Small is Tall.

[author_by_night]

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Hee. I have to admit to having had a similar conversation once, though it was at the movies.

Guy at the snack counter: Okay, a small? *Hands me a coke that is so wide, my hand can barely hold it.*

Me: Um... do you have any... thinner cups?

Guy: Our medium! *Hands me a cup that, were it on the floor, would reach my knees*

Me: I - need it a lot smaller than that, I'm sorry.

Guy: *Hands me a really small cup with pictures of Dora the Explorer on it*

I must say though, this girl did sort of seem to be making it a bit harder on herself at the end. I know, I know, it's only a video - just saying. ;)

Comments

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't get why they have to make it so confusing.

And in general - what happened to small being actually small? It's irritating.

[partly-bouncy.livejournal.com]

Unrelated: Have you been around on IM programs? I miss chatting with you.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

I don't use AIM as much anymore. It doesn't log me in automatically, so I often forget to sign in.

[partly-bouncy.livejournal.com]

Ah. That explains it. :) I'm just commenting less on LJ these days so don't often comment on your posts like I should.

[ziasudra.livejournal.com]

The original Starbucks store served coffee in two sizes: short and tall. Going by the sizes now served worldwide, short is 8 oz. and tall is 12 oz. When Starbucks expanded, there was demand for a larger size, and thus grande (16 oz.) came into place. Of course, a grande is not large enough for American consumers, and so the venti (20.5 oz. -- Italian for "twenty" -- with an extra .5 oz to account for foam) was born.

In American Starbucks, the standard "small" is automatically the tall. Baristas are trained to repeat a customer's order in Starbucks lingo for two reasons: 1) to repeat the order to the customer to ensure accuracy, and 2) to communicate with fellow baristas, who would help get the drink while the cashier person completes the cash part of the transaction. Taking reason #2 into consideration, it is especially important for the order to be repeated back in Starbucks lingo, because even if a customer wants to hear back "small coffee," it's necessary to clearly communicate to the runner what s/he needs to fetch is a "tall coffee."

In other parts of the world, a small is automatically a short. I remember feeling a bit disappointed when I wanted a small latte in Hong Kong (I ordered in Chinese, so didn't use Starbucks lingo) and got a short latte instead. But, my misunderstanding, my fault, no big deal :) It was definitely interesting to see the cultural difference though.

Hope you don't mind this semi-rant. I always thought it was so cool that Starbucks kept its lingo to reflect a history of how one shop evolved into an international company. I do get frustrated when customers get nitpicky without seemingly being open to understand the meaning behind the drinks' terminology -- and believe me, I've tried to share the story of the cup sizes plenty of times ;p

[dreamer-marie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have the same problem with Starbucks, but I stick to asking for a small coffee, because I'm afraid that, if I actually say "tall," they will give me one of the bigger sizes in order to make me pay more. I'm convinced it's a conspiracy to trick customers into ordering larger coffees.