Yesterday early morning (around 4am) I lost my best friend, my sweet fur baby Lilly. She was 15 years old and had lymphoma. I found out that she had it about 2 weeks prior and did everything I could to make her last days as best as they can be. I knew it’s gonna happen, but amount of time or knowledge can prepare you for it.

I got her when she was 11 years old. When I met her, it was love at first sight. Both of us knew that we belong together. She was my dog, and I was her owner. Since that day we never spent a single day apart. She wasn’t in the best shape when I met her. She was overweight and her joints were hurting. She wasn’t getting much exercise and was just stuck at a house with nobody to play with her. When we met, it was my goal to make her healthy and give her as many amazing years as I can. I was able to put her back to her healthy weight, we started to exercise and got her joints working properly. She got so much energy and was like a pup again.

We traveled the country together. We hiked the mountains of WA, OR, and CA. We swam in oceans and rivers and lakes. We went off-roading in Death Valley, camping in Valley of Fire, played in the snow, did Photoshoot (I did portraits and wedding Photoshoots while I was traveling to make extra money). She met dolphins, buffalos, goats, cows, wild donkeys, and so many more animals. She got to meet so many people. She did more in the last 4 years than a lot of people get to do in their lifetime. She was full of love, not a mean bone in her body. She was the best dog ever. I miss her so much!

Anyways, I told my SM and ASM about what’s going on and told them that I might need to call out at some point soon to take care of my baby when the time comes. I’m a shift so finding coverage for my shifts can be hard since we just lost a shift (transfer). They assured me that it’s ok and they will take care of my shifts for me when the time comes.

I had yesterday off so I didn’t have to worry about contacting my store and calling out. Once I got home from the vet, I was able to get a few hours of sleep. Once I woke up, I contacted my SM and ASM and let them know what happened. I was scheduled to open today (Saturday) and both SM and ASM were also working today so I knew covering my shift would be tough. I told them that I can still come in and open, but would want to leave as soon as the mid gets there.

My SM and ASM are so awesome. They were able to cover the rest of my shift for today in less than an hour. My whole store is amazing. All the partners pulled together and send me amazing messages, and changing their schedules around to cover some of my shifts so I can spend this time grieving.

I know current times are hard for many partners. And I know some partners on here have horrible management. But there are still some amazing managers out there who care for their partners and will do anything for them at work.

I’m blessed to be able to work with so many amazing partners and have such amazing SM.

Even though I’m having such a hard time with everything, it’s nice to know that I don’t have to worry about work or my shifts and can just focus on myself.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that not every SM is horrible. There are some real gems out there. I wish that every single partner on here had the same SM as me, but I know it’s hard. Starbucks should really look into their SMs and DMs and maybe have a better system for holding them accountable. Or maybe have a better system of weeding out potential SMs that won’t be a good fit for Starbucks.

Starbucks might not be perfect and for sure has a lot of things they can improve on (in regards to current climate), but Starbucks also has some good things going for them such as amazing partners, benefits, flexibility, etc. For me personally, positives outweigh the negatives, especially now.

RIP Lilly. I hope you are having fun up there :) please visit me when you can and I hope to see you again someday. Love you!