How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else

· Sold by Penguin
4.2
17 reviews
Ebook
272
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

Now in paperback, the national bestselling riches-to-rags true story of an advertising executive who had it all, then lost it all—and was finally redeemed by his new job, and his twenty-eight-year-old boss, at Starbucks.

In his fifties, Michael Gates Gill had it all: a mansion in the suburbs, a wife and loving children, a six-figure salary, and an Ivy League education. But in a few short years, he lost his job, got divorced, and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. With no money or health insurance, he was forced to get a job at Starbucks. Having gone from power lunches to scrubbing toilets, from being served to serving, Michael was a true fish out of water.

But fate brings an unexpected teacher into his life who opens his eyes to what living well really looks like. The two seem to have nothing in common: She is a young African American, the daughter of a drug addict; he is used to being the boss but reports to her now. For the first time in his life he experiences being a member of a minority trying hard to survive in a challenging new job. He learns the value of hard work and humility, as well as what it truly means to respect another person.

Behind the scenes at one of America’s most intriguing businesses, an inspiring friendship is born, a family begins to heal, and, thanks to his unlikely mentor, Michael Gill at last experiences a sense of self-worth and happiness he has never known before.

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Ratings and reviews

4.2
17 reviews
A Google user
How Starbucks Saved My Life, an autobiography, was written by Michael Gates Gill. Gill graduated from Yale with a degree in Art History. He quickly and effortlessly obtained a job working for the famous J. Walter Thompson – an international marketing firm. Michael gradually worked his way up in the company and advertising industry. One day, when he was fifty-three, Mike went to dinner with someone higher up in the company – Linda. On his way to dinner, Mike, a six-foot tall, blue eyed, balding man, instinctively knew the inevitable. Linda, a young aspiring female, arranged this dinner to fire Mike. “You had to kill to get in the mafia. Linda would make her bones this day.” Mike was lost: his job was no more, his steady income was nonexistent, and his life no longer lived within, or so he thought. After leaving the company, Mike, a fifty-three-year-old, started his own advertising business – soon to prove a failure. Mike sat in a New York coffee shop one day for his daily latte. Sitting alone and old in Starbucks, a manager by the name of Crystal approached him and offered him a job: the job that would soon save his life. “Crystal had given me a chance – maybe my last chance – to stop my downward spiral.” Mike had no income; he had divorced his wife and was diagnosed with Acoustic Neuroma, a tumor on his brain causing ringing sensations and hearing loss. With this series of unfortunate events, Mike figures out what truly matters in life. “You only live one life; take it from me, live it wisely. Weigh your priorities.” How Starbucks Saved My Life will give you an insight on one of the leading coffee companies, giving you a taste of the work ethic and love people have for their jobs. All this adds the foam to the latte of tumultuous events in Michael Gates Gill’s life. A book with copious flashbacks, which were a nuisance because they seemed to outnumber the book’s events; aside from this nuisance, you will find this autobiography hard to close. B+
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A Google user
December 10, 2018
When the charmed life of a middle-aged man comes to an abrupt end, he finds solace and strength to build a new life and embrace new values through the support of his much younger Starbucks colleagues.
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A Google user
November 15, 2011
this book is a really good book. it tells about a good strong life lesson and it can help us in life. Michael learns how to live like a regular person. this book is a really good book and i would really recommend this book to many people!
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About the author

The son of New Yorker writer Brendan Gill, Michael Gates Gill was a creative director at J. Walter Thompson Advertising, where he was employed for over twenty-five years. He lives in New York within walking distance of the Starbucks store where he works, and has no plans to retire from what he calls the best job he’s ever had.

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