Ate at Starbucks, WTF!

[Fuuma]

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[grit]

 

[Fuuma]

...

 

[Piobaire]

I can see you in a lot of places, Fuuma, but I can't see you in various third world countries. Or do you mean France?

 

[edmorel]

I would be very careful how you speak about Starbucks, here is a story from The Onion:


SEATTLE–After a decade of aggressive expansion throughout North America and abroad, Starbucks suddenly and unexpectedly closed its 2,870 worldwide locations Monday to prepare for what company insiders are calling "Phase Two" of the company's long-range plan.
"Starbucks has completed the coffee-distribution and location establishment phase of its operation, and is now ready to move into Phase Two," read a statement from Cynthia Vahlkamp, Starbucks' chief marketing officer. "We have enjoyed furnishing you with coffee-related beverages and are excited about the important role you play in our future plans. Please pardon the inconvenience while we fortify the second wave of our corporate strategy."

Though the coffee chain's specific plans are not known, existing Starbucks franchises across the nation have been locked down with titanium shutters across all windows. In each coffee shop's door hangs the familiar Starbucks logo, slightly altered to present the familiar mermaid figure as a cyclopean mermaid whose all-seeing eye forms the apex of a world-spanning pyramid.
Those living near one of the closed Starbucks outlets have reported strange glowing mists, howling and/or cowering on the part of dogs that pass by, and electromagnetic effects that cause haunting, unearthly images to appear on TV and computer screens within a one-mile radius. Experts have few theories as to what may be causing the low-frequency rumblings, half-glimpsed flashes of light, and periodic electronic beeps emanating from the once-busy shops.
In addition, newly painted trucks marked with the nuclear trefoil, the biohazard warning symbol, and various mystic runes of the Kaballah have been spotted rolling out of Starbucks distribution warehouses.
A spokesman for Hospitality Manufacturing, a restaurant-supply company that does business with Starbucks, provided some insight as to what Phase Two might entail.

"This week, they cancelled their usual 500,000-count order of Java Jackets and ordered 1.2 million Starbucks-insignia armbands instead," Hospitality Manufacturing's Jasper Hennings said. "They also called off their standing order for restaurant-grade first-aid kits, saying they had a heavy-duty source for those now. And, most ominous of all, they've stopped buying stirrers altogether."
"I don't like the looks of this," added Hennings before disappearing late Monday night.

No Starbucks employees were available for comment, as those not laid off in January's "loyalty-based personnel restructuring" or hospitalized in the series of freakish, company-wide milk-steamer malfunctions that severely scalded hundreds of employees, have been sent to re-training centers.

Remaining Starbucks employees earmarked for re-training are being taught revised corporate procedures alongside 15,500 new hires recently recruited from such non-traditional sources as the CIA retirement program, Internet bulletin boards frequented by former Eagle Scouts, and the employment section in the back of Soldier Of Fortune magazine.

More insight into Phase Two was provided by the company's most recent quarterly stockholders' report, which features a map of North America showing the location of every existing Starbucks. Lines drawn between the various stores form geometric patterns across the U.S., including five-pointed stars, Masonic symbols, and, in the Seattle area, the image of a gigantic Oroborous serpent wrapped around an inverted ziggurat.

Starbucks management has been tight-lipped regarding the upcoming changes. No upper-level executives have been seen in public since the first of the month, and no details seem to be forthcoming. Visitors to the Starbucks web site, however, are greeted with a letter from Starbucks founder Howard Schultz reading in part:
"To our valued Starbucks customer: Just wait until you see the exciting changes we've got in store for you as part of our new Phase Two. When you finally see what we've got brewing here at Starbucks, you'll have no choice but to love it."

 

[Fuuma]

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[mordecai]

Bad taste is nurtured by capitalism. A sad reality.

 

[Piobaire]



Bad taste is nurtured by capitalism. A sad reality.

True story. Look at me.

 

[mordecai]



True story. Look at me.

For what it's worth, if given the choice I would choose you and your taste over a loss of access to food and clean running water.

 

[Fuuma]

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[schrag]



Well if you don't have a countering value system everything turns into optimization ($$$), which leads to this ****. This is why, for example, I think christianity has a bunch of positive impacts (and some not so positive) because it brings another value system that mellows that awful bullshit a little bit. If you know anyone that thinks like a pure capitalist you do realize that they're the kind of people you don't want around (unless you have powerpoint questions).

Wasn't it 'they're basically cockroaches' a few seconds ago.

Anyhow, I like the sentiment in the post - I wonder how cheap and crappy consumer products (including food) will get before (if) any backlash.

Also, doesn't S-Bucks charge like $6 for half a sliced apple and some cheese? It's prohibitively expensive (and gross) to eat there.

 

[mordecai]

This country is pretty religious, but our values affect our religion more than vice versa. We don't have those contemplative Pascallian dilemmas built into our DNA.

 

[Fuuma]

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[TheFoo]

If we are not to rely on the free market to determine what products are sold and at what prices, what should take its place? I don't understand what you're suggesting. Should we create a government agency empowered to regulate how sparkling water is served? Come on.

The same capitalistic system you malign for spreading bad taste also makes dissemination of good taste possible. All those street vendors in developing countries that you prefer over Starbucks also rely on the ability to sell goods for a worthwhile price. Otherwise, they are only doing what they do because someone has a gun to their head. Is the latter preferable?

And what the hell do you think was there before Starbucks? Even under the ridiculously false popular imagination, the "Mom and Pop Coffee Shop" that came before would never have had sparkling water for you to buy in the first place. That and, I guarantee, the sandwiches would have repulsed you.

 

[Piobaire]

I think there's a component of egalitarianism in this too. Sbx and McD's are the epitome of egalitarianism whereas street food or fine dining reflect differentiation in class or SES.