Iced Venti Coffee, cream only, NO Sweetener, please . . .

That’s my summer beverage of choice. It has been for a while. I am not a sweet coffee drinker. And in the summer, I love my coffee on ice . . . it’s so refreshing and brings an instant SMILE to my face when I have it. The order seems easy enough, don’t you think? No bells or whistles. No syrups or potions. Nothing special . . . just the coffee, some cream, and a few ice cubes. Easy. Right?

Evidently, not.

Because three times in the past month I have left my local Starbucks with the wrong coffee. I’ve left with SUGARY SWEET coffee.

And that makes me . . . cranky.

I don’t like being cranky.

So, this week I went back into Starbucks with the wrong coffee, and asked for the right coffee. Because, as you know, this coffee is not free. I pay for it. (It’s my vice. My Iced Venti Coffee, cream only, NO Sweetener, coffee. That, and the Real Housewives shows on Bravo – but that’s a post for another day.) I digress, so today I became a little cranky upon my return to Starbucks.

I don’t mean to be a coffee snob – but, I love coffee. And I really do love Starbucks coffee. And I am not brainless, I KNOW how to order my coffee. I’ve perfected the ordering process. I order, very clearly, ICED VENTI COFFEE, CREAM ONLY, NO SWEETENER. Can’t get any clearer than that, right?

Why is it that when I drove back to the Starbucks (after having the first sip sitting at my desk in my office), and when I went to the counter and said, “They gave me the sweetened coffee by mistake, I ordered mine with NO Sweetener” did the employee say, “Oh, ummm, No. I don’t think you did. You ordered it Sweetened”? She was seriously going to argue with me. "No, I specifically asked for it to not have sweetener. I do understand that the iced coffee comes sweetened, which is why I always ask for it without sweetener." I replied. Yes, I was seriously going to argue with her. She kind of looked at me like I had two heads. I looked at my reflection in the window . . . nope. Just one head. One cranky head.

You see . . . I have never worked at a Starbucks. Maybe their customer service model is different then what I might expect. I would hope that any service oriented place of business would understand that the CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT.

Especially when the CUSTOMER frequents your establishment as often as 3 times a WEEK. Oh, and not to mention that the customer is PAYING. See, the CUSTOMER is ultimately PAYING the employee’s salary, right? Therefore, I digress, the CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT. Because, without the CUSTOMER, there is no need to sell coffee, right? Without the CUSTOMER, there is no way to PAY the employee. RIGHT? So, again, the CUSTOMER is ALWAYS RIGHT. Especially when the customer IS RIGHT.

And let me tell you . . . I am usually a really HAPPY and really NICE customer. Really. I am generally a really happy and really nice person. I am not one to go into a Starbucks and create a ruckus. I don’t do that. That’s not me.

But, if they give me SWEETENED COFFEE ONE MORE TIME, I may have to do that. Because that makes me really, really cranky.

I don’t like being cranky.

(Dear dear blog friends, thanks SO MUCH for letting me vent. I can usually have a pleasant outlook about pretty much anything . . . that is, UNTIL you mess with my coffee . . . and messing with my coffee WHEN I AM PMSing is just about the worst thing that one could do!!! Yes, I know. That probably explains a lot, huh? But, seriously, shouldn't the customer be right??)

PHOTO CREDIT: taken from here.