Starbucks

As I was sitting in Starbucks (the first one I went to today), I was thinking about writing this blog and realized that I often blog about Starbucks. Which is weird, because I didn't think I went there all that much...

So two Starbucks stories from the day:

Before church, I went to the Starbucks on Colfax and Milwaukee for some coffee and civic engagement reading. I might have had the most awkward, but helpful, interaction with the employee ever. I ordered my drink, the never complicated order of a tall, soy, hazelnut, no foam, 140 degree latte... and he took my order and started it and then there were these girls interacting with another employee and so I was waiting weirdly and then the guy who was started my drink was like "I'll go ahead and ring you up" (since the other guy and the girls were needing more change or something). So my barista (ugh, I can't believe I'm using that word, I don't like it) was like "do you come to Starbucks often?" and I was like "well not this one, I usually go down by DU." To which he replies, "I mean in general?" and I say "depends on the week." "let me rephrase, do you order that drink whenever you come?" and I'm like "yeah." So then he says "has anyone ever told you about how if you register your gift card, the card will automatically remove the price of the flavor and soy, so you'll save about $1 every time you order that drink." So the awkward part was that he could tell that I thought he was being like "have I seen you before in Starbucks?" Which I think I had just been hoping for cause he was pretty cute and oddly I was thinking "nice facial hair..." (in the not sarcastic way) when I saw him. It was only awkward in my head, but it was also really helpful in the end.

After church and a trip to Walmart, I drove to three Starbucks to find one that was open, had parking and crowded- Colorado and Tennessee/Kentucky. I ordered my drink, again the never complicated order of a tall, soy, hazelnut, no foam, 140 degree latte... Once I got my drink I found a table (which almost didn't happen) and took a sip... the latte was sans hazelnut. Of course, I hadn't gotten a receipt since I personally feel like when you're ordering a latte or a massage or something else that it's unlikely you can return it, it's a waste of paper to get a receipt plus you're getting a drink that kinds of shows you purchased it. So I go back to the counter and say "excuse me.... excuse me.... excuse me..." I'm finally acknowledged and I say "I ordered hazelnut and this doesn't have any," to which the girl says, "I don't know what that is." Which really irritated me since I don't think she needed to know what it was, she just needed to know it was sans hazelnut and give me hazelnut. So I tell her what it is and say, "... he didn't write it, I paid for it." She responds by calling out the five drinks she just finished making... so I stand there staring at her, cause I'm not going to go sit down before getting my drink fixed. She finally says to her co-worker, "this lady needs help..." So then I get to explain to someone else what is wrong with my drink... and this lady says "oh he didn't write it... (puts hazelnut syrup in my drink)." I wanted to ring the neck of the first girl. I was a paying customer, I deserve a level of service better than what I received.

Now I'm going to need to find another 24-hour Starbucks... sans the unhelpful employee.