First off, I love Starbucks. I love the people and the coffee and the whole sit down and work thing. Free wifi. Free music in the background. The whole bit. I think the whole concept is genius.
Who would say, "Let's sell coffee, charge 2 bucks for it, sell some crazy drinks that make a sentence longer and more complex and harder to remember than E=MC2; charge 4 bucks for those, allow people to sit down and work--forever and not chase the people out, open two or three of these coffee shops within a one-mile radius and all of them still be busy, and come up with crazy names for small, medium and large (I still cannot say grande for a medium coffee)--who? Certainly this idea for a business would never pass the Shark Tank test.
My Phobia Only?
So, what's my point? Before I get to my point I must admit I am a "germa-phobe." I am the guy who carries multiple bottles of GermX in the car and backpack when I travel. I try to pour some on my hands after each encounter with human beings. I do not want to get sick--perhaps I have sick-phobia. You must know this first before I explain my point--which is next . . .
Please Starbucks--tell your people to stop spreading germs.
I get to the cash register. I sometimes pay with cash--dollar bills. I sometimes pay with credit cards--touched by hotel clerks, retaurant staff, store cashiers, and I am sure others that I cannot quickly recall, and sometimes I pay with my Starbucks card. We all know that cash, credit cards and payment cards carry germs or something foreign we all would prefer to stay foreign (read: out of our bodies).
So the cashier takes my order and takes my payment. Grabs the card and swipes it through that thing that swipes cards and debits my account or charges my credit card.
Then the cashier turns around and grabs the coffee cup with his (or her) fingers by the lip and fills the cup with coffee. Then he picks up the coffee cup by placing his fingers around the top of the cup (again touching the lip of cup) and places that cardboard cupholder around it and passes my coffee back to me.
What has happened in these few seconds is I have 1,000 people's germs on the lip of the cup where I am going to place my mouth. He has passed from his fingers all the cash he touched previously, all the cedit cards he touched previosuly and all the coffee refills he refilled previosuly (watch them refill coffee someday) and passed those germs to my coffee lip.
I wrote Starbucks a few months ago to complain and received a response that said essentailly, that yes that is disgusting -- and we will address it. Except it's not one Starbucks that's doing this -- it's all the Starbucks that are doing this.
Do People Not Think?
I don't know about you, but I am a little particular where I put my mouth. I don't like licking peoples hands or fingers. And I am sure the people behind the counter at Starbucks don't like doing licking people's hands or fingers either. So why don't the people take more care when getting cups and passing them to customers?
I am not sure. But again it happened. It happened this morning. The guy--a smart guy I think--picked up my cup by the lips with his entire hand (placed over and around the cup) in order to slide that cardboard sleeve shield on. I watched him do this and I said to myself, enough.
I asked, nicely, "I am sorry to say this. But you placed your entire hand around the lip of my cup--that's where I drink from. Can you pour me another cup?" He was very nice, and said "Yes, sorry." He was careful this time.
Well here I am--now making this part of my story--my blog, my venting. I still love Starbucks. I hope I don't get sick. Where's that GermX bottle?
PS - please don't say pour GermX into your hand and wipe the rim of your cup before you drink. That's ridiculous. And besides, I have already tried that. It makes the rim (or lip) of the cup soggy. I think the alcohol breaks down the elements of the cardboard cup.
Who would say, "Let's sell coffee, charge 2 bucks for it, sell some crazy drinks that make a sentence longer and more complex and harder to remember than E=MC2; charge 4 bucks for those, allow people to sit down and work--forever and not chase the people out, open two or three of these coffee shops within a one-mile radius and all of them still be busy, and come up with crazy names for small, medium and large (I still cannot say grande for a medium coffee)--who? Certainly this idea for a business would never pass the Shark Tank test.
My Phobia Only?
So, what's my point? Before I get to my point I must admit I am a "germa-phobe." I am the guy who carries multiple bottles of GermX in the car and backpack when I travel. I try to pour some on my hands after each encounter with human beings. I do not want to get sick--perhaps I have sick-phobia. You must know this first before I explain my point--which is next . . .
Please Starbucks--tell your people to stop spreading germs.
I get to the cash register. I sometimes pay with cash--dollar bills. I sometimes pay with credit cards--touched by hotel clerks, retaurant staff, store cashiers, and I am sure others that I cannot quickly recall, and sometimes I pay with my Starbucks card. We all know that cash, credit cards and payment cards carry germs or something foreign we all would prefer to stay foreign (read: out of our bodies).
So the cashier takes my order and takes my payment. Grabs the card and swipes it through that thing that swipes cards and debits my account or charges my credit card.
Then the cashier turns around and grabs the coffee cup with his (or her) fingers by the lip and fills the cup with coffee. Then he picks up the coffee cup by placing his fingers around the top of the cup (again touching the lip of cup) and places that cardboard cupholder around it and passes my coffee back to me.
What has happened in these few seconds is I have 1,000 people's germs on the lip of the cup where I am going to place my mouth. He has passed from his fingers all the cash he touched previously, all the cedit cards he touched previosuly and all the coffee refills he refilled previosuly (watch them refill coffee someday) and passed those germs to my coffee lip.
I wrote Starbucks a few months ago to complain and received a response that said essentailly, that yes that is disgusting -- and we will address it. Except it's not one Starbucks that's doing this -- it's all the Starbucks that are doing this.
Do People Not Think?
I don't know about you, but I am a little particular where I put my mouth. I don't like licking peoples hands or fingers. And I am sure the people behind the counter at Starbucks don't like doing licking people's hands or fingers either. So why don't the people take more care when getting cups and passing them to customers?
I am not sure. But again it happened. It happened this morning. The guy--a smart guy I think--picked up my cup by the lips with his entire hand (placed over and around the cup) in order to slide that cardboard sleeve shield on. I watched him do this and I said to myself, enough.
I asked, nicely, "I am sorry to say this. But you placed your entire hand around the lip of my cup--that's where I drink from. Can you pour me another cup?" He was very nice, and said "Yes, sorry." He was careful this time.
Well here I am--now making this part of my story--my blog, my venting. I still love Starbucks. I hope I don't get sick. Where's that GermX bottle?
PS - please don't say pour GermX into your hand and wipe the rim of your cup before you drink. That's ridiculous. And besides, I have already tried that. It makes the rim (or lip) of the cup soggy. I think the alcohol breaks down the elements of the cardboard cup.
1 comment:
Love this and it is SO TRUE!! FINALLY I actually find someone that thinks the same way! Although, a concern I have is when the cashier goes to make a fresh pot of coffee. They don't wash their hands, grab the coffee filter from the pile, and then push it down into the coffee pot with their 3 or 4 fingertips prior to putting coffee grounds in it. What is the cleanliness standard for this? I see it everywhere, yet find nothing online about it....
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