Lattes became the rage in the 1990s and I landed a job as a barista in a beautiful plant nursery outside Seattle. I loved the job on many different levels. Flexible hours allowed me to spend time with my son when he came home from school. It also offered me the opportunity to meet all kinds of people. I loved the perk of free lattes (all I could drink). The nursery ambience of colorful flowers and classical music made the job a delight.
Each customer had a different requirement for their coffee drink. I had requests for lots of milky foam and others didn’t want to see a speck of froth. Some asked for ice in their coffee and others asked for their latte to boil, specifying “hotter than Hades.” Of course, we didn’t have gauges on our machine stating, “cool as heaven” and “hotter than Hades”—but I tried to oblige. Customers ordered extra syrup and others wanted just a “hint” of syrup, placing their forefinger and thumb together as they said “hinnnn-ttt.” I remember one customer made a stab at poetry in her order and asked for a “whisper of vanilla.”

With steady business, I worked with a team of baristas. We served gardeners and mothers and business people. We had famous customers, such as Bill Nye the Science Guy and local TV celebs. We had cranky customers, mainly in the hot months of summer when the only air conditioning we had came in the form of fanning ourselves with the nearest piece of paper we could find. Most customers displayed good moods as lattes and mochas can definitely lift the spirit and put one in a talkative state. Customers loved to linger and chat with me about the current books they’ve read. I remember one man’s comment required marriage counseling (which I did not give), “I just read The Bridges of Madison County. The affair makes me wonder ‘what if….'” Another customer regaled me of her world travels and rated various cruise lines. About my age, my cruise-reviewing customer warned me to stay away from Holland America since all passengers, she said, were “old people.” In my early 40s at the time, I thought anyone over 45 fell into the “old people” category. Certainly, I thought, old people on a cruise ship would ruin a good time. My customer noted Princess Cruise lines had the best coffee. Check. That would be my first consideration in choosing a cruise. A ship could rock and leak and head for icebergs, but if it serves good coffee–I’m there.
I could have written a book on all the information my customers shared with me.

In those days, I witnessed the worst and the best in humans. One lady stole a cookie the moment I turned my head to answer another customer’s question. She strutted off with it. I don’t remember if she took the chocolate chip or the giant sugar cookie with pink frosting. I recall placing it on the counter as she searched for her money. Apparently my attention to another customer made her feel entitled to walk off with it as compensation for my momentary delay. More often, I felt the warmth of kind souls during my time as a barista. When I dislocated my shoulder from improperly lifting a water tank, people from every direction rushed to help me.

Often people ordered a skinny (nonfat) latte and asked for whipped cream on top. A calorie trade-off.

I discovered people will help others when they see an immediate need.

Otherwise, people generally don’t spend a lot of time thinking on the needs of others. That’s my guess anyway.
But here’s the irony. Whenever we focus on our own happiness and needs, we get the opposite. We often get low self-esteem and unhappiness instead of our desired goal.

Caring about others and showing them kindness and placing our focus on the needs of others brings joy to our life and builds self-esteem. As an example, allowing the person to go ahead of you in line at the grocery store. They have only two items to check out and you have an overloaded cart. It may cause you to wait a few more minutes as they move ahead. The person may not express gratitude (but they usually do). The reward, though, is you thought of another person’s need over your own. You feel better about who you are when you care and seek the happiness of others. And, you get a residual…your own happiness.
Jesus (the coolest person who ever lived on earth) knew this and that’s why he said the second most important thing in life is to love others as it is the essential complement of the first most important, and most joyful, thing of loving God.

Research shows that helping others out of the goodness of our heart causes the brain to react. It rushes dopamine through the body and signals a “high” while also reducing hypertension. Kindness is good for our health and well-being.

Think of the woman who stole the cookie from the espresso cart. Could she love herself knowing she’s a thief? How long did the stolen cookie bring happiness? Did her blood pressure go up as she raced off with her pilfered confection in hand?

Only she knows the answers.

I have one last thought on the coffee cart and theft. We had a tip jar with the words “thanks a latte” written on it (It seemed clever back then). One lady with wild, flyaway blond hair ordered a drink and realized she didn’t have enough cash to pay for her drink. We weren’t set up for debit or credit (it was the 90s). The lady stood perplexed wondering what to do because she really wanted the drink. Suddenly, she had an ‘aha’ moment. She dug into our tip jar, took out the money she needed, and handed our tip money to me, saying, “I usually tip when I come here, so it’s okay.”

You see her reasoning? She tipped most of the time, so she deserved some of the tip money back. I could have told her it doesn’t work that way. But sometimes we just have to laugh and say “thanks a latte.” She got her drink.

By helping others, we help ourselves.

♥βω