Starbucks Genius

Those people who run Starbucks are brilliant! It must be all that caffeine running through their veins! To close all of their stores for three hours yesterday all in the name of "staff training"! GENIUS! Okay, they have made some bad choices in the past...selling DVDs and music just ain't what the crowd is looking for when they're just in for a cup o' joe. They have learned their lesson and are moving on.

I don't know, I wasn't there myself. I can only imagine what went on at the corporate headquarters not too long ago...Those brainiacs started thinking (all with a famous...and oh so comforting...paper cup in their hands), "HHHUUUMMM, how can we get people all around this great country of ours to come back in for a caramel macchiato?" Another very smart person (also with the lovely paper cup and soft brown sleeve) said, "Let's have a 'staff training' session. We'll close for a couple of hours, tell everyone we are doing it for the benefit of our staff and quality of coffee, and it will be the talk of the town." BRILLIANT!

I heard about the Starbucks decision on the news and saw it online yesterday, but it wasn't until I saw it all over the news this morning that it really grabbed my attention. All of those corporate professionals, soccer moms, high school students and other caffeine-deprived folk were banging down the doors. "What is going on?" they all shout, with the tell-tale sign of their heads ticking from withdrawal. It's plastered all over the news and what does it do to me? Makes me want...no, NEED...a skim Grande White Chocolate Mocha with whip! I need it now! "Jump in the car kids, we're going to Starbucks!"

Getting to Starbucks is not any easy feat for me anymore. I used to be able to go to the closest grocery store and there was one right inside (another stroke of genius by those Starbucks folks). I was hooked drinking one (sometimes two, depending on how my day was going) every day. I used to joke it was like crack for moms, but I loved it! Those paper cups to hold in your hands like a cherished prize...incredible! I miss those days but, alas, I now live in the sticks where I need to go to "town" to fulfill my fix and maybe I will get one once a week. As I stand in line I realize the genius of it all. I have fallen for it...hook, line, and sinker!

Was my barista that much more knowledgeable in her espresso expertise? I still needed to describe my son's Chocolate (not Double Chocolate) Creme frappaccino order (yes, Trent fell for it too) but my drink was one of the best I had tasted. I am quite certain it had a lot more to do with Matt Lauer talking about it than the actual coffee. Nonetheless, my thirst was quenched, my ticks have stopped, but I'll be sure to find an excuse to get to town and get one again tomorrow!