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As I was reading the January 15, 2008 issue of Bottom Line Personal, I read an article about a man who wrote a book titled, “How Starbucks Saved My Life.”  The book is about this man who was a former $160,000 advertising executive, and by age 63 was divorced, unemployed, nearly broke, and diagnosed with a brain tumor.  In desperate need of health insurance and a regular paycheck, he took a job serving coffee at Starbucks for $10.50 an hour.  He ended up loving the job.

Now he is healthy, sold his life story to Hollywood (Tom Hanks will probably play him in the film) and still plans to work at Starbucks because he enjoys the job. Now this type of public relations for a company is priceless any time, but it couldn’t come at a better time for Starbuck’s, which is facing major competition from many places, including McDonald’s. 

It’s also a great example of one of my favorite types of public relations – showing that you have a great work environment.  Great work environments attract great employees, who offer better customer service, which makes for better sales.