In this short, first‑person narrative attributed to former Starbucks International President Howard Behar, the speaker recounts how Starbucks’ culture of caring manifested in two powerful examples. First, the company promised employees lifelong pay for work they could no longer do and continued health‑insurance coverage until death, illustrating an extraordinary commitment to staff welfare. Second, a barista and store team delivered a daily free coffee and blueberry muffin to Jim Tu, a nursing‑home resident across the street, adding handwritten, personalized notes on each bag—ranging from jokes about the Pittsburgh Steelers to affectionate messages. When Jim passed away, his daughter asked the store to attend his funeral; the staff arrived with the three tables of bags and cups bearing those notes, showing how the small daily gestures became a treasured memorial. The story concludes with the lesson that seemingly minor acts of kindness can profoundly affect people’s lives.
And it's the lesson there is it's the little things you do in life. The thing for other people that you don't think that count that really do. Now, if somebody needs something, they don't have, can't pay for their coffee, give it to them.
Which is incredibly uncommon. Cause I know the first many years you guys weren't sure whether you're going to be in business, right?
No, he, we, he, we wanted to know what he needed. And we said, you know, you can work as long as you feel like you can work. And when you can't work, we'll still pay. And not only that, but we'll cover all your health insurance. Until the day you die. And we did that. And the other one was a man named Jim Tu who lived in a nursing home across the street from one of our stores. And every day he used to come into our store and he'd get a short coffee and a blueberry muffin. One of the baristas ran across the street to the nursing home and said, "Hey, I've got Jim's short drip and his blueberry muffin. Where is he?" And the person at the counter just said, "I'm sorry to tell you, but Jim passed away in his sleep last night." And so when they used to give him the cups of coffee or the bag with the muffin in it, they'd always write something on that bag. He was a big-time Pittsburgh Steelers fan, and so, you know, they'd write, "Hey, Jim, the Steelers suck," or jokes or loving things. And that was over 2 years of time that they did that. And so the day he died, and the next day his daughter came into the store and asked the store manager if people in the store could come to Jim's funeral because of how much he loved them. He loved Jim too. So they show up at the funeral home, and here in the very front of the funeral home, as they walk through the door, are big 3 round tables. On those 3 tables were all the bags and the cups that somebody had written something to Jim on. You know, who would have ever thought something so little as a little message like that would have affected someone's life so greatly that he kept them all? And it's a lesson there, is it's the little things you do in life. The thing Yeah, for other people that you don't think that count, that really do.
