Starbucks’ Language Causes Meltdown

Monday, 16 August 2010 | by Pat's Picks

Starbucks’ insistence that customers order in their lingo finally proved to be too much for one woman says the New York Post. An English professor, Lynne Rosenthal makes a point of flaunting what she considers a linguistically stupid protocol by asking for a small or large instead of venti or a grande.

But it was a bagel that finally caused her meltdown. Rosenthal was escorted out of a Manhattan Starbucks yesterday by police after refusing to answer a question regarding her bagel in the appropriate manner. Instead of saying she would like neither when the barista asked whether she would prefer butter or cheese on her bagel, the woman repeated her order for a bagel. Explained Roenthal: “I refused to say ‘without butter or cheese.’ When you go to Burger King, you don’t have to list the six things you don’t want.”

I wonder if she was inspired by Jetblue’s Steven Slater.

The ordering process is so difficult at Starbucks that it apparently needs a detailed tutorial.

The longest Starbucks order ever:

(Image from Starbucks.com)