I’ve been finding myself getting more and more frustrated with businesses in my everyday life. It’s been getting to me far more often than it should — it really shouldn’t ruin my day when a store’s not living up to what I consider either minimal standards or reasonable potential, depending on my expectations.
It might seem ridiculous, but I think that this gets its own category, so there can be a series. The category is “Businesses that Suck”, and I’m sure that having it there as an option will prompt me to write a bit more often.
I’ll get this party started with a company known for the “experience” it provides more than the coffee it brews. Starbucks has been raising my ire quite a bit lately. Here’s why:
I often order a quad venti skim latte. I don’t say nonfat. OK, I know that slows them down a little, they need to translate the milk part from skim to N when writing on the cup — S is for soy.
Now, repeatedly during the summer, I ordered a ”quad venti skim latte” and was presented with an iced quad venti skim latte. Hey, I ordered a quad. I’m not your average “oh, what should I get?” thinkers, I’m an orderer. If I didn’t say iced, I didn’t mean it.
Another recurring event: they’ve called out “quad venti skim latte” to the barista but only rung up a venti latte, plus a shot. Comes to $4.88 here in Manhattan. I know that they’ve undercharged by a shot. Apparently a venti Americano comes with 3 shots, or so I’ve been told — when I explained how I’d been undercharged. I’m not sure where my responsibility lay. Must I explain to them repeatedly how to do their jobs? If they charge me $4.88 and not $5.47, am I obligated to train their employees?
And… since I’m still going back, often multiple times a day for a $5 cup of coffee… I’ll break this one out. Their store layouts and their designated traffic flows for ordering and then obtaining your bevvies and then getting to the fixin’s stand and finally leaving require customers to squeeze past each other uncomfortably several times.
I pay for a premium product and a premium experience. It doesn’t cost money to do things right. Make it easy for me not to be uncomfortable when buying your product…
The “experience” has to start with the lack of discomfort. C’mon. Make me not feel dirty, businesses.
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Just saw this article and the Starbucks part gets my craw up!
What can you expect from a coffee cafe that has the worst coffee in the world. They have all these additives and fancy names, etc to cover up the over-roasted to the point of being burnt taste of their coffee. Why anyone in their right mind would pay more than 1.50-2.00 for a large coffee needs to change their coffee cafes. Boiled coffee over an open fire tastes better than that Starbucks crap.
I don’t agree on the taste… I think that it’s more consistent than many other coffee places, and I know what I’ll have when I walk out the door. As well, I like the 20oz to go thing… Venti’s the right size for me.
I used to get The Great One sized 24oz coffee from Dunkin Donuts, but that was back when I lived in Jersey, where Dunkin Donuts is eveywhere.
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