Third Time’s The Charm
Things happen in waves.
The other day, in San Francisco, I went to the nearest Starbucks, as is my pattern. I asked for the same coffee I get every time I go in.
Tall with room Americano, please.
The young woman at the register called out, like every other morning,
Tall with room Americano!
And the barrista, a guy, echoed back the same thing:
Tall with room Americano!
However, when I got the drink, there was, for the third day in a row, no room. It’s a small thing, but pouring out 1/8 of the coffee to put in cream is a waste, and actually does change the flavor noticeably. So, the next morning, when I ordered the coffee, I added to the drink order,
and, oh, by the way, can I really get the room for a change. The last three times you guys have filled the cup.
The guy at the counter gave me the coffee free, after I explained.
Later that same day I was in Whole Foods, getting groceries. After ringing up the order the cashier said,
Oh, I’m sorry! I forgot to give you the discount for the wine!
I had gotten six bottles in order to get a discount on the wine. I pointed out that this had happened the last two times I had bought six bottles too. She apologized again, and called the manager over. This drill turns out to be a real pain, because the manager has to take me over to the customer service counter, manually calculate the price of the wines and the discount, pay me back in cash, and get me to sign a receipt. Invariably, the person doing this makes a mistake, and has to do it twice. This time was no exception.
Your process is broken,
I said, while he was keying in the prices on a calculator.
This is the third time in a row this has happened to me. Why doesn’t your POS system do this automatically? The cashiers seem to always forget.
The manager apologized, and agreed that it was a mess. He went on to give me the larger discount that they reserve for 12 or more bottles of wine, plus he added one of the bottles in twice, so I made out twice over.
Three’s my lucky number, it seems.
