How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else by Michael Gates Gill Paperback Book

Details

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

Author: Michael Gates Gill

Format: Quality Paperback, Unabridged-CD

Publisher: Gotham Books

Published: Sep 2008

Genre: Biography & Autobiography - Business

Retail Price: $20.00

Pages: 272

Synopsis

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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Reviews

BookLender review by Debra on 2010-10-18 10:06:27

I listened to this on CD and I'm in a sugar coma from it - so sickening sweet. Maybe reading the book I would have had a different experience. Maybe its the writing style he uses. He made me want to gag. His emphasis on Starbucks is like it is some new age religion that saved him. Its rare when I'm glad a book on CD is over. Thank God I live far away from New York and rarely enter a Starbucks for their overpriced drinks.