Welcome to Grateful Heart Monday, a series I began years ago to focus the start of my week off on something positive, that being gratitude, which for today is for a guy named Mickey, a barista from Starbucks here in Toledo, whom I’ve really come to admire his personality just from me being a regular patron at his store location.
The first time I met Mickey was at the drive-thru window in the Westgate location here in Toledo, a location most definitely known to be the busiest in the Toledo area. Wait times at this location often exceed every other Starbucks around here due to its proximity to both The University of Toledo and much of the local shopping and restaurants. I used to avoid going to the Westgate Starbucks solely because I always felt the baristas there were overworked and rarely seemed friendly because of it, almost like they really didn’t like their jobs. But the day I met Mickey at the drive-thru, his upbeat energy started to make me feel different about this location, so I began to return, often coming inside instead. One thing I consistently noticed when I did is that somehow his presence there was seemingly having this uncanny effect of raising the spirit of all those there and the place itself.
Have you ever met someone who is able to do this just by them being them? That wherever they are, those around them and the places they are in just seem better because of it. That’s what I see with Mickey. An upbeat, energetic, humorous, and charismatic type of guy who beats to his own drum. Often sporting some type of cool colored hairdo, Mickey definitely stands out in a good way, even in his appearance.
There are other employees at this location that I now look forward to seeing there as well besides Mickey. While I don’t know if it’s Mickey’s energy that’s changed much of the energy of this location, or whether it’s his energy that drew more employees there who carry similar energy as him, what I do know is that it’s now fun and enjoyable for me to get my beverages at the Westgate location.
One thing I really like about Mickey as well is his dedication to his job, one that I hope one day I may have when I work again. Truly, if you can believe it, I actually have a dream to be a part-time barista when my pain becomes low enough to work again. Why I want to be at least a part-time barista is so that I can be of greater service in a way that’s different from the current life of service I’m doing through the rooms of recovery from addiction. Watching Mickey at his job has inspired me to strive for that even more, especially because he carries the energy of the type of person I want to be If I’m ever serving the public coffees and teas. The type of energy that lifts the customer’s spirits just by them being them, that boosts the morale of those who work with them just by them being them, and that allows themselves to be themselves regardless of what anyone else may think.
That’s why I’m truly grateful for Mickey and dedicating today’s Grateful Heart Monday entry to him, an employee from the Westgate location of Starbucks here in Toledo. While I may never know him any more than just a guy who serves my coffees and others drinks and foods from time to time, he has definitely made a huge impact upon my life by him just being him.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
