The other day I visited a Starbucks in Palo Alto. I paid for my order with my official Starbucks Paul McCartney card. The young Starbucks employee behind the register asked, "Who is this guy? He's somebody famous right? Did he write something or other?"
After composing myself (I had to resist the urge to scream at the kid) I carefully said, "Paul McCartney is from The Beatles. You've heard of them right?"
Starbucks kid: Oh yeah. I think so.
Me: (Again, trying not to scream) He's one of the most prolific singer/songwriters ever.
Starbucks kid: Shrugs. Oh okay.
Me: At this point I decided to just walk away. I thought about launching into a diatribe about the fact that Starbucks was the first place to promote and sell Paul McCartney's latest CD (Memory Almost Full) and ask Starbucks Kid if he'd ever looked around the store -- because there just happened to be McCartney CDs for sale in the rotating CD rack...
There were a million other things I could've said. But I decided that my time would be better spent by giving Natalya a refresher course on The Beatles and their influence on music etc.
(Later) Me talking to Natalya: Hey Natalya -- you know Paul McCartney and The Beatles right?
Natalya: Yes Mom. The Beatles did Yellow Submarine and that's a drawing of Paul McCartney hanging upstairs in the hallway... the one you did when you were in ninth grade.
Me: I love you Natalya. You make me so proud!
