i think i made money going to starbucks today. i went in to get dave and i some coffee. i ordered a tall peppermint mocha for him and an grande eggnog latte for myself. there were technically two people taking my order - the guy at the cash register, and the girl who was writing on cups. she heard eggnog, he did not and made some mention of a 'latte', with no mention of eggnog. it was brought to his attention and he was like, 'oh, let me change that'. i made a joking comment about it being just fine if he only wanted to charge me for a regular latte, and then he went off on some schpiel about how eggnog lattes are overpriced anyway and he didn't know why they charged so much more for them and that he didn't feel like bothering with changing it. okay... so i paid and went to wait for my drinks. the barista (not cash register guy OR cup girl) put a drink up and called out, "tall eggnog latte" and i looked around but there was no one else waiting. i waited a minute to be sure, but no one claimed it. so i went up and told him that i was assuming it was my eggnog latte, except i ordered a grande. i wasn't really trying to be picky, but he was like, 'oh, no biggie, let me remake that'. so he did. and then he gave me one of their freebie cards to make up for it. i was kind of confused at how the whole thing happened. honestly, i don't really know what i paid for. it's 'holiday menu' time, so it's not the same total it usually is when i order drinks for the two of us (yes, we're pretty predictable), AND, i bought a sunday paper too. but i'm pretty sure i paid for a regular latte, and i suppose, since he didn't hear the eggnog part of it, maybe he didn't hear the grande part of it either. but i wound up with a grande eggnog latte, and a free drink next time. rock on starbucks! the big bad coffee giant gets plenty of my money as it is, so i don't really feel bad. coffee anyone?
christmas eve is probably my favorite church service of the year. our sanctuary is gorgeous with the trees and the poinsettias, with ALL 4 advent candles lit AND the christ candle in the middle… it probably helps that this is the church I grew up in and I remember waiting for all that stuff as the season progressed, and how exciting it always was when it FINALLY got there. And then there is the music. growing up as the kid of the organist, who did christmas eve “right”, I have high standards. we MUST start with “oh come, all ye faithful”, and we MUST end with “joy to the world”. the church is always packed, so the organ is played at full blast, with all the extra bells and whistles. it is unbelievably awesome. deanna, our new organist, does not disappoint. the music is always wonderful. near the end (right before ‘joy to the world’), we always turn the lights down and sing “silent night” by candlelight. I don’t know what it is, but I have NEVER made it through that without tearing up. ...
I used to work at Starbucks and we were encouraged to make sure our guests had a good experience... anyone can hand out a free drink coupon at any time for something that has happened that's less than perfect. It's a great company to work for.
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