A Brewing Barista

“I would like one tall Tai Chi latte please.”

Junior Ellie Van Gorden steamed the milk, filled a cup halfway with hot water and added three pumps of chai base then proceeded to hand the man his Chai tea latte with a big smile on her face.

She didn’t know his name, but she has become more than accustomed to him referring to the popular drink incorrectly, as a “Tai Chi” latte instead of the correct pronunciation “Chai tea”.

In the four months that Van Gorden has worked at Starbucks, tucked inside the Town Center Hen House, she has made several customer relationships. She has memorized the orders of doctors who work across the street and recognizes the faces of the workers at the grocery store who stop by for their daily caffeine fix.  

“There is a mom and a son who work in the deli,” Van Gorden said. “ They always come get mocha frappuccinos one after the other and always say thank you.”

The “Tai Chi” man, the doctors and the mother and son are just a few of the customer relationships Van Gorden has made while working at a Starbucks.

Van Gorden hopes her ability to cultivate these customer relationships will help her with future jobs. She sees herself going to medical school and becoming a doctor. While she is fairly confident she won’t need to steam milk perfectly or swirl whip cream into an artful form as a doctor, she does believe her capability to interact with customers will come in handy one day when she has her own patients.

“You really have to put other people’s problems first, take yourself and your feelings out and focus on that person,” Van Gorden said. “Sure, you might only be dealing with them for five seconds or 20 minutes, but it doesn’t matter. You have to be on top of things.”

Before learning to make the famous frappuccinos and lattes everyone orders, she spent three days learning about Starbucks customer service rules and expectations.

“The word Starbucks uses is experience” Van Gorden said. “If you’re a customer and you’re going to a place and giving them money, then you expect them to be polite and go over the top and just really make sure you’re doing what’s best for them.”

These characteristics will not only keep her customers happy, but will also help her with her future patients. She believes this carries over to the medical field because of the importance of listening to patients and letting them know she is focused on their issues.

Being able to get along with strangers, or in Van Gorden’s case, customers, and being able to create quick connections is a characteristic that she believes will be useful when meeting many patients and their families.

“She has become more confident, sociable and responsible,” Van Gordon’s mother Elaine said.

Van Gorden realized when accepting this job that she set herself up with a go-to job throughout college, grad school and, if needed, in between jobs.   

Elaine believes having a job as teenager is important because it helps to prepare for opportunities later in life.

“This job in particular will be helpful since you can now get a barista job anywhere due to their specific training,” Elaine said.

PayScale.com says an average Starbucks barista makes anything between $7.63 to $10.63 an hour, and shift managers, the next level of a barista, make between $9.12 to $13.44 an hour In addition, a Starbucks barista who works 20 hours a week can get health insurance for themselves along with anyone who depends on them.

PayScale.com says a full time Starbucks barista can also make around $1,392 in tips a year. Tips are split up by the hours a week you work. Van Gorden makes around $15 dollars a week in tips.

For now Van Gorden is content brewing coffee for her regular customers and new faces, but she looks forward to the day when she can take her customer relationships to the next level with her future patients.