I started drinking coffee when I was 62. I tasted it once as a kid and hated it cuz  my mom drank it black and it was yuckky. I never tried again.

But sitting with friends at Starbucks a few years ago, I tried one more time (flexible, right? Only took me,um, 54 years to try again!) and was delighted. So I became a Starbucks groupie. Now I plan my days around my visits to Starbucks. I have 2 favorite locations, and in one of them we have a sortof group and all know each other. I have found dates, friends, parties, prospects – even a cool church (and given I’m a buddhist, that was an interesting discovery).

On Saturdays, after my dreaded early-morning workout (I know that most people lie-in on Saturday mornings, but my favorite Zumba instructor has a class), I go to one and sit in one of the big brown comfy chairs while I read the Austin Chronicle and listen to Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me.

So Starbucks is my friend. But now I’m angry. I purchased a CD from them, and the CD was flawed – lots of bumpy stuff. I went to return it, and they told me they didn’t touch the CDs, that if there was a problem I’d have to call the main office and tell them.

Have you ever called ‘main offices’? Hitting all the numbers on a keypad, talking to robots of one kind or another… and then getting… getting… what? It’s never a person. So I’d have to leave a voice mail and hope that someone would get back to me.

And my choices? None. They had NO disclaimer on the CDs (WE DO NOT TAKE RETURNS OF CDS EVEN IF THEY ARE FAULTY) and I assumed that they would be professional in all areas. Even CDs that skip.

So now I’ve got a CD I can only listen to part of the way through. Makes me mad: I spend so much money in there, know all of the kids working behind the counter (and as soon as I come in they get my coffee for me, just the way I like it, naturally), know where they go on their vacations. It’s not right that they won’t stand behind all of their products.

And of course, that’s the real problem for them. Because now, I’ll never trust that they stand behind any of their other products and I’ll buy nothing from them.

So I’ll just keep buying the coffee. But I’ve lost trust in them as a ‘vendor.’ Just saying.

sd

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