Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Nerd News: Silly Starbucks Jargon Vs. Picky English Professor
It's hard to pick a "winner" in this smackdown of Who Is More Annoying. I have to say, though, if you go into a Starbucks, you know that you'll have to use Starbucks jargon for ordering ... so I have little sympathy for people who go into a Starbucks, refuse to speak Starbucks-ese, and then verbally abuse the barista. If you don't want to speak the Starbucks lingo, then don't go to a Starbucks, for goodness sake. Ugh, PEOPLE!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
Seriously?! The barista asked a legitimate question, and it is probably a mandatory question as far as corporate is concerned. There was no reason for her to be so nasty. The barista could have handled it better, but everyone has a verbal abuse threshold, and the woman was holding up the line.
There is no greater sin than holding up the line. The people behind you want their coffee, dang it!!!
How absolute the knave is!
At least she made me think about Shakespeare.
"I just wanted a multigrain bagel," Rosenthal told The Post. "I refused to say 'without butter or cheese.' When you go to Burger King, you don't have to list the six things you don't want.
"Linguistically, it's stupid, and I'm a stickler for correct English."
That has exactly nothing to do w/ correct or incorrect English. If she doesn't understand that, her education has been wasted. Actually, this seems like a case of the "I've got a Ph.D., dangit -- I'm ALWAYS right!!!" syndrome.
Rosenthal, who said she holds a Ph.D. from Columbia
Ah, that explains it.
I've never had a problem ordering from Starbucks, and I almost always just use small / medium / large because I'm practicing being befuddled. No, really because I'm too lazy to either look at the menu or memorize their size terms. The barista in the article was just being a pain, but it would appear to be justifiable orneriness in this case.
Oh, and I agree w/ MM. Holding up the line? I'LL call the cops if the barista doesn't!
I basically won't go into a place where I can't order a "medium coffee"--but would never be rude to staff at a place that doesn't understand that in terms of their menu's caps and lattes.
When in foam, do as the foamans, eh?
Dude, this all happened in NEW YORK. Everybody knows you don't dawdle or waste time or hold up lines in NEW YORK. I wouldn't have been surprised if the other people in line had decided to administer their own swift rough justice to someone holding up the line just to be ornery.
"When in Foam, do as the Foamans do"? AWESOME. We're not worthy!
I basically won't go into a place where I can't order a "medium coffee"
Has anyone here ever been denied a drink because they didn't speak Starbuckian? This sounds way too much like anti-"Satan Coffee" urban myth to me.
I've been to more than a dozen Starbucks in several states and never once had a problem ordering a "medium coffee." I've never even had a friendly correction, like "Oh, you mean a [Starbuckian adjective] coffee? Sure thing!"
Maybe I'm immune. It's probably the cold, steely, "Or I'll shoot your dog" look in my eye.
Ahem.
Post a Comment