Was I an SC?

[LdyJedi]

After satisfying my caffination in over 500 Starbucks all over the country, I've been in and NEVER before have I been asked "wet or dry" with my cappuccino. Today, at the little SB in the local Target, I was.

So I blinked and she waited and I blinked again and said, "I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean."

She drew herself to her full height and started in a condescending tone, "Our cappuccino is not like at Turkey Hill or the gas stat--"

I cut her off. "I know what a cappuccino is. I make them. I've just never been asked that question after all the hundreds I've had. What is the difference between wet and dry?"

Once she finally told me, she indicated that there was no way I wouldn't have been asked that questions before. You know, I'd think I'd remember if someone wanted to dump milk into my cappuccino!

Inside, I thought to myself, Child, I know my coffee. Starbucks is second rate coffee compared to the REAL cappuccino I drink with family, but I need caffination.

Instead, I just smiled and said, "Dry, please."

Was I sucky for disagreeing with her? I tried to be pleasant, but the condescending tone just threw me completely.

[ladodger34]

She drew herself to her full height and started in a condescending tone, "Our cappuccino is not like at Turkey Hill or the gas stat--"

I don't like coffee and I certainly don't know the in's and out's of cappuccino. I'm pretty dang sure that I've never ordered one in my life. I don't know what they are like at Starbuck's, let alone the gas station. I certainly wouldn't appreciate a condescending tone when I asked a simple question.

The employee should have answered the question. Dry = no milk, wet = milk. I don't see any need to add anything else.

[One-Fang]

Just to clarify for us non-coffee drinkers - does a cappuccino normally come with the option of milk or no milk? How do they usually ask that?

If not, then she was a sucky employee, and apparently a bad coffee maker (barista?).

[Kiwi]

Im fairly sure wet or dry denotes how much foam you want compared to how much froathy milk you want.

Foam is filled with air and "dry" while foamy milk is thick and creamy and "wet" its all in how the milk is pour or spooned into the coffee cup.

Traditionally a cappuccino is 1/3 espresso 1/3 froathy milk 1/3 foam. So when she asked if she wanted it wet or dry she was really asking if she wanted more foam or milk.

She was sucky, when your on the front lines, you have to deal with alot of crap, however, you deal with it professionally, with a fake smile plastered on your face if need be. (god I dont sound like a corporate video do I). If something as simple as someone asking her to clarify set her off, then she was the sucky one not you.

and drinking starbucks coffee is like drinking muddy water....icky (no offence to any bucks workers!

[LdyJedi]

Yes, it's far from the best coffee around, but they have free wifi in their "real" shops and when you're out and about and passing out from way too much exercise 3 days running, it's a happy thing.

I came home, though, and brewed a pot of fresh-ground, roasted just a couple days ago, coffee

And now I am awake!

[Dalvenja]

She was definitely the sucky one. It was unfair of her to assume that just because you weren't familiar with the terms "wet" and "dry" that all you knew was gas station cappuccino (if it can be called that).

And yes, dry is more foam less milk, wet is more milk less foam.

[chainedbarista]

no, she definitely needed to rein in that attitude a bit; many people haven't been asked the 'wet or dry' question, so that was presumptuous on her part.

people who've been to italy tell me our cappucinos don't come close to the real thing anyway, so a big to her supposed knowledge. nothing beats a fresh cup you make yourself!

those 'cappucinos' at the gas station are pure crap, no matter how you look at them (mostly sugar...ick!)

[LdyJedi]

people who've been to italy tell me our cappucinos don't come close to the real thing anyway, so a big to her supposed knowledge. nothing beats a fresh cup you make yourself!

Being a first generation Sicilian who grew up drinking the real stuff, I could have gone back and taught her how to make it right. I was wincing as she just plopped the foam in.

My husband about died laughing as he listened to her try to lecture me on this... He did say I behaved myself very well by not jumping the counter and teaching her the proper way to fix it

[BusBus]

*snort* I usually get the same attitude if I accidently order a "small" instead of a "tall", or "made with skim milk" instead of "non fat"

[Knightmare]

In all my years of drinking lattes, espresso, cappuccinos, etc (and NOT from Starbucks, either; REAL coffee shops with REAL espresso) I have never been asked if I want it "wet or dry."

That employee was just a condescending pain in the butt. Probably one of those know-it-all teenage types (no offense to you teens out there). Or maybe just trying out a new phrase and hoping to make it stick? Who knows.

[Kiwi]

or "made with skim milk" instead of "non fat"

UGH I hate it when I say skim milk and at that particular place they say "trim milk" and vice versa and the staff pretend they dont know what Im talking about

its two letters difference people... come on!

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

I hate Starbucks and their holier than thou attitude regarding coffee. I was in full out zombie mode after a long day at work. I had just finished pulling a 20-hour shift and I was [censored]ing dead. Frankly I'm amazed I made it to the Starbucks and even more amazed that was able to speak clearly for this comversaion to occur.

Me - 'Allo!
SB - Sucky/Stupid (your choice) Barista

Me "mumble mumble small chai latte please"
SB "We don't have small. We have tall, Grande and Vente"
Me "mumble whatever. gimme your smallest chai latte please"
SB "We don't have small. Let me get you our flier explaining how to order..."

at this point my barely functioning brain cells get a surge of adrenaline and they over-react...badly

Me "Listen to me you little [censored]er, get off your ass, drop that flier and get me a goddamn chai latte before I reach into your asshole and rip out your eyes.

I'm not too proud of that and my only defence was extreme tiredness. It did motivate him to get me my Chai however.

For a really funny opinion of StarSchmucks...err bucks try Foamy the Squirrel - Small, Medium or Large
or
Foamy the Squirrel - Coffee house propeganda

[RecoveringKinkoid]

"UGH I hate it when I say skim milk and at that particular place they say "trim milk""

If someone "corrected" me by saying "trim milk", I dont' think I'd be able to stop laughing in their face long enough to order.

[Jester]

Me "mumble mumble small chai latte please"
SB "We don't have small. We have tall, Grande and Vente"
Me "mumble whatever. gimme your smallest chai latte please"
SB "We don't have small. Let me get you our flier explaining how to order..."

Okay....even this non-coffee-drinker sees a problem with this. To wit: after he told you that they don't have a small per se, you clearly told him to give you the smallest, whatever it was, and he still tried to "tell you how to order." That is not customer service, that is being a smarmy smartass. And in that case, while you may have overreacted somewhat, he did kind of bring it on himself.

Trust me, us smart asses recognize our own.

As for me....well, I'll stick to beer, thanks.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Way I see it, I should not have to learn a new language to order a fing coffee.

We speak English in this country. "Small" is an English word, and a pretty fundamental one at that. If the guy selling the coffee doesn't understand the words Small, Medium, and Large, maybe he shouldn't be taking orders from English speaking customers.

I think I would have simply asked him, "Okay, then, which one of your sizes is the smallest? Whatever the hell it is, THAT'S what I want. "

Okay, so maybe you over reacted a bit. But he was asking for it.