Two Slurpees please...

Good morning... What can I get for you?

This morning's story comes from my time spent as an International MCM (management coach mentor). Whenever Starbucks opened an International market, they used to bring the first group of managers, the dm and the ops manager over to the US to train in the Seattle market. So, when my district was chosen to host the Malaysian market, we were thrilled... I got to host a fella named Saw. He was a pretty quiet fella... very thoughtful. Of course, he was pretty excited to be working in a store that saw 1100-1400 customers per day.

For most of that Summer, Saw mirrored my shifts... I would pick him up every morning and we'd drive the to the store. He learned "the bar" from my partners, how to jump over the language barrier and give great customer service here... how to handle disgruntled customers... how to be a barista basically. This was pretty tough for him at first, as he thought the manager's job was to be sort of standing from the sidelines looking in... I frequently had to remind him that being the first to "go" was the job of the store leader... and that meant modeling. Big culture shift for him... but he adapted. My store partners really got attached to Saw as they saw him really try to learn the entire operation in 14 weeks so he could grow a Starbucks in Kuala Lumpur. They taught him the thing about putting the lid on with the drink hole in alignment with the logo... Yes, this was that team... the one that struggled... and now they were teaching other markets... they took much pride in that.

I usually worked one "clopen" per week... That means I closed and then opened. I needed to see for myself how a close went and how an open went... I taught Saw this... He immediately saw value... So, on our first closing shift he was shocked at how much there was to do to close down a 2600sq/ft store. We scrubbed, shifted day-parts, stocked, detail cleaned, "sanitized" dishes, closed down tills, swept patios and moved tables and umbrellas... We closed at 9pm and by the end of a close there, you were always sweaty...

On the drive home, Saw asked me to pull in at the 7-11. "Sure", I said. I figured he was going to get a pack of cigarettes or some gum or something... He came walking out with 2 huge Slurpees. I assumed that he wanted one for himself and one to take home to one of his fellow managers. He gets in the car, hands me the Slurpee and says, "this is for you... we've earned it tonight!"

That Summer went quickly... Saw went home and ran a great store I hear... Last I heard, he became a dm.

We'll see you tomorrow for your usual...

Pat Nerr...