Wednesday, February 27, 2008

starbucks closing?

we can only hope. Actually, it's just for a little while. Too bad.

The thing I hate about starbucks is everything. The coffee is swill. It is just too strong. True, there is something singularly bad about weak coffee, but the solution isn't to make it so strong that you make that funny face like when your beer is skunked. That's essentially skunked coffee. Blech!

I can't stand the stupid names they give or the fact that you have to order in quasi italian. Ah for criminy sake. i don't want the biggest one you have, and i don't want the smallest one you have. i just want a medium coffee.

I cannot stand the people. The workers at starbucks are too often disinterested and disingenuous. They seldom have a knack for dealing with large queues of customers, and it's very evident. The queues themselves are another source of angst for me while i'm at starbucks. There are so many retail gee gaws and impulse item stands in the way that just waiting for your stupid drink is an exercise in irritation.

The worst thing about starbucks is that they have really ruined a fledgling cafe culture in the US, certainly the Northeast. when starbucks moved in, independents couldn't compete with the marketing machine. Other times, the horrible customer service standards set the bar so low for independents that even if they pull a good coffee, they are such assholes behind the counter.

I know, if i hate it so much why do i go? well, i don't actually I haven't been to starbucks for probably 8 months. But posting this makes me feel better anyway.

1 comment:

MoSchu said...

I'm so there with ya! Now, I don't know if you have a lot of Caribou Coffee locations out east, but if I choose a chain for hot beverages, that would be my pref. Up until recently I wasn't a coffee drinker at all and Starbucks doesn't cater to those of us who choose White Hot chocolate or carmel apple cider or ANYthing without coffee really. Plus I enjoy Caribou's "cabiny" feeling over the edgy Starbuck thing...I too prefer the small independent, but all the shops around here have disappeared, unless you live by a college campus. I don't! Even the tea is better at Caribou!