I like to order my cold drinks (especially soda) without ice, because–shocking revelation–I don’t really like ice. I didn’t realize that all of these years, I’ve been running a massive scam on the eateries of America, weaseling extra beverages out of them with my innocent request. That’s what a barista at a Borders store accused JD of doing when he ordered an iced chai with no ice. She gave JD what he describes as “half a cup of lukewarm chai” (pictured). New Borders policy, or was she a vigilante anti-ice crusader?
JD writes:
Something really bugged me about my Borders visit last night.
I went to Borders at around 9:00pm Friday night looking for a book to use my 40% off coupon on. I’ve gone to Borders a lot, spending $100s easily in the past couple years and have never really had a bad experience. My book browsing trip mostly begins with a stop at their café where I usually get a medium cold chai, no ice. I ask for no ice because watery milk and chai just doesn’t taste good. Apparently, this barista thought I was trying to cheat the system and get more chai. When she finally called me over to get my drink, I was handed what the attached picture shows: half a cup of lukewarm chai (don’t they keep that stuff in a fridge behind the counter? Apparently not).
I thought maybe she had forgotten to add milk or something, so I asked why it was so empty. She said, very simply, deadpanned even, “That’s what you get when you ask for no ice.” I asked why that is and her response was, “We usually fill it up all the way with ice.” I walked away baffled, spent a couple minutes sipping my double-Dixie cup sized drink before abandoning my shopping trip altogether. Furthermore, I went to Barnes & Noble across the street and had a much better experience (their café didn’t charge $4 for half of what I ordered).
Now my problem here isn’t with the barista. I’m sure she was just following orders to watch out for people who try to get more liquid by asking for no ice. This policy must be new, as I’ve never, ever encountered it at any café I’ve ever been to. I do NOT agree with Borders policy of only giving you half the product you order, whether or not you ask for no ice. Had I seen a sign that said, “WARNING: All cold drinks are only half-sized” I would’ve saved the $4 and bought the book I was originally going to get. As it is, I’m done going to Borders and will stick with Amazon and B&N for my future book purchases.
Thanks for reading. Happy consumering!
What do you think? Is JD trying to scam innocent retail establishments out of chai, or was the barista kind of a jerk?
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I had a similar experience, but exactly the opposite reaction from the waiter. I was at Cheesecake Factory in Cambridge, MA. and ordered a fresh raspberry lemonade with no ice. The waiter initially asked me to confirm that’s how I wanted it, then said most prefer it with the ice, but he would be more than happy to oblige. He came back with a very large cup full to the brim, I took a sip and it was fresh, and delicious, but bordering on warm/hot. In short, it tasted gross without the ice. He came back to check on us, and I sheepishly asked for some ice, and he said that he didn’t want to force it on me, but was quick to get me a second glass with just ice in it, and poured half the drink into the ice filled cup. He saw that, and said that if I liked he could keep bringing me fresh ice so that it wouldn’t be melted when I transferred from one cup to the next. Let me be clear, there were no free refills for this drink, but he kept them coming all night, and charged me for one, and went above and beyond despite it being my explicit direction to avoid the ice.
I prefer my drinks with no ice because I take forever to drink them, they get watered down and don’t taste as good. If someone handed me a regularly iced drink, without ice, I’d expect them to give me the size I paid for, full to the same line it would be with or without the ice, and that’s been my experience everywhere I go.
No, ordering drink and getting a cup-full of ice drizzled with beverage of your choice is a scam.
I usually ask for “light on ice”. Because, really, I wanna drink my drink, not slurp ice-diluted drink for 3 mouthfuls then gnaw on ice cubes.
wow… I have a problem that he/she wasn’t blaming the barista… That’s just a flat out bitchy thing to do… and not to warn them before she gave him the cup (if it was policy) was BS as well… As for being warm… ordering iced coffee/tea without ice is kinda douchey.
If you are paying for the cup to be filled with liquid whatever, then technically you’re paying by the ounce, and not how long the barista feels they need to pour. Whether the cup is filled with ice or air, it doesn’t/shouldn’t matter. This is the basic principle on why cups are different sizes. The barista just sounds like a douche nozzle…
Like most of these posts, this is a customer service issue. The fact that this person walked away without asking to speak to a manager and find out if this is in fact the policy on no ice orders is stupid and fearful. Borders is in no way obligated to give this person more drink just because they didn’t want ice, but they would likely do it to retain him as a customer. Let’s face it anyway, a $4 Chai must have enough profit margin to let this one person slide on their “slick rick” order.
I’d like to know how much a hot chai costs and how many ounces of product the customer receives per size versus the same for the iced chai with a full ‘serving’ of ice. I have a feeling there’s a big difference in the latter.
I write this reply sitting at Starbucks drinking my iced venti soy chai (with vanilla). A few points worth noting (specific to Starbucks).
Iced drinks come in bigger glasses, possibly to accomodate the additional volume from the ice that will be added. There are distinct fill lines on the iced glasses, which seem to provide guidance for chai, milk, and such. I have not performed volumetric measurements to see how much of each component is included in my 20 oz glass of joy.
If I asked for no ice, I would not expect them to fill the ice portion with more liquid any more than if I ordered my burrito with no rice and beans I would expect more carne asada and avocado in exchange.
I also ask for no ice wherever i go. I cant even ask for very little or some ice, as they seem to think that my cup of drink must make it ice cold on a 3 day trip to the other side of the world or something. Seriously with the cost of the stuff being so inexpensive i dont see why they have to be so cheap with it. Taco bell was the worst. A few years ago when I realized this, they had round bits of ice, the cup was filled 80% with ice, and i got maybe 4-6oz of drink from a large. Sure the other places dont use round ice, but they still fill it up atleast 60%. Keep your ice and give me an extra 2 cents of drink.
If you think this is the fast food peoples only magic trick, watch what they do with french frys. When the fry person scoops frys into the box they’re holding the box on the front and back keeping it from expanding, when the fry box leaves their hand, the box assumes its natural shape, the frys settle, and now you have 1/2 to 3/4s of the frys you ordered. I have called them out on this before, for some reason the manager didnt like it when i asked her if she ate half my frys on the way to bringing it over to me.
A girlfriend of mine is the manager of a Starbucks and she said that her staff serves ice-less “iced” coffee and tea drinks fairly regularly. She also said that it had never occurred to her that people were trying to get “more” drink since the iced versions cost more than the hot versions and the hot versions contain no space fillers.
Although she did note that ice-less “iced” drinks can be lukewarm because they are often made with ice being added to a hot product.
Looking at Starbucks web site, (Borders is Seattle’s Best, but I didn’t see any drink size info and Starbucks owns them anyway) the drink sizes are the same for hot and cold drinks. Tall 12 oz, Grande 16 oz and Venti 20 oz. There is also and Iced Venti size listed that is 24 oz, but I haven’t seen it in the store.
So when I order a tall hot chai, I get 12 ounces of beverage. The same should be true when I get a tall iced chai since it is also 12 ounces, at least give me 10 ounces.
I ask for little to no ice when I get a chai, one because I don’t like watered down chai and two because they do fill the cup so full with ice that you maybe have 4 ounces of drink in your cup and you are still paying at least $3.00 a cup with all that ice. (I looked for the exact prices online, but they were hard to find) I haven’t had any issues asking for light or no ice and my drink is still cold without the ice. (The barista should be using cold milk from the fridge and not lukewarm, sitting on the counter for 10 minutes milk.)
Considering how insanely high the markup/profit margin on drinks in any restaurant, its criminally stupid for them to do this crap.
Having worked many, many years in the service/retail industry, my money is on “vigilante barista”. I highly doubt this is store policy as it would only cause to upset and anger customers, who will spread the story as has happened. Methinks the barista feels a little too high & mighty & if her employer finds out, she’ll probably get a talking to.
As referenced earlier in the comment thread, I ask for ‘lite ice’ whenever I order a cold drink at Starbucks (or similar establishment). An iced chai after about 10 minutes of driving becomes a ridiculous catastrophe.
If I order an Iced Chai I’m not ordering 8oz of Chai, I’m ordering a Grande Ice Chai. It is a reasonable expectation for the entire Grande-sized cup to be filled with beverage.
If I ordered a cold chai in a ‘hot’ cup I would still expect to receive a full cup of Chai.
What we have here is, a failure to communicate.
Ice gives me migrains, so I don’t like it. Sometimes the baristas at starbucks tell me they HAVE to put in ice or the drink won’t be an “iced” whatever, so I say, “Okay, but just a little, please,” and they put in just enough to make the drink cold. I watch them, too — the ice is to cool off the boiling espresso or chai tea.
Barista was rude. Should have explained that the drink can’t be made that way and offered something else or to make it another way. Baristas are customer SERVICE people, not just machines – that’s what that stupid tip jar is supposed to be for. A half filled cup isn’t acceptable. OP should complain to management and get some coupons.
most restaurants advertise a size for their drinks in ounces. Nowhere does it state that “x ounces of drink will be in the form of ice”. If I order a 22oz drink and get less than 22 ounces I would say that they stole from me.
I’m okay with a little ice, but places tend to go overboard and load your cup up so that it’s like 60% or more ice. That’s ridiculous.
Furthermore, some places (like the otherwise-great Wendy’s near my house) see to water down their drinks. In these instances, by the time you’re halfway through the drink, it tastes like dirty water.
The real scam is drink prices. I remember working at Borders in late 2002 — employees could get 27-cent(including tax) beverages if they brought their own cup. Of any size. The company even provided each employee with a free mug in order to push them toward taking advantage of this.
Even coffee beverages have a pretty low cost compared to their actual price. They’re more expensive than soda, certainly. But they also cost three-five times as much on the consumer end.
* I managed a fast food place, a few years back,
( let’s just say the one with the horrible king guy)
and when we sold the ” Mocha Joe Iced Coffee ” …
I had a heck of a time with those customers asking for “NO ICE” and
YES..It was to get more beverage ! The problem unlike ordering a shot of whiskey,
where a ‘shot-is-a-shot’, not more or less..regardless of the size of the glass.
We made it in the back with a big gallon container of hot coffee,
and numerous squirts of chocolate syrup.. and put it in the fridge overnight.
When filling the glass, there WERE marks on the cup where the ice should be LOADED to,
before you fill the rest of the cup.
People who asked for NO ICE got two thirds or more of the Joe Mix in their cup.
It didn’t bother me until one day, a lady who got one every morning, “SANS the ICE”, then
proceeded to ask my counter girl for a spare cup, filled it with ICE from the soda fountain station AND then poured half in this iced cup. And then proceeded to add ICE to the original cup.
i argued with management about this.. but they had no suggestions..
and regardless of what you might say, the profit margin was extremely high on those drinks.
Even with this lady’s antics.
F.Y.I. There are 380 calories in 1 serving of Burger King Mocha Joe Iced Coffee.
What a pus*y- you don’t have to bawlz to say NO to the drink? You PAY for how ever many ounces the cup holds. You DON’T pay for half of that you idiot. Don’t waste my consumerist time again with this nonsense. By the way, why do we care that you went there to buy books, that you are some fricken high rollin’ book buyer, using your coupon? Who gives a sheeeottt
If I buy a drink I expect it to fill the cup it comes in whether there’s ice or not. If I order a large drink with no ice, I expect to get a large sized drink with no ice. It’s what I paid for. What I’m not paying for is a half-filled Large-sized cup. If that’s unacceptable to the business, then they’re the ones trying to profit by “gaming the system” and giving the customer less product for the same amount of money.
The only exception is a drink that requires ice in order to settle correctly. (I.e. As the ice melts it adds to the drink.) Tea + Milk does not require ice to drink and enjoy, so you shouldn’t have to pay the price of two “Normal” drinks in order to get a filled cup.
My husband always asks for drinks with no ice at a restaurant unless it’s a fast-food place where he can put his own ice in. His issue is not that he hates ice, but he doesn’t want a cup FILLED TOTALLY FULL of ice that then melts and makes his 2 Tbsp of soda watered down. He tried ordering less ice for a while, but that never worked, so he’s taken to just ordering no ice and then stealing some ice out of my water if he needs it.
Since we do this at sit-down restaurants where you pay for the drink and then get free refills I don’t feel like we’re causing anyone any harm, and the waiter who remembers that the refills have no ice gets a good tip.
yes, but most times iced coffee is double strength brewed in order to compensate for the ice melting later. So maybe he is getting the same amount of chai in theory, since its possibly double strength but less water or milk?
I bought an ice-coffee at a Sonic Burger drive-thru that was ALL ice. Two sips and it was gone before I pulled out of the parking lot. I complained to the manager who said “you ordered an ice coffee – and there’s the ice.” It wasn’t even real ice that you could suck on – it was little pellets of something that hadn’t melted an hour later.
If it is a fountain drink they should fill it all the way up. If its a manual-labor mixed-drink then it should be portion sized – same portion with or without ice.
What a load of bullsh*t. If that’s the case, then it should work in the reverse as well: People like me who frequently ask for “lots of ice” should be given a discount on the beverage that has been displaced by the extra ice.
Mr. Krabs agrees. Be lucky you get a straw, napkin, and bag for free. Not to mention that nifty bulb lid.
Most places I’ve seen will advertise a “large” as, say, “a 32 oz. Coke” or “32 oz Ice Coffee”. In which case, you’re more than justified in saying “I want my 32 ounces of beverage, with nothing else getting in the way”.
But when they that they simply give you “small”, “medium”, or “large”, then what they do inside that cup is up to them. Perhaps, to them, a “large” is 20 oz of beverage and 12 oz. of ice, and you’ve opted for “no-ice”. That’s perfectly reasonable for them to do, absent the product being advertised with a volume-measurement.
The scam is the amount of ice they put in these drinks in the first place. You do not need the cup completely full of ice to make the drink cold. They are simply giving you the cheapest thing (water) and thus giving you less of what you ordered. Iced coffee drinks are the worst. Not only do you get less coffee, but you pay more for it even though water is cheaper than coffee. You only need a quarter of those ice cubes to make the coffee cold.
Ice is not just to fill space. It keeps the drink cold, and sing a lot of ice keeps ALL of the ice from melting. A small amount of cubes will melt and water the drink down. How would it be fair if some customers got more beverage because they didn’t want ice in their drinks?
Ok, if this is true (that asking for no ice is scamming the business) then any business that puts in too much ice is scamming the customer. Many places I get drinks from cram that ice in there so there is very little drink. 3 sips and it is gone and I had the super gulp monster 55 gallon drum.
Another thought, by volume which one is costing the store more money? Ice is cheap but it does draw quite a bit of electricity to produce and keep frozen. A fountain drink is pretty cheap too. I wonder if there is a significant difference when you look at them by volume.
The last time I stopped at Taco Bell(this was a couple of years ago and was the last time I stopped at Taco Bell)I went through the drive-thru and ordered my food and a large soda with no ice. Well, they put ice in my drink, but since there were a number of cars behind me I didn’t make that big of a deal about it, I mean how much ice could there be? So when I got home, I opened the drink and started scooping out the ice. When I was finished, the soda that remained in the cup barely filled the tapered “cup holder friendly” bottom of the cup. Yes, my tasty fizzy drink was about 2/3 ice.
I’m sorry, but if a large drink is included in the meal, and a large drink is 30oz I should get close to 30oz of drink, not 10oz of drink and 20 oz of ice.
I’m sure there needs to be a recipe that the barista is required to follow (i.e one part coffee, two parts milk etc) where as with say soda from a fountain dispenser if you ask for no ice you’re almost certain to get it filled to the top (now whether it’s cold or not that’s the risk you have to be willing to take if you really need the extra liquid. – I have yet to have a cold beverage without ice if it ever came from a fountain)
When you order a “Venti” iced coffee drink you are not getting 20oz of coffee, you are getting a set amount of coffee (say, 14oz) put into a 20oz cup filled with ice.
Ordering a Venti iced coffee without any ice will result in the same 14oz of coffee put into a 20oz cup, except with no ice, so you get what the submitter got.
If you order a mixed drink at a bar, you get a glass about half full of alcoholic drink, and half ice. If you order the drink with no ice, you don’t magically get twice as much alcohol, you get a half full glass.
The only situation where I would consider it normal to receive a full cup in lieu of a cup with drink and ice, would be soda from a soda fountain because the difference between 15oz of soda and 20oz of soda is about 3 cents.
Wow, that’s pretty ridiculous. Some people have cold sensitivity issues w/ their teeth and would prefer not to have ice. My dad used to order it w/ out ice all the time and that’s why.
I know some fast food places have automated machines where it fills the pop to a predestined level (3/4) and the worker will usually top it off, although a couple times in the drive thru they didn’t. I chalked it up to they were really busy and didn’t mind all that much, however it does show how much ice your drink really does take up.
I’ve actually been accused of something similar to this at Sbux since I don’t like them watering down my iced tea. I generally ask for “no water” with my iced tea, so therefore am actually getting twice as much tea….but I simply don’t like my tea watered down. I don’t think it’s too much to ask for what I like.
And walking across the street to B&N and boycotting Borders altogether might be somewhat of a waste seeing as the two booksellers are actually owned by the same company.
Is a hot chai the same as a cold? Is the cold just the hot served over ice?
If both are true, borders (or this employee of) is the one who fucked up.
I’m not a coffee drinker… but wish to add my two cents:
SONIC (fast food burgers) should be held criminally responsible for the unethical practice of utilizing CRUSHED ICE (filled to the brim) with any soft drink ordered. They’ve done this type of practice forever. I’m not cheap – but I do hate to be cheated when the cup only contains 1/3 liquid (easily verified), Thanks Sonik (sic).