I'm a teacher who works at Starbucks for no salary just to cover my medical expenses
- Special-education teacher Candice Davis got another job for insurance when facing medical issues.
- She had considered joining the Air Force, but returned to school instead to become a teacher.
- At Starbucks, her medical plan costs more than she makes, but she said it's worth it.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Candice Davis, a 39-year-old teacher from Statesboro, Georgia, about her side hustle at Starbucks. It's been edited for length and clarity.
I grew up in a single-parent household with my mother in Thomaston, Georgia, but my father still supported my brother and I. My grandmother and aunts were also vital in my upbringing.
We always had food on the table, but seeing how other kids grew up and seeing the things they had motivated me.
I wanted to save the world from injustice
After I graduated high school, I went straight to college at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro and majored in sociology. I wanted to be a social worker and solve all the injustices of the world.
After I graduated with my degree in sociology, I interned for a few months at Henry County's Division of Family & Children Services. It was depressing, and later I considered joining the Air Force. Instead, I decided to get my master's in special education from Georgia Southern University.
I began to teach before I finished school
Other than my internship and tutoring a younger cousin, I had no experience in education or with children. But I worked as a teacher before I started my master's program because schools were desperate for teachers at the time.
I was nervous on my first day as a teacher — I'd always had trouble with public speaking, and I was sweating. But I was assigned a mentor who told me that I couldn't treat my students like friends. She said that it was my job to help them, and that it was important to set the right tone on day one.
That advice stuck with me. By the end of the day, I thought that maybe I could do it.
I had a house and bills were piling up
I got married and bought a house with my husband, but the marriage ended a few years later. After the divorce, I kept the house — and the expenses.
Eventually, I became a full-time special-ed teacher, then a special-ed coordinator at my school. I am still in that role today. Of course, it came with a bit of a pay raise, but not much of one.
Despite the pay increase, I was no longer in a two-income household, and my credit-card bills were climbing. That's when I started a second job tutoring after school.
I've suffered from uterine fibroids for years. The only relief for me are myomectomies, which are surgical removals of the fibroids.
I had the first surgery while I was still married. About a year later, the fibroids grew back, and I was still paying the deductible from the first surgery. A few years later, I knew I had to do something. But I couldn't keep having surgeries and breaking the bank trying to pay hospital bills.
I found out Starbucks has healthcare far superior to my school's insurance plan. It offers coverage to partners who work an average of at least 20 hours per week.
I applied at the Starbucks outside of Savannah, which is about a 45-minute drive from my house, but it was the closest one that would hire me. My friends and family thought I was absolutely nuts. They couldn't believe I was driving so far away from home, three to four school nights each week, to work.
I felt like I didn't have a choice. My medical bills had to be paid and my health issues weren't over. I commuted for almost a year, then was finally able to transfer to the Starbucks three minutes from my house.
My paychecks are $0.00
My Starbucks income doesn't cover the full monthly cost of their premium insurance plan — but it's worth it.
I selected the most expensive premium carrier because it does not require my doctor's office to submit pre-authorizations before procedures. Other carriers require documentation to prove I need certain meds and procedures.
But the top plan also means my paychecks are $0.00 because all of it goes toward paying the premium. Starbucks won't make employees pay the remainder of a monthly premium even if their paycheck doesn't cover it. It just goes into arrears. And if I ever leave Starbucks, the company won't try to collect the arrears unless they rehire me. In that case, I would just start paying the arrears again during my employment. Of course, I don't see myself leaving any time soon.
This is not how I pictured my life
It's a very generous company, and I'm super grateful to it. Sometimes it's depressing because it feels like it's never-ending and feels like I'm alone. Though I have a nice home, I have no significant other or children to share it with because I don't have time for people in my life outside of work. I don't even have time to visit my mother and grandmother, and that breaks my heart.
This isn't how I imagined my life at this age. It's so fast-paced, and it's been hard, but I have to move forward and press on until my condition is under control.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o8HSoqWeq6Oeu7S1w56pZ5ufonyosc6rnqKZXamyoq%2FHnqlmr5%2BnuLR50q2Yq5qlmLi0ec2oZKmZqZi1pq%2FKZqSenJmYrq15wqitnqqRnLJufo9raWZpYg%3D%3D