Starbucks - most of us, I am sure, have heard of it. I had never been to one until yesterday. I did, however, have a preconceived idea of what to expect, which is probably why I had never bothered to go to one.
My idea of what they were like was that they are selling quality and a toffee-nosed, speak with a plum in your mouth image, rather than good-tasting coffee, and on the face of it (but not when you look deeper regarding the quality) I was right. A bit like the coffee-shop in the TV series "Frasier", where Niles always orders something that has about ten words in the description, and it ends in "Latte".
So, we went in, and the first thing I noticed was that there were no seats available. There were people standing, drinking coffee, waiting for a seat. Undaunted, we went to get the coffee, and as I looked at the menu, I was horrified. I have no idea what all these items taste like. So, I started to explain that I wanted ordinary coffee, in the hope that the counter-person would assist, and before getting that advice I needed, I was told that 'we don't sell poor quality coffee' or something similar. Being a thick-skinned whiner, I immediately thought of my blog.........After all, the public should be warned about this.
So, I got the coffee, and went to add the sugar and cream, and found that the cup was too full to take the cream, and in any case, the cream was difficult to find anyway, but more about that later. So, I take off the plastic lid, add the sugar and cream in insufficient quantities, and then attempted to get the lid back on to move with the brimming cup across to where the Missus had managed to find a table, because while we were lined up waiting, some must have become freed up. Well, the coffee is overpriced, and the service insulting and belittling, and now, I can say without a doubt that the cups are too thin to hold the product. As I lifted the cup, the top popped off. So, I wiped around the area, dried my hands, and tried again. Same result. Now, as a practical person, I could instantly see what the cause was. The weight of the cup exceeded the strength of it, so, as I applied sufficient pressure to lift the cup, the sides pushed in, popping off the top. So, I finally lifted the dripping cup onto my other hand, and crossed the room supporting it underneath, then after putting it on the table, dripping coffee everywhere, the Missus went and got some paper towel and wiped it all up while I tried to dry my hands. So, let's do a recount. The service was arrogant and belittling, the cups too weak to properly hold the coffee, the tables were insufficient in quantity, The coffee cup, sans cream and sugar, was filled too full to allow anything except the smallest amount of cream and sugar, and there was one other thing that was so laughable and stupid, that it must be awarded the word 'moronic' in it's description, so I will save that for another blog entry.
Oh, I forgot to mention - the coffee wasn't anything special, either, for over 3 bucks, nice enough, but not special, maybe it was the lack of cream and sugar, or the fact that I don't enjoy a relaxing coffee when I am wearing part of it.
Finally, something positive. The cake type foods were covered to prevent from access by flies, unlike the donuts at a popular canadian countrywide coffee chain, where in the summer, the flies appear to become part of the food.

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