{"id":30,"date":"2005-06-07T03:16:17","date_gmt":"2005-06-06T18:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2005-06-07\/30"},"modified":"2005-06-07T03:19:19","modified_gmt":"2005-06-06T18:19:19","slug":"whats-the-problem-with-starbucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2005-06-07\/30","title":{"rendered":"What’s the problem with Starbucks?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlike the popular vogue, I'm not a<\/span> “Starbucks Basher”. As it turns<\/span> out, I go to<\/span> Starbucks only rarely (once or twice per year,\nperhaps), but Fumie likes them, and in any case, I recognize<\/span> that they're\nsuccessful because they provide something people want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not being a Starbucks Basher doesn't mean that I can't<\/span> gripe about what\nseems (at least to me) to be a unique<\/span> Starbucksism. Today at a Starbucks,<\/span>\nFumie found a seat<\/span> with Anthony while I went<\/span> to place our order. The following<\/span> conversation took place between me and the Starbucks Drone\n(SD<\/b>)....<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/td>Me:<\/b><\/td>A small<\/span> mocha please, and ....<\/td><\/tr>\n
<\/td>SD:<\/b><\/td>What size?<\/td><\/tr>\n
<\/td>Me:<\/b><\/td>small... not big<\/td><\/tr>\n
<\/td>SD:<\/b><\/td>Tall?<\/td><\/tr>\n
<\/td>Me:<\/b><\/td>The smallest size you have, whatever it's called.<\/td><\/tr>\n
<\/td>SD:<\/b><\/td>Short?<\/td><\/tr>\n
<\/td>Me:<\/b><\/td>I don't<\/span> know – you\nhave various sizes – I'd like the smallest one that you sell.<\/td><\/tr>\n
<\/td>SD:<\/b><\/td>[looking\nremarkably flustered<\/i>] Well, um, we have these sizes...
[he\nrefers to a four<\/span>-cup display that has no labels, and points to the 2nd\nsmallest<\/i>]
This is a “Tall”. <\/td><\/tr>\n
<\/td>Me:<\/b><\/td>No, this one [pointing to the smallest<\/i>].<\/td><\/tr>\n
<\/td>SD:<\/b><\/td>Um, that's a “Short”.<\/td><\/tr>\n
<\/td>Me:<\/b><\/td>Well, okay, that's\nthe smallest one, so that's what I want.<\/span> I don't<\/span> want to have to learn\nLatin to order a cup<\/span> of coffee.<\/td><\/tr>\n
<\/td>SD:<\/b><\/td>Anything else?<\/td><\/tr>\n
<\/td>Me:<\/b><\/td>Yes, a large<\/span> Vanilla Bean thingie<\/td><\/tr>\n
<\/td>SD:<\/b><\/td>Large?<\/td><\/tr>\n
<\/td>Me:<\/b><\/td>[pointing<\/i>] This one – this is the largest you sell<\/td><\/tr>\n
<\/td>SD:<\/b><\/td>[mumbling<\/i>] That's a [insert name I can't<\/span> remember<\/i>]<\/td><\/tr>\n
<\/td>Me:<\/b><\/td>Okay, one of those.<\/td><\/tr>\n

\n\nI also ordered what I would call a “scone”, for which they had\na very<\/span> long name. In this case<\/span>, I liked<\/span> the long name, since I felt<\/span> I was<\/span>\ngetting more for my $1.95.<\/p>\n\n

The total was $7.90. I happened<\/span> to have only a $50 bill on me, which I\noffered<\/span> to the guy. I fully<\/span> realize that bills greater than $20 are not\ncommon and likely to be rejected on general principles, so had he said\n“sorry, we don't accept bills larger than a $20”, I'd have been<\/span>\nfine with it, but rather, he said...\n\n<\/p>
<\/td><\/tr>\n

<\/td>SD:<\/b><\/td>Um, I don't<\/span> have change for a $50.<\/td><\/tr>\n
<\/td>Me:<\/b><\/td>(thinking)<\/b>\nIt's almost lunchtime at a busy<\/span> Starbucks and you don't have two twenties and\ntwo ones?<\/i>
\n(what I said<\/span>)<\/b> I'll see if my wife does....
<\/td><\/tr>\n<\/table>\n\n

She did, but still, sigh.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n

I should mention that on the way out, while fumbling with Anthony and\nour stuff, I dropped<\/span> Fumie's half-filled mocha, which made a solid<\/span>\nsplat<\/i> all over the place. I asked<\/span> a (different) Starbucks Drone for\nsome towels to clean it up, and not only did she cheerfully say that she'd\nclean it up, but while doing so offered a free<\/span> replacement (which we\ndeclined – it's not their fault that I'm a fumblefingers<\/span>). That was\nnice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unlike the popular vogue, I'm not a \"Starbucks Basher\". As it turns out, I go to Starbucks only rarely (once or twice per year, perhaps), but Fumie likes them, and in any case, I recognize that they're successful because they provide something people want.<\/p>

Not being a Starbucks Basher doesn't mean that I can't gripe about what seems (at least to me) to be a unique Starbucksism. Today at a Starbucks, Fumie found a seat with Anthony while I went to place our order. The following conversation took place between me and the Starbucks Drone (SD<\/b>)....<\/p> Me:<\/b>A small mocha please, [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}