Caramel Macchiato, Chai Tea Latte, and… Astronomy?

Writing down names of previous students for their coffee.

When you walk into Starbucks in Oxford, you may usually experience a few things: the immediate smell of coffee, the college students crowding the tables doing their homework, or the long line you must wait in to get your drink. However, one thing has changed: a new barista, retired science teacher Dale Plank.

Plank was a seventh and eighth grade science teacher for 38 years.  In many cases, students and their parents both had him as a teacher. Recently, Plank retired from his teaching job and took up something incredibly new: serving coffee.

An average day in the life of Plank now consists of waking up at 3:50 a.m., letting his dog out, and getting ready for work. He arrives at Starbucks at 5 in the morning at leaves at 10, makes lunch and leaves to get ready for cross country practice, which lasts until 5 in the afternoon. After practice, Plank will go home and watch television and relax.

Though his lifestyle has changed, Plank does believe it’s for the better. “I no longer have to grade papers all night, which is probably the biggest difference,” Plank said.  “Once Cross Country is over, I will finally be able to get to that ‘honey-do’ list that my wife made for me.”

Plank said retiring from Talawanda Middle school was rough, but it was the best time to do it. “I still really enjoy the students, but I got frustrated with all of the mandated testing and curriculum things that were dictated from the state,” he said.  “I also found that, if you can retire before the year 2015, you should, because of the changing retirement system.”

Working at Starbucks has been quite a change of pace, and it was nothing like he had expected. “I was always an early morning customer, so I never had a line out the door. It’s a lot busier than I thought it would be,” Plank said.  “I had this illusion that I could sit and talk to people, but that is not the case.”

Plank busy at work.

Plank does think it is nice to be able to occasionally socialize with the customers. “My favorite part about working at Starbucks is the interaction with customers, and the fact that I get to work with such great people,” he said.  “It’s nice that they don’t make me feel like a fossil, even though I’m probably three times their age.”

Keeping his job of Cross Country coach was an obvious choice for Plank. “Though I enjoyed coaching track as well, I felt like I had to back off a bit,” he said.  “My contact with Cross Country kids will go well beyond their high school career.”

Middle school teachers almost expected Plank to take up a job involving coffee. “The man always had a cup of coffee in this hand,” said 8th grade history teacher Scott Whiteman.  “It just seems right. Now he probably knows just as much about coffee as he does about science.”

Plank mentioned the book How Starbucks Saved my Life by Michael Gates Gill. In the book Gill states, “Starbucks wasn’t something people decided for or against in a casual way. It was obviously a key part of their lives, an important destination for them every single day.”

In addition to his years of teaching, Starbucks has become a key part of Dale Plank’s life over the years. Now, between serving coffee and coaching Cross Country, it’s almost as if he never retired.