# Jaded blue-collar coffee anti-elitism rears its ugly head **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 1, 2007, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404 "2007-02-01T12:46:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404/141 "2007-02-02T01:55:35Z")
Sometimes I wonder at how you guys all manage to encounter such extraordinarily difficult and attitudey people…is it really that big a deal that they say “Greb” or “Snagglepuss” or “Ventilating Hut” after you say small, large or medium? From the way I’ve seen it work at Starfrock’s West (I work around eleventy Starfrock’s, S.W. is my fave because it’s near my gym), after you place your order for a Lipidinouscinno, they screech out the order to the barista, who I imagine has committed the drinks to memory with the Starfuck’s name during their training (don’t they get some sort of extended training?). So I say “small, please” (as I do every day at 2:15 p.m.) and they bellow “Lilliput” or whathefuckever to translate it for the person making it and that’s it. It’s not like they shove the cup in my face being like “TALL TALL TALL YOU FUCKING YUPPIE WHORE! SAY IT! SAY IT STUMBLECUNT OR BEGONE FROM THIS ESTABLISHMENT!” My take on it is that they’re instructed to convey their “branding” to you as much as possible. Their half-wit size names may even be copywrited or trademarked or whatever (I never took an IP class). So if you order using a normal word, they’re told to parrot back the Starfuck’s nomenclature. I actually do not like Starfuck’s that much and only frequent the place because Coffee Bean and Tea smells like wee outside, but I’ll stand by my assertion that they give a reasonable level of service. I get free coupons like candy when Dewey Cheatham and Howe brings all kabillion of their summer interns down for a -cinno and everyone has to wait till Newbie McEsquire hems and haws his/her way through the menu. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with them calling their coffeemakerpeople “baristas” or whatever. I’d rather people take some pride in their job. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404/142 "2007-02-02T02:09:32Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] The lame-ass comeback, in my view, was entirely proportional. [/QUOTE] On this we agree. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404/143 "2007-02-02T02:14:08Z")
I think tomorrow I just MIGHT go for a white hot chocolate from DD after work. Mmmm…those things are addicting. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404/144 "2007-02-02T02:31:00Z")
WTF is “American coffee,” anyway? Does Joe Lunchbox think they harvest the beans from the slopes of the Rockies? On the other hand, I’ve encountered more than my share of smug, self-important “baristas,” so this is one cross-cultural cage match I’d be happy to see end in a double fatality. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404/145 "2007-02-02T02:55:13Z")
American coffee is made of people! ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404/146 "2007-02-02T03:23:48Z")
“Barista” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404/147 "2007-02-02T03:49:28Z")
[QUOTE=Sublight] Well aren’t you just special. [/QUOTE] Now, let’s see.. who is it that drinks fancy coffee… who is it that uses a cappucino as a girlfriend… could it be… _ **SATAN?!?!?!?!?** _ ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404/148 "2007-02-02T03:54:09Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] Now, let’s see.. who is it that drinks fancy coffee… who is it that uses a cappucino as a girlfriend… could it be… _ **SATAN?!?!?!?!?** _ [/QUOTE] 😃 Fantastic! ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404/149 "2007-02-02T04:21:54Z")
[QUOTE=miss elizabeth] Sorry to buck the trend, or whatever, but if this guy doesn’t like the goofy way they do things at Starbucks, maybe he should just get his coffee at the 7-11 like the OP said. Yeah, the sizes have weird names, and there’s all kinds of phony Italian stuff, but if you hate it, go somewhere else. Don’t act like a jerk to the guy behind the counter. [/QUOTE] My impression is that in many places n the USA, if you want a cup of hot coffee to go, Starbucks is the only option you have. > [@](#): > > Oh, and **Lightray** , a barista is someone who serves coffee at a coffee bar. It’s a lot harder than just pouring it out of a pot, you know. There’s more to slinging burgers than just taking buns out of a bakery sack, too. But we don’t call the kids at McDonald’s “burgueros.” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404/150 "2007-02-02T04:25:12Z")
I fix radios. Can I be a “radiola”? Oops, male gender… “radiolo” ? ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404/151 "2007-02-02T04:42:50Z")
I’m strange. I like to eat hamburgers with no toppings; just plain, with the patty and the bun. Tears ago, I could go into a diner, order a plain hamburger, and about ten minutes later be presented with a plain hamburger. In recent years, the request for a plain hamburger is usually met with this response … "You don’t want nothing on it? “No.” “No pickles or onions?” “No.” “No cheese?” “No.” “No lettuce or tomatoes?” “No.” “No ketchup or mustard?” “No.” You get the idea. It’s not just one restaurant; it’s EVERYWHERE. To avoid such an excruciating ordeal, I now have to order a plain hamburger like this: “I’d like a hamburger, plain, nothing on it, no condiments, no toppings, no cheese, just patty and bun and nothing else.” I’m willing to bet our blue-collar coffee aficionado probably went to more than his fair share of baristas from some coffee shop go the same quizzing, turning an order for “medium coffee, black” to something like this: “Medium house coffee, black please.” “Just a grande dark roast?” “Uhhh … a medium coffee.” “Regular or defaf?” “Regular, please.” “Want room for cream or sugar?” “No. I said I’m having it black.” “What kind of boost do you want?” "What’s a boost? "Well, we have an immunity boost, a focus boost, an energy boost, a … " “I don’t want a boost. I just want a medium coffee.” “You mean a grande?” “Yes!” “Would you like to donate a dollar for the Metro Area Kid’s Fund? You can signs your name to a shamrock, and we’ll post it up on the wall?” Then again, the all-American snarking was uncalled for. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404/152 "2007-02-02T08:25:19Z")
[QUOTE=guppy] Mustard Nazi! 😛 [/QUOTE] That’s right, and it’d better not be French’s either (almost as bad as ketchup/catsup), it’d better be imported stoneground brown! And don’t get me started on “acceptable” hotdogs. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404/153 "2007-02-02T08:38:52Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] Tears ago [/QUOTE] That’s just about right. Now I say “meat and bread. Just meat and bread.” ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404/154 "2007-02-02T08:40:33Z")
Wow! Sorry for the long post, but I just logged on to check the thread and there were four more pages of posts than there were last time I saw it. > [@Ludovic](#): > > Is this the type of place that has cutesy names for everything? Does it matter? Everyone uses Starbucks’ names anyway. > [@Ludovic](#): > > Perhaps he was heading that off at the pass, but he just really wanted some quick coffee? The look on his face seemed to belie that–he seemed like a man who’d said the same exact speech a million times to show off how jaded he is. > [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Anyway, had the guy just said “one regular coffee, black” he’d’ve gotten his point across without wasting his and the OP’s time. Never understood people who make speeches about inefficiency. All he had to say was “coffee”. We don’t pre-sweeten anything, not even our iced tea. I don’t even ask customers if they want room for cream–I leave it up to them. > [@Uvula Donor](#): > > Big fucking deal. He asked for black coffee and used too many words. Just pour it, take his money, and save your own carefully rehearsed bullshit for an audition, okay, javajerk? Who said I rehearsed it? > [@tdn](#): > > The rat bastard! Asking for coffee in a coffee house! > > fetus, a suggestion if I may – If you can’t handle the pressures of working in retail, then you might want to start more Pit threads. Er…OK. I’m not sure where you got “can’t handle the pressures”. I was just mouthing off about an annoying thing that happened to me at work. I must be the first guy to do that in the Pit, though, right? > [@Sean Factotum](#): > > I have never had a barista correct me when I ask for “a coffee, black, small/medium/large.” Do you correct those people too, or was it just this guy? I never correct anyone. And he didn’t ask for “a coffee, black, small/medium/large”, he unloaded a bowl of verbal diarrhea on me. > [@Turek](#): > > Puh-lease! He’s a barista! Give him the proper respect due such a elite position. Well, I’m sorry I’m not worth your time. Why are you in my thread, anyway? I’m obviously wasting your time because I don’t have a degree yet. > [@Count Blucher](#): > > Ok. The guy was making a scene out of making what he thought was a point. It was his little stand against frothy cafe-lattes. Whatever. Surely, if this isn’t the first person who has ever set foot in the OP’s coffee shop and had an a opinion contra to Starbucks policy. I’m surprised if this doesn’t happen so often that the OP would have to struggle not to say. “Gee, I haven’t heard that one before.” It hasn’t yet. I’m just sick of the “I’m a blue-collar guy and I’m better than you because you’re a stuck up hipster” attitude. I can barely afford to change my oil every 7,000 miles (you read that right), but I don’t go mouthing off about it every time I end up in a nice neighborhood. I’m not a wine aficionado, but I don’t look down my nose at people who choose to spend their time on that or unload time-wasting drivel on everyone I see drinking wine. > [@tdn](#): > > Ah, but the guy was anti-elitist. Meaning that the OP is pro-elitist. Actually, I was thinking of “anti” as in “antihero”. Like how an antihero is still a hero, but in an opposite way. This guy is actually an elitist in blue-collar clothing. That’s what I meant by “anti-elitist”. > [@Book Monster](#): > > Pretty lame rant Who said it wasn’t supposed to be? > [@Book Monster](#): > > If this is the worst you encounter at a retail position, count yourself lucky. It’s not. I’m just unloading steam in the form of a lame rant about something that happened to me at work. I thought about putting “(lame rant)” at the end of the OP’s title, but I decided not to because I thought Dopers would figure out that was my intention. > [@Lightray](#): > > I have utterly no clue what a “barista” is supposed to be. I actually don’t like the word much, but it was the most succint way to say what I was trying to say. And despite your porn joke, I’m sure you’ve figured it out by now. > [@Lightray](#): > > Also, the OP pitting somebody for making a rehearsed holier-than-thou speech by posting a rehearsed holier-than-thou speech is more irony than I can take in one shot. And I’ve listened to that Alanis song the whole way through, even. It was almost all improvised at the moment I logged on to the Boards. Anyway, that song doesn’t have any actual irony in it. > [@miss elizabeth](#): > > Sorry to buck the trend, or whatever, but if this guy doesn’t like the goofy way they do things at Starbucks, maybe he should just get his coffee at the 7-11 like the OP said. Thank you! (Although I don’t work at Starbucks, and I refuse to memorize the names of their drink sizes, no matter how many customers try to order things in “venti”.) > [@miss elizabeth](#): > > Yeah, the sizes have weird names, and there’s all kinds of phony Italian stuff, but if you hate it, go somewhere else. Don’t act like a jerk to the guy behind the counter. > > Oh, and Lightray, a barista is someone who serves coffee at a coffee bar. It’s a lot harder than just pouring it out of a pot, you know. Do you people call a chef a “food maker”? No fancy soundin’ names for us! We’re Americans by God! You wanna have some Frenchy soundin’ title go to gay Paree, ya stuck up liberals! _Thank_ you! I may not make as much as a lot of the people posting in this thread–it’s just a job to get me through college–but if you don’t have experience, you can’t just jump behind the counter and make yourself a cappucino. Try a cappucino that comes out of a dispenser at 7-Eleven and then try a cappucino that a guy who’s been serving them for five years made by hand, side by side, and then tell me I don’t work in a skilled profession. > [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Maybe he just thought he could make a joke and make the person making his coffee laugh He wasn’t kidding. If he were, he would’ve at least pretended to laugh at my comeback. And he wouldn’tve adopted such a high-on-his-horse air when he said it, either. > [@VCO3](#): > > This makes no sense; are you perfhaps referring to the Americano, a drink made with espresso and hot water? Cappuccino is foamed milk. Also, cappucino takes skill to make decently, while an Americano takes a pulse and a hand that works well enough to push a button and hold a lever. > [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say “I’d like a medium coffee” and expect the server (excuse me, barista) to know what size I’m referring to. Where I work the sizes are “small”, “medium”, and “large”. As another poster stated, the dude would’ve been drinking his coffee by the time he finished his rant if he had just said “One medium coffee, please”. Or even “One medium coffee, hipster douchebag”. > [@dropzone](#): > > If I were his manager and overheard him mouth off to a customer like that Someone said it’s not his fault I didn’t have a sense of humor. Well, it’s not my fault he didn’t have a sense of humor. There are coffee houses here that kick out customers for talking on their cellphones while ordering. Unfortunately, I don’t work at one of them. But that doesn’t mean I can’t joke with the customer and bitch about it on an Internet message board later. > [@saoirse](#): > > I’ve switch to asking the server “Workin’ hard, or hardly workin’.” Although I appreciate your support for my position, I would probably Pit you for saying that to me while I’m at work. > [@VCO3](#): > > Rather than showing his irritation through snapping back at the customer, calling for the next in line, or simply decaffing the guy, And oh, was I _tempted_. But I didn’t do any of those things, because (lucky for him) I had a basic level of respect for the guy on the other side of the counter from me. > [@amarinth](#): > > Can you buy coffee grown in America? > Would you want to drink it? Yes and yes. Coffee grows in Hawaii. Nowhere else in the US, though. Coffee–decent or not–must be imported unless it’s grown in Hawaii, because it only grows within a certain distance from the equator. > [@Caridwen](#): > > Or you turn into psycho-coffee seller like the poster above. That’s some scary stuff. Am I the psycho without a sense of humor? I recall making a joke to the guy, who didn’t get it and seemed a little put off by it. > [@tdn](#): > > I wasn’t refering to the OP specifically when I said that. Coulda fooled me. Though I agree that **VCO3** got a little too much into the conspiracy theory. > [@anu-la1979](#): > > On the other hand, to the OP, I’d say let go of the need to one-up these type of people. It’s actually just better to blankly respond “so 1 plain coffee, black?” You don’t gain anything by engaging them. You are not going to change their mind or their opinion. The only thing you might end up with is a customer service complaint to the person you answer to. Fair enough. I was trying to lighten the mood, partly, but of course I wanted to one-up him too, in the heat of a moment where I felt dehumanized. I think the guy I answer to would take my side, but you have a valid point. > [@Lightray](#): > > He claims the customer is spewing this “without provocation”. Except, the customer stepped up to place his order. His provocation is he’s ordering. No, ordering provokes statements like “one medium black coffee, please” or just “one coffee, please”, which would’ve gotten him the same thing in less time with one fewer comeback joke. > [@Lightray](#): > > Also note that the customer was quite unambiguous in what he wanted to order. There’s no difficulty understanding what he wants. He doesn’t take sugar. He doesn’t take cream. These are the kinds of things that someone taking a coffee order should expect to hear from the customer. Where do you buy coffee that the server pours sugar and cream in it for you? Everyone takes a different amount, so I would expect a server to leave it up to me (I don’t take cream or sugar, BTW). We don’t even hand the customer the cream or sugar–it’s at a condiment bar, like at most/all coffee houses. > [@Lightray](#): > > The customer didn’t make the OP’s day more irritating and difficult He did make my day more irritating and difficult, and his too. The time he spent ranting and raving, he could’ve spent drinking his coffee and I could’ve spent cleaning the place up to get ready for closing (which I desparately needed to do at the time). > [@Lightray](#): > > Really, the OP would have been saved had he managed to make a clever comeback to Mr. Clueless Customer. Funny forgives many sins, even in the Pit. I thought I was being funny at the time. I tell a lot of jokes I think up on the spot–a lot of them score big and a lot of them bomb out. This was one of the latter, as it turns out. > [@tdn](#): > > But the reality of it is that people who don’t frequent Starbucks much can find the menu to be a bit bewildering You don’t have to look at the menu to say “medium coffee”. It’s listed as “coffee” on the menu where I work, BTW. I can’t speak for Starbucks. You mentioned being “part of the club”–there is no club where I work, and all of the drinks have names that are self-explanatory. I guess if you don’t know what a “latte” is you’ll have to ask, but the guy just wanted to order coffee anyway. I didn’t stare at his eyes or anything, but I don’t think he even looked at the menu. If his beef is with Starbucks, he should go unload his pile of whatever at Starbucks. > [@anu-la1979](#): > > Gods, customer service, I do NOT envy people in that field. Actually, I love my job, and the minor annoyances like the one I mentioned in the OP don’t really bother me that much. > [@dropzone](#): > > On the spot, publicly, and with extra humiliation as a warning to the others. There were no others. Just me, him and his buddy, who probably gives him worse shit on a daily basis when they go to the bar to knock back a few rounds. It was right before closing time. > [@NinetyWt](#): > > I’ve read and re-read the comment from the customer in the OP. It wasn’t a comment, it was a speech that lasted long enough that I could’ve served another customer or two by the time he was done. Thankfully there wasn’t a line. > [@Lemur866](#): > > And the trouble comes because in a modern coffee shop, the standard drink is a caffe latte, not drip coffee. Of course they serve drip coffee, but people who want drip coffee know to ask for drip coffee rather than “coffee”. I don’t know where you buy your coffee, but I’ve never gotten a latte when I asked for coffee. Nobody does where I work, either. > [@Lemur866](#): > > when people who aren’t used to going to coffee shops go to great pains to let you know that they mean drip coffee, not that frou-frou, sissified, frenchy-style coffee. He didn’t go to great pains to clarify his choice, he unloaded a tirade he’d obviously been bottling up all day, if not all month. > [@storyteller0910](#): > > In other words, good for you, OP. I’d hire you in a heartbeat. This post made my day! See how easy it is to be decent to a coffee clerk, guys? 😉 > [@Spoons](#): > > Of course, maybe Fetus is not having a good day or is trying to achieve six goals at once and so doesn’t need this guy’s attitude The latter. > [@jali](#): > > Nothing wrong with an honest job, but sheesh - the way the title is thrown around - like an the barista is an artiste… sheesh. There are county-wide competitions between baristas that leave the winner with immense bragging rights and a lot of business from local coffee geeks. Where I work, we compete against each other to make the best foam all the time. I could bore you with the details, but the point is, just because I don’t make as much as the average, say, IT worker doesn’t mean I don’t use a skill at my job. (Granted, I myself don’t like the word “barista” because of the pretentious air it carries, but I’m learning to live with it and it does sneak into my speech sometimes, given my current profession.) > [@dropzone](#): > > The customer didn’t make a scene Actually, he _did_ make a scene, and wasted a lot of his and my time, as well as making me feel dehumanized and insulted, and even (it seemed) mildly irritating his friend. > [@dropzone](#): > > Try pushing straight espresso in the largest cup you got. He’ll put you in his will as the guy who FINALLY knew how to make a cuppa joe. I hope he’s rich and terminally ill, then, because I would be fired. Our coffee is plenty strong, anyway. I have an incredibly high caffeine tolerance, I take it black and it’s good enough for me. > [@Lightray](#): > > How is that not simply asking for a “coffee”? He stretched it out into a long speech full of patronizing and inane assumptions. My summary was truncated and paraphrased. > [@Guinastasia](#): > > Now this thread is making me crave one of those fancy ass coffee drinks I’m not supposed to have (caffeine, can’t have it-although I cheat all the time). You can order any of those drinks decaf, you know, and it’ll taste the same. (Well, they’ll use a different blend, of course, but it’ll still be espresso and it’ll still taste like espresso.) > [@Lemur866](#): > > The OP should have served the guy “cowboy coffee”. An americano is espresso mixed with water, “cowboy coffee” is espresso over drip. I’ve only ever heard of the latter drink called a Hammerhead. I drink it when I’m studying. If I made a habit of serving that to people who I thought wanted it, after they only paid for coffee, I would be fired fast. > [@Scarlett67](#): > > So why do we still go to Starbucks? Lazy, I guess. We prefer indie coffeeshops when we can find them, but when you’re on the road the mermaid just stands out. Plus, the nearest Starbucks is 40 miles away, so it’s not like we’re there every day. I’ve found Yelp to be invaluable for finding indie coffeehouses. > [@Eonwe](#): > > The guy could be reveling in his smarmyness, or he could just be reacting definsively. Lemur866 is right on about that. You guys weren’t there to see the smug look on his face. Trust me, he was reveling in his smarmyness. > [@acsenray](#): > > The lame-ass comeback, in my view, was entirely proportional. If anything, my comeback was less than proportional. I didn’t insult his intelligence or talk to him like he was a stereotype instead of a person. > [@anu-la1979](#): > > Sometimes I wonder at how you guys all manage to encounter such extraordinarily difficult and attitudey people… Brilliant posts. The quasi-Italian was hilarious. > [@RickJay](#): > > My impression is that in many places n the USA, if you want a cup of hot coffee to go, Starbucks is the only option you have. There are easily 2-3 times as many 7-Elevens as there are Starbucks here, all of which sell hot coffee to go, at a lower price. > [@RickJay](#): > > There’s more to slinging burgers than just taking buns out of a bakery sack, too. False analogy. You could probably grill your own burger and assemble your own Big Mac if you wanted to, but I bet you can’t make a cappucino as good as mine. (Am I the only one who finds it amusing that everyone assumes I work at Starbucks, and that probably a page’s worth of posts are rendered irrelevant by the fact that I don’t?) ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404/155 "2007-02-02T08:43:35Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] My impression is that in many places n the USA, if you want a cup of hot coffee to go, Starbucks is the only option you have. [/QUOTE] Wait, a place without a Kangaroo, 7-11 or McDonalds is going to have a Starbucks? ---
**Author:** ![Li\_l\_Pluck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ee59a6/32.png) [@Li\_l\_Pluck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Li_l_Pluck)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404/156 "2007-02-02T08:52:09Z")
[QUOTE=Uvula Donor] But Folger’s has the best advertising slogan ever: “Mount ‘n’ groan!” [/QUOTE] Okay, this made my day! (Though it \*\*is \*\* just 03:47, and who knows what the rest of the day holds? Still, cracked me up!) And what a coinky-dinky, too, your play on words, since I was just lamenting (not even an hour ago) the fact that I haven’t mounted anything and groaned in…oh, sorry, wrong thread. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404/157 "2007-02-02T08:52:37Z")
Starbucks was mentioned in post no. 8, which precipitated a lot of the following. I also noticed that you never mentioned a coffe shop name 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404/158 "2007-02-02T08:54:30Z")
[QUOTE=NinetyWt] Starbucks was mentioned in post no. 8, which precipitated a lot of the following. I also noticed that you never mentioned a coffe shop name 😉 [/QUOTE] Nor am I going to. I’m a little casual about what details I reveal online, but that’s a little too much. You’ll have to be content with knowing that I work at a coffee house in the San Diego area that isn’t a Starbucks. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404/159 "2007-02-02T09:10:16Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] You’ll have to be content with knowing that I work at a coffee house in the San Diego area that isn’t a Starbucks. [/QUOTE] Well, that narrows it down to about three places… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404/160 "2007-02-02T09:18:20Z")
Sometimes it feels like it when you’re downtown. When I was a junior in high school I met with an admissions counselor from Seattle U at a Starbucks downtown, and I swear I passed three Starbucks between the time I got off the 5 and when I walked through the door of the one I was supposed to be at. There was a really nice little coffee shop a mile or two from the last place I lived that could only afford to stay open until 8 because of all the business the Starbucks across the street took away from it. Eventually it closed down entirely. There are a number of thriving local coffee houses in the area, though. I’ve frequented Twiggs, the Pannikin, Milano and the Living Room (which isn’t actually local, but each location has a different style and it really does feel like a local place), and I make it a point to try others when I stumble upon them and have enough money to spare. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaded-blue-collar-coffee-anti-elitism-rears-its-ugly-head/390404.md?page=9)