(I am Rob)
For some customers, Starbucks’ very particular lexicon is a source of anxiety and possibly even anger. But it wasn’t having to order a “venti” or a “tall” that drove a NYC college professor into an argument at a Manhattan Starbucks over the weekend. Instead, it was her refusal to tell an employee what she didn’t want on her bagel.
“I just wanted a multigrain bagel,” the woman told The NY 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.”
According to the professor, she was then told she wouldn’t get anything at all unless she specified that she wanted neither butter nor cheese on her bagel.
“I yelled, ‘I want my multigrain bagel!’” she said. “The barista said, ‘You’re not going to get anything unless you say butter or cheese!’”
The debate escalated to the point where the manager contacted the police. The professor says the officers told her they would have to arrest her if she refused to leave.
The Post also spoke to a Starbucks employee who witnessed the incident. “She would not answer. It was a reasonable question,” the worker said. “She called [the barista] an a–hole.”
Could this situation have been resolved better by the employee and manager? Was the professor just causing a scene? Would you like butter or cheese on that?
Venti-size fury [NY Post]
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This has nothing to do with linguistics.
(Just some people being assholes for no reason.)
There is no excuse for being rude to the barista. None. It’s not her fault that Starbucks regulations are asinine. Her overzealous adherence to the letter of Starbucks law was silly, but a shouting match is the wrong answer. The customer should have sucked it up, ordered the bagel without butter and cheese (HOW HARD IS IT TO SPEAK THREE EXTRA WORDS?), and then complained to management later. The girls behind the counter get more than their fair share of crap from entitled buttholes: adding more benefits no one.
Also, basic safety rule of eating at restaurants #1: never, never be mean to the people handling your food. I guarantee you do not understand the things they can do to you.
Professors are pedant, stubborn, and want to impose their BELIEFS AND PREFERENCES on everyone around them; especially English professors.
She can sit alone and hungry in her ivory tower.
Oh my, another reason to avoid Starbucks. The Starbucks employee – just one more minimally qualified person with a feeling of power. Personally, I prefer to frequent my local coffee shops. I have never, ever ordered a “venti”. It is so silly, just give me a cup of coffee!
This has nothing to do with “correct English.” The procedure for ordering may be idiotic, but it neither uses nor requires the use of incorrect English.
This made me want to go to Starbucks. Gotta go.
I ordered a Multi-grain bagel with no butter and no (cream) cheese and it has raisins in it. Should I say “no raisins” next time and they’ll pluck out the raisins for me?
Bad behavior all around. The barista could have taken the order in another way besides “butter or cheese, with or without”, and the professor should have just given her order as she was asked for it. The professor would have gotten the bagel she wanted, and the barista wouldn’t have had to argue and argue. Everyone wins.
Here’s what we do in normie world:
“Can I have a multi-grain bagel?”
“Sure, do you want anything on that?”
“No, thanks.”
“Ok.”
Man, that is some difficult stuff. Forget Palestine vs. Israel, we need Starbucks diplomacy, stat.