Category Archives: Albany

A few months ago, you may recall this tiny fiasco at Starbucks, when I was unceremoniously booted from the premises on the one day I had not purchased a Starbucks product. (Not a stand-alone store, I reiterate, but a kiosk in the public lobby of a building not owned by Starbucks). My post must have been seen by someone at Starbucks, because I received a few free drink coupons and several profuse apologies for the way I was treated soon thereafter. I was also contacted by the Regional Manager who asked for details on the visit, which I gladly provided.

A genuine apology goes a long way with me, and I’d forgiven Starbucks for the foible, but I stayed away from their stores all summer because the friendly nature the company has always gone out of its way to cultivate had been dispelled – most likely by an isolated downtown Albany employee, but dispelled nonetheless. I held onto the drink certificates until this week, when I ventured into the same Starbucks.

On my first trip back, there were two new baristas working. I ordered an expensive salted caramel mocha (hey, I’m not going to waste a coupon on a plain coffee) and sat down right near where I had been asked to leave a few months earlier. I finished my drink and left, unbothered.

The next day I returned, and the employee who had been next to me when I was told to leave took my order. She called me by name (I hadn’t thought she’d known my name) and apologized for what had happened last time. I thanked her for that, and said it was fine. (Usually when I say something is fine, it is decidedly anything but fine, but this time I meant it.)

Forgiveness doesn’t come easy for me, but over the last few years I’ve gotten better at it. This trivial matter may be further proof of that. (And proof of the power of the written word. Don’t ever be silent if you’re treated unfairly. Yes, a sizable social media presence can help, but even without that you can write to company executives, regional managers, and everyone all the way up to the CEO. That’s the beauty of living in this country. Make the most of it.)

As for Starbucks, it’s always been an admirable company and has consistently done good things with its money and power. The fact that several people reached out to me to discuss what happened and worked to rectify it are indicative that the company does in fact care. Because of that, I feel good about patronizing their business again. (A gift card and the return of holiday drink offerings helps too.)

I was sitting at Stagecoach Coffee eating a macaroon and wearing purple pants but feeling decidedly less than fabulous, when she walked into the place, looked me up and down and said simply: “You’re fantastic. You’re just fantastic.”

I crinkled my brow in amused wonderment, and asked why.

“The pants. The shoes. The whole outfit.”

I didn’t have the power to muster anything beyond a smile and a heartfelt, ‘Thank you.’ But I’d like to say a little more to her here:

You couldn’t know how such a simple statement would move me so much, but I wanted to express that you were a bright spot in my otherwise-drab day. You couldn’t have known that when I walked into work that morning, I passed two people smoking outside the building, and as I strode by in my purple pants and orange coat I heard one of them whisper, under her breath, “Oh boy.” It wasn’t a good “Oh boy”, it was an “Oh God, what on earth is that?” kind of comment. I almost – almost – stopped to address the two of them, but I didn’t. At this point in my life I’m not unaccustomed to whispering, but some days I’m not up for it. Some days I’m too tired to stage a come-back.

And then you walked in and said what you said. Unprompted, out-of-the-blue, and to a complete stranger. You almost made me cry – it had been that bad of a day – and you turned it around for that moment. It was probably just another flippant compliment that you didn’t even think much about, but it meant the world to me. Not that you were impressed by my clothing, but that you so openly gave that little gift, as I imagine you give to others without a second thought.

Thank you for doing that.

• Provided over 22,000 meals combined with nutritional health education.

• Facilitated support and access to care for 421 people and an additional 1,000 family members with over 6,700 visits to our drop-in living room setting open 5 days a week.

• Helped 172 pets and 104 pet owners with in-home care, 12,800 pounds of pet food, and veterinarian assistance from PAWS.

• Gave over 1,800 household items from the Treasure Chest to members in need.

• Provided prevention education sessions to over 1,203 people and distributed 17,000 condoms.

• Began helping people return to work and school while ensuring they are stably housed through the launch of our new Foundations for Living Program.

The Starbucks on Pearl Street in Downtown Albany is where I often hang out on lunch. I’ll order a silly Frappucino Grande, open up a book, and keep my eye on the big clock at the bank across the street. I go there on average about three times a week, for probably forty weeks during the year. (Which, at $4.75 a frap, three times a week, for forty weeks, comes out to about $570 a year. And since I’ve been going there for eight years now, that totals about $4560. I just shuddered.) The point is, I’m a regular, and they know me. (There aren’t a lot of guys in pink pants, orange coats, and bow-ties in Albany.)

The one day I go there and sit down without ordering anything, a bottle of non-Starbucks-sold water in one hand, and a book in the other, I get called out by one of the workers and told I couldn’t stay there if I didn’t have bank business (there is an adjoining bank) or a Starbucks purchase. At first, I didn’t believe it. This guy knows me, he’s served me countless times in the past eight years, and this is one of the only times I didn’t have a Starbucks drink in my hand.

In the seat next to me was a Starbucks worker who was on break, eating a Subway sandwich, and not drinking or eating anything from Starbucks. She’s usually friendly, complimenting me on my hair or tie, so I turn to her and ask her where her Starbucks items are. She said she worked there. Okay, I get it. It’s fine for employees to take up seats and eat food from other establishments, but not regular customers who up until today gave their loyal patronage.

Did he have a right to ask me to leave if I wasn’t buying anything? Absolutely.

Was it a cool move to treat a regular customer that way? Absolutely not. The cool thing would have been to let it go, ignore me for twenty more minutes, and go on with our friendly banter the next day I was in line ordering an over-priced coffee drink. This was the first time I witnessed anything like that, as there are often people sitting there eating Chinese takeout with nary an item from Starbucks. In fact, as one friend put it, “the freaking homeless sit in there all day long and you are a regular paying customer.”

And so it goes in Downtown Albany.

UPDATE: I returned there the next day to see how many non-Starbucks people were sitting there not eating or drinking Starbucks’ products. I got two semi-clear pics out of about five who were there reading, texting, or idly sitting around without any coffee whatsoever. Hmmm… Even more amusing is the pledge on their FaceBook page: “Starbucks has an unusually human approach to business. We always figured that putting people before products just made good common sense.”
It usually does.

The park in which this statue sits is just across the street from where I work, yet even though I pass it any number of times a day, and have for the past eight years, I’ve never had my photo taken with it. Until now. The man depicted is former Albany Mayor Thomas Whalen III. I’m assuming that’s his pooch. (It would be strange for it to be some stray dog that just haphazardly wandered into the pose – not that it isn’t strange on its own to have a dog immortalized in such a manner. This isn’t Disneyworld, or Michael Jackson’s Neverland compound.) At any rate, someone pointed out that he could pass for a bronzed Bill O’Reilly. I don’t think I’d so willingly sidle up to Mr. O’Reilly though. And speaking of bronzed, I wonder if Jerry Jennings will ever get a statue like this…?

PS – This was my ensemble for Saturday’s performance of the Albany Symphony Orchestra. I won’t even touch on what the other patrons were wearing, as I’ve slagged off Albany enough this week. Sometimes, though, criticism is amply justified. We’ll leave it at that.

The Best Dressed Man of the Capital Region (if that’s still even my title) is most likely to be found in something like this comfy get-up until the return of Spring. Yes, I wear sweat-pants and tank-tops when no one’s around, and the weather is getting me down. That lack of style is in full-force for this season. It struck me as I was walking outside the Plaza yesterday, heading up the street to El Mariachi: the gray doldrums of winter are here. Along the way, that nasty mix of salt and dirt and snow mirrored the cloudy sky. From now until April, this is what we in upstate New York will have the displeasure of seeing. It seems like such a long soul-sucking stretch to then, and every year – usually about February or so – I wonder how we will make it. This year that dispiriting moment seems to have arrived even sooner.

I paused on the sidewalk and let the wind rush around me. The thought of a margarita did not hasten my step. The notion of a cozy dinner with my husband did not quicken my pace. The dullness of Albany was having its way, eroding the shiny and sparkly veneer I try to keep so polished. Even my red messenger bag, chosen to highlight the crimson accents of the Burberry plaid of my coat, did not manage to elicit the slightest of smiles. When Burberry fails to thrill, you know the winter, or the location, has you whipped.

The wind pushed me on, toward the fuzzy warmth of a salt-rimmed tequila pool, into which I dove to divert myself, and there I closed out a mundane Monday.