Daddy Starbucks

I'm going to try something different this time. Instead of complaining and badmouthing companies that I hate, I'm going to talk about a company that I really believe in, and explain how they're screwing it up.

Like me, many of you too are struggling with addiction. Caffeine. Starbucks caffeine. The 'Meigs County Gold' of caffeine. Signs that you are suffering from this addiction are:

-not driving past a Starbucks without your car veering towards it
-finding yourself standing outside a Starbucks waiting for it to open while pulling on the door
-planning trips around Starbucks locations
-being recognized by Baristas
-showing off your new Starbucks locator cell phone app

If you or someone you know experiences one or more of these symptoms, get them some Starbucks now.

Believing they were and evil empire, I used to despise Starbucks. That is, until I actually tried their coffee and saw how they treated their customers. For such a huge company they treated me and their employees well. Offering me free beverages if I were ever inconvenienced by waiting, and despite their taxing and seemingly thankless job, doing it with a smile. I soon became their proponent, swearing off other coffees and spreading my satisfaction throughout the land. This was all to change about a year ago when Starbucks reintroduced its Pike Place brew in an attempt to compete with McDonald's.

If Starbucks is ever to fail, history will show that this was the beginning of the end. By competing with McDonald's, they became McDonald's. I've noticed customer service starting to slip and with it so goes my business. Below is a copy of the letter I recently posted on Starbucks' idea website entitled Don't lower your standards to compete.

Dear Starbucks,

If I wanted crap coffee, I could go to any number of gas stations across the country and get 74 ounces of burnt, sludgy, tar-flavored oily water, but I don't. Instead, I can just go to my nearest Starbucks and get a cup of your Pike Place Roast and enjoy crap coffee in an expensive cup.

"But wait," you say. "Pike Place is our original brew. It's what made us who we are."

Please. What I go to Starbucks for is a huge cup of wake-up. Something bold that will smack me in the face. Please don't patronize me with the premise that you are 'revisiting your roots.' If you are simply trying to cut costs to compete with rivals (say McDonald's) and passing the buck to me, you are completely wrong.

Their clientele aren't interested in Starbucks or coffee. Other than soccer moms, you don't even pull from the same demographic. What I'm saying is that they are not even in your league. Stooping to their low standards will only cost you customers who, like myself, are disappointed in their $2.14 venti. Please go back to the way you used to do business and stop peddling reheated English muffins and dirt coffee. Leave that to the fast food joints.

Within minutes my post had received many positive votes of others supporting my feelings. Check it out for yourself and I'll keep you posted.