What Scares You?

I have a pretty decent local Starbucks practically right across the street from my subdivision, close enough that if I did choose to walk there, I'd probably make it within 15 minutes.  I actually like my local Starbucks and crew, although probably like everywhere the crew does seem to change more often than I'd like.  For the most part, though, when I do go in there, I recognize at least 70% of the people working there; unfortunately, they don't seem to ever recognize me but I try not to hold that against them.

Now, I'm a self admitted coffee snob;  well, some might say "you could just stop at 'snob'".  Okay, yes, I completely admit it - I'm a very critical, particular kind of guy and I always have been.  I enjoy critiquing things, picking them apart, seeing what they're made of, and especially understanding how they work and what makes them special.  What do you think I spend so much time writing after all?  Exactly.

So, then, why the heck am I at a Starbucks?  Well, being snobby and all doesn't mean that I won't go somewhere that's not the absolute best.  Actually, I like Starbucks but it depends upon what I'm ordering.  Regular coffee?  Almost never; too much heartburn.  Lattes?  Pretty good, but they also give me, um, bad reactions.  I'm mainly a Flat White kind of guy in Starbucks land and the main reason I go there is that it's absolutely the closest coffee to my house, and I don't always have time to venture further.  All things considered, though, I have respect for Starbucks, and I actually give them credit for raising the bar on what coffee was and could be.  Thinking back to life pre Starbucks, we were buying coffee at McDonalds or maybe the gas station, and my stomach and intestines ache just thinking about it (shudder).

Back to today at Starbucks (sorry, that was a minor tangent...well, I'm picky about tangents as well)...  After ordering my drink, I patiently waited like any good patron.  It was then that I noticed a small white erase board with the following thing written on it:  "Do what scares you and you'll be... HAPPY"

Now, upon reading this, I literally chuckled out loud.  I mean, I got what they were trying to say but I was incredibly tempted to just walk up to the board, casually and nonchalantly erase the word "happy", and then replace it with "FRIGHTENED".  That seemed to make more sense to me.

Yeah, sure, there's the old adage of hitting things that scare you head on so that you can conquer them, move on from them, and so on.  You know, the old "jump in the dive end" idea.  But, "do what scares you and you'll be happy?"  Um...yeah, that's a bit of a head scratcher.  That's like telling a person deathly afraid of heights to climb the Empire State Building and that they'll definitely start laughing from joy.  Something tells me that's just not going to be the case.

Still, I've got to give the crew some credit; they are thinking, at least, and trying to spread a positive message of sorts.  Now, maybe they're thinking and/or English grammar skills are a bit lacking but...  Maybe tomorrow they should write:  "Write and say what you mean and then other people will UNDERSTAND"??  Hmm.  Possibly, but then again, that definitely seems to be a lost art.