Coffee the Way We Want to Make it For You
Last night, hurrying to a coach-pitch baseball game starring, among other small children, my son, I stop by a McDonalds for a quick iced coffee so that I can stave off the 85 degree heat.
They make me the coffee and I notice two things about it. First, they added cream, which I usually don’t bother with. And it was sweetened. My subsequent conversation with the McDonalds employee went something like this:
Me: “This coffee is sweetened.”
Her: Blank look.
Me: “I just asked for an iced coffee. I didn’t say anything about sweetener.”
Her: “But it is sugar-free sweetener.”
Me: “That’s not the point. I don’t like my coffee sweetened.”
Her: “But it is sugar-free sweetener.”
Me: “I don’t like the taste of sweetener.”
Her: “I can make another.”
She makes another. It’s sweetened. I give up and accept the inevitable fact that I’m going to be drinking a sweetened coffee whether I like it or not.
Starbucks has nothing to worry about.