I immediately found myself laughing at just the introduction of this wonderful piece. As a major Starbucks fan and order-er of exquisite drinks with a list of never ending ingredients, I could relate to the story greatly and feel the pain of the barista. What I love about the story is that it is in a novice baristas point of view, which gives the reader a whole new experience about Starbucks and the chaos that could ensue. The story also shows a typical day at Starbucks but with a twist. Erin Hoffman made the basic day at Starbucks seems like a battle in a war, which instantly intrigued me.

The metaphors are extremely descriptive in the story and really make the reader believe they are in an intense battle at Starbucks. At the end of the story when Buddy, the so called "Gandhi' turned on the new barista, was really the highlight of the story for how it was written. The reader felt the new baristas pain at being "betrayed" in the battle of the Starbucks drinks. "Turns out Buddy isn't my messiah; he's the enemy's spy. The War of Starbucks continues, and I need no assistance helping our side lose," Hoffman writes, showing how Buddy ordered a complex drink instead of saving the troubled barista. This fiction piece really captured what it is like to work at Starbucks and handle all of the wild drinks people can come up with. All of its metaphorical details,humor, and insight really brings this piece together into one great story about a barista lost in the confusing world of Starbucks.