So the very next time I went into that Starbucks...
 

(which would be this morning, a couple of Saturdays later) I order my usual tall nonfat decaf latte. The barista realizes she's made it high octane. Wait while I make you another, she says.

"Oh, I'll just take the one you made. It's not a big deal," I say.

The barista offers to make me a decaf nonfat latte and give me the latte she already made - two lattes for the price of one.

"No thanks," I say. I don't need two lattes. "I'll just take the one you already made. It's not a big deal."

Upshot: the barista gave me a card for whatever my little heart desires next trip to Starbucks. Who knew this being nice thing really works?!

Maybe you could buy something for the person behind you?

Yeah ... no.

Haha.

Glad you had a good experience :)

I've had that happen to me before. I've also been the recipient of an oops drink. The barista usually just asks, "would you like this?" It was great.

The barista at my mom's Starbucks makes fantastic gingerbread chai latte. Yum!

Why is it worthy of note that the barista offered to give you what you had ordered and let you keep what you hadn't ordered rather than setting it aside to pass off to the next sucker?

That's an interesting question.

It floored me that she said anything. Many Americans bemoan the death of customer service. As far as I can tell, it never existed in this part of rural Wisconsin due to a confluence of cultural and economic factors. For a merchant to not operate in a cocoon of apathy is of note.

You know the story about the English stationer who carries newspapers, cards, and letter paper but not pens or pencils? Fifty times a day, someone comes in and asks to buy a pen. "We don't do pens, sir," is always the answer, with a yawn thrown in.

It's like that here. I'm glad the local Starbucks hasn't succumbed yet.

The part that's worthy of note is that 3894 didn't run away ;)


You need to keep visiting that Starbucks for freebies.

Warning: Sweeping criticism of an entire region of our country follows:

One often reads how the same personal injury is likely to yield far lower damage awards in midwestern communities than in coastal urban communities. This is commonly attributed to midwestern sturdiness and a culture that doesn't bray about entitlements but has a greater appreciation for life's pitfalls. Since, in the customer service context, supply typically follows demand, your take suggests to me that it's not sturdiness at all, but a pathological form of tightlipped Norwegian-bachelor-farmer shyt eating that prevents one from demanding even what one is indisputably due.

Yes, with the edit of "pathological".