• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Pretty Neat: "Starbucks Saved My Life"

M

manlymatt83

Lifer

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING....html?iref=mpstoryview

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Michael Gates Gill was a high-flying, six-figure-earning advertising executive years ago before he was abruptly fired. He had created huge campaigns for companies like Christian Dior and Ford and lived an even bigger life, with luxury automobiles, lavish vacations and fabulous clothes.
Michael Gates Gill's book about how working at Starbucks changed his life became a bestseller.

Michael Gates Gill's book about how working at Starbucks changed his life became a bestseller.

These days, however, he's traded his $3,000 Brooks Brothers suits for khakis and a green apron; the big bucks for a $10 an hour job as a barista at Starbucks. But Gill says he couldn't be happier.

"Losing my job turned out to be a gift in disguise."

After 26 years at J. Walter Thompson, a leading advertising agency, the then 63-year-old Gill was invited to an early breakfast and was told that he was getting the boot. He made too much money. Someone younger would work for less, he was told.

"Never go out to breakfast," he warns before bursting into laughter. "It's like the Mafia. You will never return." Video Watch the happy barista »

He can joke about it now, but Gill says he was devastated by his firing.

"I remember walking outside and bursting into tears," he says over a steaming cup of coffee at his current place of employment, a Starbucks in Bronxville, New York. "I was stunned. I knew that that part of my life was over."

That was just the start of a terrible reversal of fortune. In a few short years, Gill, the Yale-educated son of the famed New Yorker writer Brendan Gill, closed the consulting business he started after he was laid off, got divorced and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He had hit both the rock and the bottom and was continuing to fall.

A trip to Starbucks would irrevocably change his life, he says. Unbeknownst to him, the coffee shop was holding a hiring fair the morning he walked in for his daily dose of caffeine. A manager approached him and asked if he would like to apply for a job. Without thinking, he said yes.

That was five years ago. These days, when the divorced father of five is not whipping up a caramel macchiato or perfecting his latte foam, he's sweeping floors and scrubbing toilets.

"I still have trouble with some of the drinks," he admits, "but I'm a good cleaner.... I can make a toilet shine like a Ferrari."

If life continues on an upswing for Gill, he may one day be able to purchase a Ferrari. His memoir, "How Starbucks Saved My Life," became a New York Times bestseller. The actor Tom Hanks has plans to produce and star in the film version. Gus Van Sant has agreed to direct.

"When I lost my job I thought my life was over," he says. "I didn't realize it was just the beginning." He smiles contentedly and declares, "I may have a part-time job, but I have a full-time life."
advertisement

He is also sharing everything he has learned, hitting the lecture tour with his "uplifting tale of personal transformation."

Home for Gill is now a modest apartment in the attic of an old house about five minutes away from the 25-room mansion where he was raised.
Click to expand...
 
There is something to be said for those types of jobs. I know a couple of retired people with plenty of money who work at Home Depot or something like. They aren't there for the money, they're there for the pleasure of working.
 
The guy was almost at retirement anyway. I would've taken the hint and gone fishing. Scrubbing toilets at Starbucks in your 60s sounds horrible.
 
Originally posted by: geno
Good for him. There's a lesson to be learned for anyone who thinks money is life.
Click to expand...

Additionally, a lesson to be learned from anyone smart enough to realize how easy they can turn a $10 job into a cash-farm in the form of a popular book with movie rights to Tom Hanks..

Think you're missing a lot of the point. =P
 
There is a HUGE difference between working at Starbucks to pay your bills in a 1 bedroom studio and working at Starbucks because you're a retired executive just looking for a way to spend some time. Same goes with all of these stories of retired wealthy people taking menial jobs and "loving" it.
 
Originally posted by: TallBill
It works when you are 63 in a high paying job. It doesn't work when you are 30 and have a family to support.
Click to expand...

While that might be true, the right job during those times teaches you so much more about life than any high paying lifestyle job ever could. *I say this from experience.
 
Originally posted by: SunnyD
Originally posted by: TallBill
It works when you are 63 in a high paying job. It doesn't work when you are 30 and have a family to support.
Click to expand...

While that might be true, the right job during those times teaches you so much more about life than any high paying lifestyle job ever could. *I say this from experience.
Click to expand...

I dunno, I've never lived the high paying lifestyle. So far I've been ok without it.
 
Originally posted by: TallBill
Originally posted by: SunnyD
Originally posted by: TallBill
It works when you are 63 in a high paying job. It doesn't work when you are 30 and have a family to support.
Click to expand...

While that might be true, the right job during those times teaches you so much more about life than any high paying lifestyle job ever could. *I say this from experience.
Click to expand...

I dunno, I've never lived the high paying lifestyle. So far I've been ok without it.
Click to expand...

By "high paying" I aim low fyi: being able to pay your bills and maybe have a little left over every week to put into savings/go out for dinner/whatever.
 
dumb fucking article. a movie on this? seriously? tom hanks and van sant? they are seriously running out of plots...
 
I was thinking a secret ingredient in Starbucks coffee destroyed the tumor in his brain. I am so. so. disappointed.
 
Originally posted by: dainthomas
The guy was almost at retirement anyway. I would've taken the hint and gone fishing. Scrubbing toilets at Starbucks in your 60s sounds horrible.
Click to expand...

i dont think it is. if the guy is enjoying it.

at an older age, working for something you love, is much better than doing nothing, staying at home and whine at wife/kids/grandkids and complain about everything in life. it makes the person happier and that may probably contribute to a longer and healthier life as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top