I didn’t think I was creating such a stir. Just tryina fight some ignorance, that’s all. Not to mention that, far from being a one-trick pony, I’ve actually been trying to help people figure out how to order their drinks at Starbucks.
But if I’m bothering you guys that much, I’ll unsubscribe from the thread and mosey on out. I guess some folks can’t take a little debate. Sorry to take up your time.
well it is probably too much caffeine in me 
I didn’t mean to piss you off–just keep the snide tone out of your posts would help!
ChrisBooth12 can tell you if you are bugging him. It just seemed to me that you were shitting in his thread, he might not feel that way at all.
I agree in some ways with your stance–Starbucks is the Big Kahuna out there. But even Chris here admits they are the McDonalds of coffee shops. They may pretend and use marketing to get to their goal–but that is the name of the game in corporate America. There is a lot of ‘invention’ at play at Starbucks. Even with that though I still think they make a nice americano. Now their drip coffee sucks big time in my opinion. And as I mentioned often times that is my only choice when I travel. I am very lucky to live in the Seattle area–hell there are easily 20-30 good coffee shops within walking distance of my office. But when I travel to some cities I am lucky to even find a Starbucks. So it is Starbucks or nothing—and as you can tell I needs my caffeine!
Jesus Christ, the sizes make sense, if you ever bothered to stop and ask why.
When they started, Starbucks offered two (two!) sizes: Short and Tall. Since there were only two sizes, you just had to indicate which one you wanted. The big one or the small one. As time went on people wanted bigger sizes, so they introduced the grande. It means large because it was the large size. Because of backwards compatibility, they couldn’t rename the sizes Small-Medium-Large. The trend continues with the Venti (20 ounces of coffee at once? Are you hiding a family of four under your coat?) which was introduced as people wanted even larger sizes. The problem is that the menu looks cluttered with 4 different sizes, and most people aren’t ordering the Short anyway, so you end up with Tall-Grande-Venti (plus Short).
A similar thing happened with 7-Eleven and the Big Gulps, as indicated earlier in the thread. How big is a Big Gulp? When it was first introduced it was 32 ounces and was the biggest cup of soda you could buy. Now if you walk into a 7-Eleven there’s a 20 oz (small) and then a Big Gulp. Or a Super Gulp or a DoublePlus Extreme Gulp or something. It goes up to 64 ounces or more now. But you can’t actually buy a small anymore.
I went to a grocery store Starbucks this weekend. Two questions:
I agree…and I used to work for three years at one of those locally owned coffee shops. While I don’t think one is a substitute for the other (I personally can’t imagine hanging out at a Starbucks or going there for the atmosphere, and their coffee tastes burnt to me so I end up ordering americanos), Starbucks is pretty damn good as far as large international chains go. They seem to treat their employees well, the customer service is solid, and they’ve never kicked me out for using their store as a temporary office to meet clients at (they’re a convenient place to meet since they’re everywhere. I usually order something, but there have been a few times where we all met at a Starbucks, stayed an hour discussing business, and left without ever ordering. Not once have I ever been hassled about it.)
So, for all these reasons, Starbucks is A-OK with me.
People often return drinks because they were not made correctly. Usually that means that they were ordered wrong. Its kinda hard to mess up a latte, its probably an expired shot or her thinking it was something else.And yes we always give them a new one.
Our hot choclates have pump of vanialla and mocha, then milk then whip creme. Its possible you got the ass end of the stemed milk because thats usually extra creamy as well as they didnt want to steam more milk for the small ammount they needed so they gave you extra whip to try and hide it. Extra whip is a great way to hide a cup thats not filled as much as it should be. We do sell vanilla syrup but not our mocha.
oh yeah, never order just one brownie bite or petite vanilla scone, thats just stupid
Whose children do I have to take hostage to get them to start serving chantico again?
(It hasn’t been a whole month, so I don’t think I’m resurrecting a dead thread…)
I’ve just returned from the holiday family visit and due to your (plural in general, ChrisBooth12 in particular) help, I managed not to embarass my dad or my sister by smoothly announcing “triple grande no-whip mocha” at the Starbuck’s counter. And – believe me! – I’m grateful.
Only one thing… what I ordered is close to the drink I’d like. But in my perfect world, I’d prefer a drink that was more coffee and less cocoa. How do I modify order to accomplish that?
God Bless You, Mikemike2.
Grande my ass. I’m ordering a Small, Medium or Large Coffee, black. And while you’re at it, you don’t need to leave any room at the top to add other crap in either. :mad:
I disagree. I like Starbucks. I frequently go to Starbucks. I know their sizes, I just don’t care to use their gimmicky words. They’re stupid. Small Medium and Large isn’t a size, it’s a frame of reference. In other words, I don’t care if 10 years ago the small was a different size. I’m in your store today, and I want a SMALL, MEDIUM or LARGE cup of coffee based upon your CURRENT cup sizes. If you have four cup sizes then you can narrow it down to two cups, and use one of those. Sheesh. You’re right it’s not rocket science, but just because a person doesn’t use the non-English word to order their coffee certainly doesn’t mean they don’t know how or don’t know the menu. :rolleyes:
Are you asked to ‘suggestive sell’?
On a recent trip to Starbucks, I was practically harassed after I ordered “One large coffee; black”.
“Do you want me to leave some room in the top to add anything?”
“No thank you”
"Would you like a shot of espresso added in?
“No thank you. Just one large coffee, black.”
“Have you ever had a shot of espresso in your coffee?”
"I actually like espresso, and if I wanted espresso, I’d just order an espresso, and drink it apart from the large cup of black coffee that I’d like to get right now.
“Hmmm too bad, You really should try it some time”
etc., etc.
This bears repeating as I think it’s why people associate the Starbucks size scheme with ass hole baristas.
When I was in high school (about 8-9 years ago) I was not much of a Starbucks drinker. Over the course of a year I went into Starbucks about three times and every time I was snarkily corrected when I dared say “medium” instead of “grande”. This gradually tapered off and today when I ask for a medium I get a smile and a “coming right up!” Usually from a pretty female barista (whoever mentioned that one must be working at all times was right on).
So while Starbucks doesn’t do the size snobbery anymore, the sheer attitude of the former crop of baristas over the sizes makes a strong memory that a lot of people can’t forget.
And this works just fine. I always order coffee in Starbucks by small/medium/large. You can do eet! If you’re ordering something other than a regular coffee, though, the taste will vary depending on the size. By introducing their “silly” sizing convention, on those occasions when I would prefer a latte to a coffee I can order a “single short latte” and I will get exactly what I want. My friend can order a “single tall latte” and get exactly what she wants. Meanwhile neither of us has to worry that the steadily increasing sizes will make our drink order obsolete. The point is that a tall latte is not just half again as big as a short one, it tastes different, too.
In the meantime, order a small coffee. You will get exactly what you want and, assuming that you are not actually a bit part in a mid-90’s sitcom, nobody will give you any kind of shit.
thought it might be a good time to bump this thread seeing as i never answered some of the questions
Why were you closed for three hours, and does it have anything to do with why my wife’s drink was only 3/4 full the next day?
Heh. I was just looking for this thread to find out if the “closed for three hours to teach everyone how to make a decent espresso” was a publicity stunt or what. Surely it doesn’t take 3 hours to learn the basics of espresso making. And surely stores could have mandated a meeting at noon to 3 or after close, rather than during what I assume is a big on-the-way-home or stay-late-for-the-meeting coffee rush time.
To make a long story short. Howard got back in the Starbucks game and he just wanted to flex his muscles to show he was still in control. They told us about 30 seconds on information spread over 3 hours. And yeah it was a waste of time. Most of our machines and just push buttones, and not true espresso machines anyway. And of all the millions and millions of dollars we lost why didnt he just close half a district at a time? That way he would give people a different starbucks to go to. And then we had to deal with all the retards trying to get in a locked door. Reading the sign the explained it to them, then walking to the other door and trying it… Then realsing the sign they read that said starbucks was closed meant that starbucks was actually closed
Have you figured out how to make a halfway decent ristretto with your pushbutton machine?
I finally did, but it took a lot of practice…
Haha does timeing the shots every hour count! No, i wish we did have ristretto machines but we dont.