I have the same problem with Starbucks. I am bewildered by their choice of terminology. I want a cup of coffee dammit, and the only question important for me from the "baristas" is 8 12 or 16 ounce?

I have the same problem with colors. What is mauve? when I ask, I am pointed at the version the person whom I asked thinks it is, and they are always different.

Why is it that customers like the prof are always right in front of me when I am running late.

Sounds like she'd be fun at a party.

She might be a pain in the rear but we need more people to refuse to take corporate crap -- like to help stop the flow of junk phonebooks. Someone in Seattle is trying -- you would think Oh-so-green PDX would jump on this:

http://daily.sightline.org/daily_score/archive/2010/08/17/seattle-tries-to-cut-the-crap

This guy could lend a hand as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkpDEn7mGVY

Thanks Stefan, made my day!

Usually only sexually frustrated people find it constructive to berate minimum wage workers over the policies of their employer...

The employees have discretion as to how flexible to be with customers over this kind of policy. If they insist on rubbing customers' noses in it, they deserve what they get.

Thanks TKrueg! That made my day.

When the majority of people want either butter or cheese on their bagel, why is it so unreasonable to ask if the customer wants them? I always ask if people want ranch dressing with their appetizers and certain menu items because I'm really tired of running back to the kitchen to fetch a side of ranch everytime because people always seem to somehow forget to order it even though it's obvious they douse their food in it everywhere they go. 30 years of experience in this business has taught me to work smarter rather than harder. Working in the service industry can be trying, forgive us these harmless - though linguisticly challenged - questions won't you?

Was it really so difficult for this woman to simply say "plain", or "neither"? Instead, she refused to specify at all, apparently expecting the baristas to read her oh-so-superior mind. Give me a break.

Seriously, pick your battles people. If that's the type of thing that makes you go to the extent of throwing a tantrum like this women did, you need to get a life.

I was in a Sawbucks once when they, apparently spontaneously, came around serving a round on the house. Everybody had their mouths hanging open looking at a second 800 calorie caffeine and cream bomb.

What prompted this, someone asked. The barista said they were just trying to encourage people to feel at home and enjoy the place. When we do the crowd-sourced "death of common sense" book, Sawbucks needs at least its own private chapter.

One wonders if the woman could have simply said "No Thank You".

The real question is, why on earth would any moderately intelligent person who happens to be in the middle of Manhattan order a bagel from Starbucks in the first place? Their sad pastries taste like sawdust, and are a last resort to be turned to only in desparate situations such as air travel. Hello, Murray's? H&H? the Fairway? The list goes on...(and multigrain? Feh!)

Also, the woman sounds so abrasive, combative and self-righteous, I suspect the low-wage barista was responding to the woman's nastiness by being intransigent. Yes, the rigid Starbuck-speak is irritating, but if you want a barista who can handle different words that aren't on the corporate script, don't patronize Buck-Bucks.