Starbucks, Again

There’s a certain coffee shop mythos that not everyone gets. It’s a combination of a small, dusty space, warn-out sofas, roasted-coffee smell and barristas that have a slightly superior, sometimes even mildly pissy attitude. This mythos is something that the folks at starbucks have ceased to comprehend as they became the obese corporate behemoth that they are today. Case in point –

So one day I go in to the same Starbucks where I order the SAME THING at the SAME TIME every day, 365 days a year, and the girl, who knows what I want, asks me what I want.

Me: Large coffee please.
Girl: You mean Venti.
Me: Whatever.
Girl: I’m not making it until you you say it right.
Me.: Are you kidding?
Girl: No, seriously, it’s called a venti. We don’t even have large.
Me. Well, you obviously know what I want.
Girl: Still, I can’t give it to you unless you order it right.
Me: You can’t, or you won’t?
Girl: I can’t. It’s a new policy.
(Read the rest…thanks brian for the link)

Real barrista’s are snotty and cranky, and will definitely cop superior tones while discussing the differences between a REAL macchiato and a stabucks macchiato but for the most part they’re not corporate-brainwashed morons as related in the story above. The sheer insanity and ego, of trying to sinlge-handledly alter the American system of small, medium and large (particularly on New Yorkers who haven’t had their daily dose of caffeine) is mind-blowing.

Maybe we should just start driving on the left side of the road and using the metric system while we’re at it.