All I ever needed to learn about life, I learned from working at Starbucks (Part 1)

The nature of a person can be read in many ways. The way a person walks can let you know a lot about how he or she feels about him or herself. Is she snobby? Is he arrogant? Does she have low self esteem? A person lets others know volumes about personality and character by eye contact, body language, tone of voice. Judging the character of someone else can be a tricky thing, but I have found that the way a person hands a customer service worker money or a credit card is as effective as yelling what you want others to feel about you.

Take for instance a person who keeps their dollar bills and change separated nicely in an organized wallet. Having an organized wallet does not necessarily dictate the niceness of a person by any means, but generally speaking they appreciate the fact that they have money at all, and appreciate what you're doing. The organized-wallet person can also take the opposite direction and be very uptight and stingy with their smiling and with their money, but not usually.

Many people who are stingy and uptight keep their money separated in their wallet, but the key to telling the difference is in how they hand (or throw) their money to the person behind the register (that's right, the PERSON behind the register. They're people, too!). If a person pulls out their money and hands it over nicely and respectfully, it's a clear key to their character! They are nice people, who care about other people and their feelings. They may not be confident or have high self esteem, but they have warm hearts. If a person pulls out their money and throws it on the counter and doesn't make eye contact, it is obvious that those of us in the service industry that we have no worth in said person's eyes. They are typically arrogant and self-centered people, and if they pull out wadded-up bills and just toss them out on to the counter, it's a whole other book!

So, when you think the person behind the counter taking your money isn't paying attention and reading your character, think twice. That person behind the counter knows so much about you just in the way you pay for your goods. While working at Starbucks, I have gained new ways to read people.