So I’m a gold card Starbucks coffee club member. When you stop and get an iced coffee four or five times a week before yoga, it’s just easy to rack up points and get the benefits of their program (like free syrups, free refills, etc.). When you hit ‘gold’ status (which, by the way, isn’t that difficult to do)… Starbucks sends you a gold card (like a credit card) personalized with your name and year you hit gold status, etc. The deal is that you load that card with $$$ (like a gift card) and pay with that and get more points and more free coffee, etc.
So – now that I’ve set up the story… Without even thinking, I whipped out my personalized gold card and handed it to the cashier at the Starbucks in the Hong Kong airport. I never knew this simple action would draw a crowd. Every single worker at the Starbucks (and there were close to 10 guys) took their turn holding the card and talking about it excitedly in some language I didn’t know before giving me an appreciative nod of reverent respect. They had never seen one before; I think maybe they thought I was like the #2 guy @ Starbucks corporate or something! 🙂 Anyway, it was fun. And my story of short-lived celebrity just doesn’t do the moment justice.
Oh, and P.S. … I was sooooooooooo happy to get a Starbucks. Had been nearly a week… It’s the little things that remind us of home.