And how come you’re not pissy with any of the other Starbucks dissers? It’s because I’m new isn’t it? You’re MEAN!!! WAAHHMMMBULANCE!!
I saw the interview. You left out the part where he said, “There’s a little bit of marketing in there.” Surprise!!! A 40-year-old, $29 billion, multinational company uses marketing to sell its product! And, incredibly, it seems to have completely backfired on them! People have been whining about it for years at the same time the lines on the sales graphs were going up and up.
What he didn’t take the time to tell you, though (and I touched upon), is that years ago, talls were not smalls, they were larges. But then America decided talls were not big enough and the grande and venti were added to the menu. The names, as I previously explained, were a marketing strategy designed to recall the Italian coffeehouse Starbucks originally modeled itself after.
Wait, you’re telling me to lighten up?
ETA: And no, it’s because I’m slow…and thorough (I hadn’t seen the interview. Thanks, Chessy!)
OK, you didn’t recognize that, sarcasm]my whining[/sarcasm] as sarcasm?? Yes, I was telling you to lighten up, or rather requesting. My amusement at Starbucks isn’t personal, I don’t even know you. As you pointed out, Starbucks owners are laughing all the way to the bank while I’m crying about the price of a caramel macchiato! Surely they can take a little ribbing! You started the snark when you replied to my post, where I jest-ed, about refusing to use “grande” and “venti” when ordering at SB. I just volleyed. I thought the whole thing was pretty much a PWOT, bullshit thread to begin with, not serious dismay with “Bob’s crispy, pan sauteed, blackened and bruised Black Sea trout” or a “Venti upside down choco moco frappachiato, no foam, two raw sugars”.
Now, let’s be friends and tell me what my “RO” is or I won’t sleep tonight!
It’s funny because they only seem to be pretentious in the context of coffee. I don’t find ordering a litre of beer at my local British-style pub, so why should I be all self-righteous over a grande americano? It’s kind of stupid, really. What irritates me is the attitude that it’s okay to be a little xenophobic if it’s related to Starbucks.
Yes, they are quite a progressive company that is also quite a successful business, and they have a fun and interesting culture that is, in my experience, as inspiring as Schultz made it out to be in the video. They really, truly are excited and passionate about what they do. Sadly, and also in my experience, they are not immune from mistakes and poor management at the local levels. Despite some negative experiences, I always admired the companies values and believed in it. This is why I defend Starbucks and there’s quite a lot to defend. The usual pettiness does get old, however.
Addressed this in my last post. I wouldn’t say it’s pretension. You watched the video and I can understand that Schultz’s message is hard to grasp if you’ve never worked for Starbucks (and some of my former co-workers never really got it or cared) or really dug into the company profile, but I’ll bet if you read the book I linked to, you’d understand this better.
You might be surprised that the trendy 20-something with their laptops are only a small fraction of the clientele of Starbucks. Remember, they are a multinational billion dollar company. They have lots of customers! My favorite customers were an older couple that came in once or twice a week and actually sat down at a table for an hour or two to read the paper or a book, tell me about a movie they just saw, or talk about their (grown) kids and pets. They were very supportive of my efforts to move up in the company and enjoyed asking me about all the things I was learning about coffee and the company. There was not a single ounce of pretention in this friendly couple.
Well, in retrospect, perhaps I have. I apologize if I came off too strong. Hopefully, I dispelled some silly notions in the process, though.
On preview, I see you’ve also called a truce. I’m so with you. And RO is recreational outrage, it’s getting worked up over something just for the rush of getting worked up. 
Oh man, now I realize I should apologize to **Colophon **for the hijack.
I’m gonna be real big here and admit that the rare times I go to McDonald’s these days, I still “supersize” my meals, even though they don’t call it that anymore.
You may now all throw to-mah-tos at me. 
They don’t call it supersize anymore? I’m so hopelessly behind the times! Probably that movie, huh?
“Recreational outrage”… I like that! I was hardly outraged but I do enjoy obstinance, my own, on occasion! Probably has to do with being 51 and having 5 and 8 year old boys!
Oh, and Starbucks has totally been stereotyped, was just going with it. In that they are hardly the downtrodden nor do they suffer too terribly from oppression, I feel OK about going with those stereotypes. While I could not care less about SB coffee (if I’m going for decadent, I’m going to Marble Slab Creamery!), my husband loves their coffee so we do stop in on occasion and I see everybody from the 20 somethings to middle aged ladies in stretch pants. I have noticed that location is a big factor in what the clientele looks like and there are a few around Houston where you can’t find a seat for the laptop laden “kids” studying and being seen! LOL
Why would a British-style pub serve beer in litres? If there’s one measurement that’s inextricably linked to the British pub, it’s the good old British pint!
Litres are for foreigners and, grudgingly, petrol.
Yeah, WTF is that about? I’m guessing they sell it by the litre in German places, but British beer has always been sold by the pint.
If a place has an elaborate name for a dish, I will generally not use it but will try to be clear as to which item I want - sometimes just pointing.
I will not use my own made up short hand.
I don’t get upset at the person behind the counter because of decisions that some corporate marketing person made.
My worst experience was at a MacDonalds where I ordered “extra large coffee”. The response was that they didn’t have an extra large. I switched my order to super-sized coffee and they were happy.
Of course, you’re right. I misremembered and was conflating it with an article I’d read about how one litre of beer per day was good for your health or some such. Drink 2 pints for your heart, then, right? I’ll have to check out the pub this weekend and make sure they’re using imperial pints and not US pints.
I usually say the whole name, just because I’m paranoid that if I don’t, they’ll give me something else.
My wife was making fun of me the other day for ordering a “Four Berry Sundae”.
Her: It’s the only sundae on the menu!
Me: They better not even think about cheating me out of one of my berries!
The only place I can think of where I won’t say the names is at Moe’s. (Burrito chain) The names for things are more like categories. The “Billy Barou” is nachos with choice of meat, so I always just said “chicken nachos, black beans.” Weirder is the burritos, since you decide what you want as it goes down the line being made. So the menu has 3 different silly names depending on your choices of plain/with guac/with guac and sour cream. But the first dude you say that to…he doesn’t do condiments, just meat, beans and rice.
Ran into the opposite of this today. I order exactly with the name on the menu and the cashier said “which one.”
Sure enough, there were two different Roast Chicken Sandwiches on the menu.
I ordered a small coffee at the Burger King drive through last week:
“You mean a meduim?” asked the cashier
Me: “No, a small coffee please.”
Cashier: “We don’t sell small drinks anymore.”
Me: “Can I just get the smallest size you have, then?” (Wouldn’t that make it by definition a small order?)
Cashier: “Sure, it’s just that we can’t call it a small anymore. It’s now a medium.”
Huh, next they’ll be telling me we’ve always been at war with Eurasia.
Here’s proof that I didn’t dream the whole thing: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1136403&srvc=rss
Is it just me or is there something wrong when 16 ounces of soft drink is synonymous with small? I always thought there was something seriously messed up with Big Gulps.
I usually go to restaurants to entertain clients, so they are pretty high end. Typically they only have one menu item in each of starter/main/dessert that features one key ingredient ie there will be only one beef based main.
So my order might well be just “the proscuitto, the beef, the fruit tart, thanks”.
Sometimes you have to add more for clarity, but not usually and I would never say one more word from the menu description than I absolutely have to.
Being that I’ve been in undergrad for five years with at least two years left to go, I doubt I’ll be eating at any of those fancy places any time soon. But the “themed” restaurants with the ridiculous corporate names–that shit irritates the hell out of me, partially because I’ve worked corporate foodservice jobs and I know how stupid the staff must think those names are. I always come up with a more rational name for the dish (“the chicken sandwich” or whatever), and I don’t think I’ve ever been misunderstood.
Oh, bullshit. I’ve worked at a subsidiary of Starbucks with the same cup sizes and mostly the same drinks. Nobody is going to think you mean “short” when you say “small”. Small-medium-large is the universal nomenclature and it happens to correspond exactly with tall-grande-venti.
Not in my neck of the woods. Something tells me they’re not big on the “Speedy Gonzalez” meal in Baja, either. 
Believe it or not, you’re not the only person here who’s seen a stand-up comedy act or a sitcom since the mid-1990s. I’m glad you get your jollies finding innocent 20-somethings trying to pay for college with a busy, stressful job and making their day worse, though. I’m sure that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy because you’re standing up for Real American Coffee.
Hostile Dialect,
Hostile Dialect, Narcissist
Maybe it’s just me that notices this, but whenever I’m with friends at a high-end restaurant, food is ordered using the definite article.
Denny’s: “I’ll have pancakes, sausage, blah blah blah”
Upscale smooth jazz-playing bistro: “I’ll have the pancakes, the sausage, blah blah blah …”
When you are in Dennys you are ordering some pancakes so you order pancakes. The dishes in a high end restaurant are more complicated. It will not be simply some beef. It will be a dish that is based around beef. When you say “I’ll have the beef” that’s a contraction of “I’ll have the beef dish”.