Challenge #6: Wrong Answer, Wrong Question, and Ackthpt! II

Location: Starbucks
1100 Hamner Ave, @ Hidden Valley Parkway, Norco, CA
(951) 738-8880 10:20 PM

There is nothing terribly amusing about this challenge; the store failed, although the Register Boy did at least have the good grace to look caught, and as if he knew better.

Me: May I have a venti Fair Trade drip please.

Register Boy: I, uh, I'm sorry, but we're brewing [coffee] and [coffee] right now.

Me: Oops, wrong answer. That's not the way to say yes! (Smile)

Register Boy: [Looks caught; nearly snaps his fingers and says "Shoot, " as he has recognized the Words of Power and knows he has messed up.] Uh . . .

Me: You can french press it.

Register Boy: Would you like me to French Press one?

Me: Yes. [He begins ringing up the sale; my fun begins in earnest] You really want to offer that to me, without making me ask for it, let alone ask for it twice. [Smile.]

Register Boy: Uh, uh, I don't know if we have it . . . uh [asks self-confident looking bustling fellow barista; she meanders around glancing vaguely at the shelves, then announces they are out.]

Me: Oh no, that's it down there on the bottom row. The one with the "Fair Trade" logo.

Etc etc. My three minute coffee came to me after six, and was thick and burnt as fried mud. Not quite Moose Turd Coffee, but darn close. I couldn't bear to ask them to remake so it was drinkable.

Of course I did my little social engineering bit, and good-naturedly warned Register Boy that the Fair Trade would be shopped heavily in the next couple of months and to bone up on the details, etc. Got the usual mixture of relief, fear and thanks for the "tip."

Bustling-But-Clueless Girl: [Handing me the undrinkable coffee] Do you work for Starbucks?

Me: No. [Wrong question, lady. Maybe I work for a secret shopper company, and am not actually employed by Starbucks. Maybe I'm a lawyer, checking up on your use or misuse of the Fair Trade trade mark. Maybe I'm just a crazed blogger with nothing better to do at 10:30 PM on a Friday night. But I'm a customer. And it should be embarrassing that I know your policies better than you do.]

SPECIAL NOTE TO Cindy, or any other
Starbucks employee that wanders in here:

Great policy, the "we can press it" thing, if only it were known to your employees. And since I am really more likely to want to buy ORGANIC coffee (not just Fair Trade) which many independents don't seem to stock (weird, that) you could solidify your world coffee dominance by making the policy work. It would be great if a pressed cup was so ordinary that it was not an experience to blog home about!

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Amused by the Starbucks Challenge? Me too. Now come see my real mission in the blogosphere: Easy Green and its companion journal, Observations, and such: Notes on the Kitchen Calendar