Starbucks

Starbucks is great in Malaysia - they are everywhere in KL and offer free internet, air conditioning and fairly good coffee. They don’t mind if you stay there for a couple of hours reading or surfing. I do have a gripe though, and this applies to all the Starbucks that I have been to in Malaysia, Singapore, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. When I ask for a Venti Coffee of the Day with HOT MILK, they invariably serve me with a black coffee. I have tried varying the way I ask for the milk -- giving it special emphasis, speaking particularly clearly etc, but nothing works. Usually I have to ask twice. Sometimes I have to ask three times and explain that I don’t want the cold milk which is supposed to be on the counter with the sugar because that makes the coffee too cold. I could add that the flasks are generally empty too, but that would be mean. Of course, when the hot milk is finally produced -- and there are variations on the theme here, some add it, some provide it in a separate cup -- there is no room in the mug, so you end up carrying a steaming cup of coffee, brimming over but with insufficient milk, spilling it throughout the length of the cafe. Starbucks obviously trains its baristas well -- they can produce a wide array of standard drinks. Thinking for yourself though can’t be on the training programme.