there!"
It was probably four or five months ago that I started taking along a few pieces of expired pastries after work specifically for Glen. On days when there wasn't any expired stuff I'd hop into the deli on 10th Street and buy him food, but he seemed to like the pastries whenever I had them with me. The selection varied from week to week: donuts, bagels, apple fritters, cinnamon sticks, muffins, croissants, etc.
It's been three Sundays since I'd last worked at Starbucks, and today, I found myself missing Glen terribly. So I went back to my store (I'd been there earlier this morning to get coffee), bought some AM pastries, said hi to everyone ranging from fellow baristas to the District Manager who happened to be in the store to Dean of the "Joan & Dean" I wrote about in my customers appreciation post (Justin & Mike were there too, but I didn't get to say hi to them)... and walked down Broadway looking for Glen.
He was happy to see me and took the entire bag of pastry. That sent another wave of nostalgia crashing over me: I've missed this, still miss it, this job I loved and everyone associated with it, including Glen at Broadway between 10th and 11th Streets.
I can't recall how many times I had paused in the middle of pouring coffee to realize how much I loved my job. It isn't just a Starbucks thing either. I loved working at the Chinese restaurant in New Jersey, and before that, I loved working at McDonalds. These are supposedly "lowly" jobs, but... I loved them. I feel like I've traded my passion for normalcy, turned in what I really love for the temptation of a better salary. Sometimes I feel like a part of me has gone missing and I'll never be able to find that piece in the corporate world. Sigh... I'm definitely in mourning, and it's going to be a long mourning process.
Anyway, this post is supposed to be about Glen. So I've decided: from now on, I will try to stop by my Starbucks on Sundays to say hi and buy pastries, then walk down Broadway to see Glen. *nods* Good plan, that.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-10-01 05:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-10-10 02:53 am (UTC)I sometimes envy people whose goal is to get a 9-5 office job and know it's because they'll like it. It always boggles my mind how something so artifically structured has become the entire life for the bulk of the world's so-called First World nations.
I still think the coolest job I've ever come across is an ad for a professonal cotton candy maker. I couldn't get the job even if I had the availability -- applicants are required to have previous cotton candy making experiences ;D
(no subject)
Date: 2007-10-01 06:22 am (UTC)well I think if you have the time go back to working a "lowly" job for much less hours just so you'll do something satisfying
orrrrrrrrrrr you can do what a lot of people do
keep the higher salary for now
once you have enough money then do whatever job makes you happy
like ppl in my program usually started out making loads of money doing financial stuff then do teaching
i am a sucker lol
(no subject)
Date: 2007-10-01 06:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-10-10 02:58 am (UTC)Your students really should appreciate you -- you could have been making big bucks elsewhere instead of taking all this time prepping lessons and actually caring about their progress!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-10-05 09:47 am (UTC)Glad you are able to have happiness--best wishes with gaining more happiness in your FT job, and Yay! for your new Sunday plan.
Interacting with people is great. ;p
(no subject)
Date: 2007-10-10 03:01 am (UTC)Thanks. I feel like the odd one out in my job, mostly because everyone else is business/econ/finance/etc. while I'm the historian/journalist. That and everyone except for one person is married with kids and they feel like my extended family ;p