I missed the whole thing!
While everyone was laughing at Starbucks and picking on Chairman/CEO, Howard Schultz last week for his well-meaning, but wildly unpopular, attempt to create public discussion by asking baristas to write “Race Together” on paper coffee cups, I missed it.
By the time I visited Starbucks a few days ago, the “Race Together” campaign had already been suspended and the barista didn’t write anything on my cup. All she did was flip a lever, fill my cup and hand a Grande Bold to me. She didn’t even write my name on the cup, but that’s okay. They always misspell it anyway.
I was disappointed, not because I wanted to laugh at Starbucks or make jokes, which have been well-documented in the late-night talk show realm and the Twittersphere. No, I felt disappointed because I yet again missed an opportunity to feel connected to the world of popular culture.
All my life, I have always been a day late and a dollar short.
By the time I understood the irony of Pet Rocks, they were gone – a flash in the Proverbial Fad Pan.
I never really knew who JR was, and still don’t care who shot him.
I wore the same old, comfy jeans for so long that my sisters practically had an intervention to convince me that high-waisted jeans had been banned from fashion for decades.
I am only now enjoying TV shows on Netflix that had been all the rage 15 years ago.
I admire people who have their finger on the pulse of what’s cool, hip and current, although I think I should ask my kids if anyone still uses words like “cool” and “hip” to describe what’s current. Unfortunately, I can’t envision myself using the word “dope” to describe anything for a few more decades.
Why can’t I ever catch popular culture at the exact moment that it’s popular?
I don’t know, but this time I came really close. I missed the Starbucks’ “Race Together” campaign by one day. That’s pretty good by my standards.
The next time Howard Schultz uses his coffee-fueled power to impact society, I hope I am there, standing in line at Starbucks, ready to contemplate the pros/cons/rights or wrongs about some moral and pressing issue while I order something uncharacteristically exotic, sweet, salted and caramel. If that ever happens, I will experience a moment of pride and satisfaction when the barista scribbles my name on the cup.
For the record, it’s ANN no E.
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Ann K. Howley is the award-winning author of Confessions of a Do-Gooder Gone Bad.
Please visit her website at http://annkhowley.com/#about-ann
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