I never did care for Starbucks coffee; to my uneducated pallet it simply tastes over-brewed and burnt but de gustibus non est disputandum. Far more irksome for me is the time it takes to complete a transaction in the places. Nevertheless, I have a Starbucks gift card (given to me last Christmas) occupying precious space in my wallet so this morning I decided to put it to use at a Starbucks near work.
To my initial pleasure and surprise there was no line (a sign of the deepening recession?) so I strode right up to counter to order my small black coffee (I know, not the right lingo but I'm a grownup) and waited for one of the seven employees there to take my order. None did. Three minutes I waited, trying to establish eye contact with at least one of them but no luck. True, they all seemed busy doing something but taking a customer's order apparently was not on the agenda that morning so I gave up and will give the gift card to someone I don't like.
If any good comes out of this recession it will be demise of the all-too-prevalent retailing ethos of these past twenty years, one eagerly embraced by the newly moneyed, that treating customers rudely and charging them a lot for it is a sure indicator of desirability and exclusivity. I think many people are going to decide that is a luxury they can no longer afford.
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