Everybody Loves Ray
Sometimes I just want to sing out loud, regardless of where I am. I just get the urge to belt out a song. Yet, I rarely do it. I guess I don't have the confidence in my voice, or maybe I think I will be ridiculed by the general public. Who knows. It's probably a combination of those and other factors. Nevertheless, I always wish I was one of those people who could just sing whenever the whim strikes.
And then there is Ray.
Ray is a co-worker and a friend. He is a medium-height, stocky Samoan (even he will tell you he has big shoulders) with chunky black-framed glasses and a booming voice. Maybe it is easier to just say that he is a force of nature. Normally during our mornings at Starbucks, Ray can be found belting out all of his favorites from the 60's, as well as every song from his all-time favorite Disney flick, Little Mermaid. The boy's got range. And when his usual 10-shot-espresso barrage is winding down, the playlist gets more and more depressing while his energy subsides. Slow songs by Whitney Houston ("I Have Nothing! Nothing!! Nothingggg!!") and sometimes, "EndlessLove" (perhaps the most depressing love song ever made) make their appearances. You can almost set your watch by this, day in and day out.
But Motown is his self-proclaimed genre of tunes, and his voice does justice to most of them. Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin....oh, did I mention her twice? Hmm. Maybe that's because working with Ray is like having Aretha Jr. right there in concert while you work. He looooves him some Aretha. Yes, I must add here that Ray makes drinks, rings on the cash register, and occasionally cleans some things too. And he is good at his job, to be sure. But that is all second-fiddle to his main purpose: to be front and center, entertaining the masses. To this end, he succeeds in (very) dramatic fashion.
About a year ago, Ray transferred in from a neighboring store about two blocks away. We knew Ray was coming for weeks ahead of time, mostly because of the steady trickle of new faces that made their way into our already-long morning lines. Sure, they wanted coffee. But what they really needed almost as much as their morning caffeine fix was their Ray-fix. This was the typical interaction with these brand-new visitors, or FANS as we came to call them:
Me: "Good morning, what would you like today?"
Fan: "Is Ray working here now?"
Me: "Not yet. He is going to start next week."
Fan: "Ooohhh..." (with sad look on face). "I just came to see Ray. He knows what I like."
Uh-huh.
Working with Ray for just a few minutes, you start to get a feel for why he is beloved in these parts.
I've already documented the singing. But he also has his own language. It is nothing for Ray to refer to customers as "honey-bunny", or "pretty girl", or even "soy lady" for the woman who drinks a soy latte every day but he has yet to get her name. It is all done in a very ingratiating and harmless way, and more often than not results in smiles and laughter. And once Ray gets to know a customer beyond his name for them, well, thats when the real fun begins.
I will never forget the first time I heard Ray hand a drink off to a regular customer and say "Thanks, make wise choices!" I almost doubled over laughing. He always has a bit of worldly advice for people. Some more examples of his wisdom:
"Go to school, don't do drugs!" (for the schoolkids who come in every morning)
"Click it or Ticket!" (a new one, which I like because it makes little sense when outside of a car)
"Weerrrkkk!" (just imagine a drag queen at her finest)
"Boring!" (when he has had entirely enough of whatever someone is saying...usually reserved for co-workers or close friends)
"Sickening!" (which is actually a compliment, but looks especially hilarious when aimed at the over-60 crowd)
"Patience is a virtue!" (his reminder for all those customers who have had to wait an unusually long time for their drinks)
"No glove, no love!" (I think I only heard this one a few times early on. It disappeared quickly, for obvious reasons.)
Ray's regular customers know his mood swings very well. The other day, one of his followers asked him what was wrong. He started to explain that all of his co-workers were a bunch of haters, to which the customer replied, "Oh Ray. You're in one of your moods. Get over it". He laughed. Which brings up one of Ray's strongest assets: the ability to laugh at himself.
When you are a born entertainer, you have to be able to laugh at yourself on occasion. And laugh at himself he does, especially when our crew offers up some form of mimicry/homage to him as we perform our favorite Ray-isms. Sometimes this can be his dramatic hair flip (he has a short crew cut, so you can imagine how crazy this one looks. But he used to have long hair.). Other times it can be mocking his laugh, which is equally as loud as his singing. And yet other times, it is tossing ice in the air dramatically after filling a cup, the way Ray does when he is over it.
Ray's appeal is nearly universal. Though many of his fans are women, he has been known to befriend people from all walks of life: men (gay and straight), kids, police officers, the homeless. He just wants to get to know them all. It did occur to me at one point that he would never get away with half of this stuff if he was not a genuine person. Underneath the persona(s), this is a real, sensitive guy with a heart of gold. That is precisely what keeps the schtick from crossing the line into offensiveness. Ray is not out to hurt anyone. He just wants to connect with everyone, in whatever way he can. He has heart, and it shows. Heck, he even sends off many of his followers with an "I love you!". And yes, I do believe he means it (in some way or another).
But perhaps even more importantly, he just wants to be himself. This is what is inspiring about knowing someone like Ray. He is unabashedly, whole-heartedly just exactly who he is. Period. And he reserves the right to change who he wants to be at any moment. That is only fair, no? No matter which Ray shows up each day, he is supremely comfortable in his own skin. If you don't like it, well, "there are two other Starbucks across the street", as Ray likes to point out on the rare occasion that someone isn't amused by his entertainment.
But hardly anyone would want to leave. And why would they? They need their daily dose of Ray. We all do.
Not all of us have the courage to sing out loud, even when we want to more than anything else in the world.
For this, we have Ray. And we are grateful.
And then there is Ray.
Ray is a co-worker and a friend. He is a medium-height, stocky Samoan (even he will tell you he has big shoulders) with chunky black-framed glasses and a booming voice. Maybe it is easier to just say that he is a force of nature. Normally during our mornings at Starbucks, Ray can be found belting out all of his favorites from the 60's, as well as every song from his all-time favorite Disney flick, Little Mermaid. The boy's got range. And when his usual 10-shot-espresso barrage is winding down, the playlist gets more and more depressing while his energy subsides. Slow songs by Whitney Houston ("I Have Nothing! Nothing!! Nothingggg!!") and sometimes, "EndlessLove" (perhaps the most depressing love song ever made) make their appearances. You can almost set your watch by this, day in and day out.
But Motown is his self-proclaimed genre of tunes, and his voice does justice to most of them. Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin....oh, did I mention her twice? Hmm. Maybe that's because working with Ray is like having Aretha Jr. right there in concert while you work. He looooves him some Aretha. Yes, I must add here that Ray makes drinks, rings on the cash register, and occasionally cleans some things too. And he is good at his job, to be sure. But that is all second-fiddle to his main purpose: to be front and center, entertaining the masses. To this end, he succeeds in (very) dramatic fashion.
About a year ago, Ray transferred in from a neighboring store about two blocks away. We knew Ray was coming for weeks ahead of time, mostly because of the steady trickle of new faces that made their way into our already-long morning lines. Sure, they wanted coffee. But what they really needed almost as much as their morning caffeine fix was their Ray-fix. This was the typical interaction with these brand-new visitors, or FANS as we came to call them:
Me: "Good morning, what would you like today?"
Fan: "Is Ray working here now?"
Me: "Not yet. He is going to start next week."
Fan: "Ooohhh..." (with sad look on face). "I just came to see Ray. He knows what I like."
Uh-huh.
Working with Ray for just a few minutes, you start to get a feel for why he is beloved in these parts.
I've already documented the singing. But he also has his own language. It is nothing for Ray to refer to customers as "honey-bunny", or "pretty girl", or even "soy lady" for the woman who drinks a soy latte every day but he has yet to get her name. It is all done in a very ingratiating and harmless way, and more often than not results in smiles and laughter. And once Ray gets to know a customer beyond his name for them, well, thats when the real fun begins.
I will never forget the first time I heard Ray hand a drink off to a regular customer and say "Thanks, make wise choices!" I almost doubled over laughing. He always has a bit of worldly advice for people. Some more examples of his wisdom:
"Go to school, don't do drugs!" (for the schoolkids who come in every morning)
"Click it or Ticket!" (a new one, which I like because it makes little sense when outside of a car)
"Weerrrkkk!" (just imagine a drag queen at her finest)
"Boring!" (when he has had entirely enough of whatever someone is saying...usually reserved for co-workers or close friends)
"Sickening!" (which is actually a compliment, but looks especially hilarious when aimed at the over-60 crowd)
"Patience is a virtue!" (his reminder for all those customers who have had to wait an unusually long time for their drinks)
"No glove, no love!" (I think I only heard this one a few times early on. It disappeared quickly, for obvious reasons.)
Ray's regular customers know his mood swings very well. The other day, one of his followers asked him what was wrong. He started to explain that all of his co-workers were a bunch of haters, to which the customer replied, "Oh Ray. You're in one of your moods. Get over it". He laughed. Which brings up one of Ray's strongest assets: the ability to laugh at himself.
When you are a born entertainer, you have to be able to laugh at yourself on occasion. And laugh at himself he does, especially when our crew offers up some form of mimicry/homage to him as we perform our favorite Ray-isms. Sometimes this can be his dramatic hair flip (he has a short crew cut, so you can imagine how crazy this one looks. But he used to have long hair.). Other times it can be mocking his laugh, which is equally as loud as his singing. And yet other times, it is tossing ice in the air dramatically after filling a cup, the way Ray does when he is over it.
Ray's appeal is nearly universal. Though many of his fans are women, he has been known to befriend people from all walks of life: men (gay and straight), kids, police officers, the homeless. He just wants to get to know them all. It did occur to me at one point that he would never get away with half of this stuff if he was not a genuine person. Underneath the persona(s), this is a real, sensitive guy with a heart of gold. That is precisely what keeps the schtick from crossing the line into offensiveness. Ray is not out to hurt anyone. He just wants to connect with everyone, in whatever way he can. He has heart, and it shows. Heck, he even sends off many of his followers with an "I love you!". And yes, I do believe he means it (in some way or another).
But perhaps even more importantly, he just wants to be himself. This is what is inspiring about knowing someone like Ray. He is unabashedly, whole-heartedly just exactly who he is. Period. And he reserves the right to change who he wants to be at any moment. That is only fair, no? No matter which Ray shows up each day, he is supremely comfortable in his own skin. If you don't like it, well, "there are two other Starbucks across the street", as Ray likes to point out on the rare occasion that someone isn't amused by his entertainment.
But hardly anyone would want to leave. And why would they? They need their daily dose of Ray. We all do.
Not all of us have the courage to sing out loud, even when we want to more than anything else in the world.
For this, we have Ray. And we are grateful.
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