The Perspective of a Barista

To the barista at Starbucks,

Who misspells my name,

Thank you.

Thank you for making me realize

That I,

(Larry),

Have a unique perspective.

To me,

Of course,

The spelling of my name,

(Lauren),

Is obvious.

When I learned my ABCs

I learned to spell my name,

(Leer),

Along with everyone else who,

Of course,

Learned to spell their own names.

But at that time,

It seemed to me that everyone

would also learn to spell

my

name.

I learned it.

Doesn’t everyone learn the same things?

Doesn’t everyone think the same things?

I remember the first time

Someone at a public place—

The Starbucks on The Old Road—

Spelled my name,

(Blair),

Wrong.

I was a small child,

So I was naturally offended

At the ignorance of this man,

Not to be able to spell my name,

(Taryn).

My name.

THIS WAS A THING OF COMMON KNOWLEDGE

I exclaimed,

quietly, to myself.

What a buffoon.

Well, after many experiences

At my local Starbucks,

And in other places, too,

It began to dawn on me that,

Though the spelling of my name,

(Laire),

Is obvious to me,

(Tameron),

Perhaps to other people,

It was new.

Different.

As I reached the point

Where I developed some degree of empathy

For other people’s perspectives,

I began to see this pattern emerge.

I,

(Lair),

Had not the universal vantage point

I had once thought.

Others had their own experiences.

When they learned their ABCs,

Perhaps they learned to spell

David. Emma. Nicky.

Perhaps they did not learn their ABCs at all,

Instead, their Aleph Bet.

To the Starbucks barista who first misspelled my name,

To all those since, and all those yet to come,

Thank you for showing me that

Perhaps, I,

(Lard),

Am not the only set of eyes

That spells.

Laird