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Early Addition
The non-official Starbucks Gossip Blog posted a letter Wednesday that one disgruntled New York employee fired off to the company’s top brass. The barista wrote not to protest Starbucks’s aggressive ubiquity, their resistance to fair trade coffee, or their union busting tactics. No sir, she’s up in arms about the new company policy instructing employees to refer to drinks made with sugar-free syrup, non-fat milk, and no whipped cream as “Skinny.”
The unidentified author acknowledges that her objections place her at “risk of being reprimanded for insubordination” but she has decided that her conscience will not allow her to follow this “new method for ‘calling and marking’”. It’s a long, strident letter, so we’ve culled the most impassioned pull-quotes:
Imagine going to work for several hours at a time, and hearing the term "skinny" being called out countless times. It will undoubtedly have a negative affect on a person's self-esteem that may already be low from living in a society that is generally not accepting of people who do not fit the mold of a "beautiful" person.It creates an environment that people will not want to be in. It will exacerbate self-image issues that partners of ANY size may have. Why would ANYONE want to go into a store where they will hear potentially hurtful terms called out repeatedly with no regard as to how they may affect people?
What’s more, the well-caffeinated Cassandra thinks the company is making a catastrophic mistake!
Whether the corporation cares to recognize the fact or not, Starbucks is a target by society and there are a lot of people who would love to bring it down. This is just giving them the means to do so.
Hmm… Does Reverend Billy know about the new call and mark method yet? Maybe a flash-mob of activists loudly demanding “Skinny” drinks is just what his anti-Starbucks crusade needs. And here’s where her letter makes Starbucks sound like some creepy coffee cult:
On a deeper level, this in essence goes against every one of our six guiding principles in one way or another.
Indeed, sister, Starbucks’s noble Six Guiding Principles serve as a guiding light to all Starbucks employees – er, “partners”. At least until Starbucks enters the sinister Phase Two of their long-range plan.
But what about other hurtful phrases? Like non-fat milk? And heavy cream? When will the insensitivity end?
Photo by Holster.
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$20 says our militant barista is a fatty.
In related news, Starbucks stock started off the new year with a 52 week low....
You serve beverages and overpriced baked goods. Nobody gives a shit about your "conscience".
I've already had my reality totally warped by the use of the word "tall" instead of "small." I used to be tall, but now I wonder if I'm not really small. Am I tall? Or am I just a small person called "tall"?
And even though I'm 5 foot 8 and weigh 131 pounds, and thin, maybe I'm fat, since I never take low-fat, or sugarless anything. I like fat in my milk, and I prefer real sugar to fake sugar. I must be short and fat!
Yesterday I was tall and thin, but now I wonder -- all because of Starbucks' warped vocabulary -- if I'm not perhaps short and fat and never realized it. I'm so confused.
BTW that should have been in quotes spoken nonchalantly by a cynical fat middle-aged guy...
"Indeed, sister, Starbucks’s noble Six Guiding Principles serve as a guiding light to all Starbucks employees – er, “partners”.
This whole "six principals" thing is pretty standard at corporations now-a-days. To see some hilarious "core values," (another form of it it; usually used in conjunction with "mission statement" and "vision") check out Coldstone's. It's all about branding.
hmmm...lose weight, and maybe it wouldn't be so traumatic? or go work at mcdonald's so you can be among your own--imagine the boost in self-esteem you'd get hearing "supersize" 700 times daily!
in the spirit of posts 1-5, i'll leave it at that so the next person still has plenty of obvious "points" to dismantle.
While the barista may be overreacting, I saw the new "skinny" drinks yesterday at Starbucks and didn't like the term much myself. And I am skinny. It's just that the milk is skim, not skin. Skimmy latte?
Damn that barista is fragile.
Skimmy?
I do like that much better.
Now if they'd only start serving martimmys.
that is about the most ridiculous thing i have ever heard. and that barista needs to grow thicker skin, wtf.
Yeah, I'm sure the Starbucks marketing and product development teams are going to totally disregard the months of research and focus group testing they did when they were trying to decide what to call their new skinny drinks because one of their $9/hour caffeine bartenders wrote an impassioned letter about how it hurts her feelings. Sure.......
really? shut-up! that's so stoopit-
point taken... however, it would be hard for me to believe that corporate didn't already have this debate, long ago.
The barista should chill and go smoke a fattie.
At some point overmarketing will basically kill a brand, even one as succesful as Starbucks. In this day and age very few people pay attention to ads at all, if they even notice them through the bombardment, and when they do they realise they are just lies to sell you something.
However people will pay attention to PR, basically articles like this one. This letter will be on people's radars, whereas calling a drink 'skinny' when you are in Starbucks will have no appreciable effect on people's decision to buy coffee.
If I were Starbucks I would grab this opportunity, get the barista to corporate and use her letter as the basis for a press campaign. Plaster her chubby mug all over the place in some 'At Starbucks when our employees speak we listen, because they are groun every day and know our customers best.' Blah Blah Blah.
don't they "embrace individuality" or something to that effect, yet you're not supposed to have facial piercings or visible tattoos?
its the name of a drink. relax. don't blame the huge corporation for being a fatty. with all the spam out there for increasing penis size, you'd think there would be as big of a complex men as there is for women fitting the "beautiful" mold.
"you said it was a good size!"
I actually saw Starbucks employees in a conference about this term yesterday -- the register person used the code "Skn" on a cup and totally threw the barista for a loop, so the whole place came to a halt while they had to debate what a "Skinny" drink was, etc. I wanted to point to the sign over their heads which gave instructions as to how to make a Skinny drink, but it was funnier to watch them flip out. Apparently someone missed the instructional Skinny meeting... :) Reminds me of when Crunch changed the name of the Sculpt class to "Chisel." :)
Are they still having the register people ask the name of the customer to put on the cup?
"Grande Skinny Latte for FAT JOE!"
I visited London in the 90s just as they were introducing "American-style" coffee drinks ("Drink through a whole in the lid, like they do in America!").
I ordered a regular plain, old Latte -- and they yelled, "FULL FAT" down the line. It's been about ten years, and I still can't block it from my mind!
I hate Starbucks partly because they sell bad overpriced food and drink, but mainly because they are a scourge upon the Greater New York. All they need to do is merge with a couple of banks and Duane Reade so they can be über dominant on almost every retail street in the city.
If the employee doesn't like working there, they should quit.
when i was scrolling down these comments i just KNEW there'd be a "banks and duane reade" comment by toby v m.
windbag.
no fatties.
imagine the boost in self-esteem you'd get hearing "supersize" 700 times daily!
McD's removed super-sizes a few years ago...
That self-esteem stuff is some serious BS.
They shouldn't use that "skinny" nomenclature because it just doesn't make ordering any easier.
You can say that Toby v M. is the gothamist comment section equivalent of banks and duane reades in NYC!
for everybody confused about the whole "tall" being the "small" thing .... they do make a short, it's just not on the menu. Just ask for it. So, the tall is not necessarily the small, it can still be tall ... there is also a short. Which is the small.
You can say that Toby v M. is the gothamist comment section equivalent of banks and duane reades in NYC!
Banks and Duane Reade are occasionally useful.
Burn!
If you think about it from a marketing standpoint, it seems idiotic to call their diet drinks "skinny". Can you imagine a bunch of girth-challenged women (esp in NY) standing on a long line and request a SKINNY and NOT feel self-conscious...
this is telling
http://www.starbucks.com/retail/nutrition_comparison_popup.asp
I just saw the "Skinny" menu boards at Starbucks yesterday. I'm surprised that this is causing so much confusion--I've been ordering "skinny lattes" at coffee shops (not just Starbucks) all over the city for several years with no problem.
The above poster is correct about the "short" being the small equivalent--if you ask for it, they will make it; I think it is the same size cup used for espresso, or included when you buy a box of coffee. However, I've only seen it specified on the menu at Starbucks in Australia, Ireland, and the UK.
Starbucks terrifies me. I never know how to order anything. It's an anxiety attack just walking in the door of that place. All I ever get is the occassional caramel apple cider, because I don't have to enter the realm of foam half cap skinny mochacchino crap.
That being said, if they are gonna call their no-fat drinks "skinny" they should call the full fat ones "fatty". Heh... perhaps like Ra's "Full Fat" experience!
This sizing nomenclature is just asinine. Why can't we people just ask for what they want-- a SMALL latte with SKIM milk? Why does there need to be another word for "small" or "skim" or anything else just because those words are being used to order coffee?
well puerco, have you ever walked into a starbucks, ordered something in the incorrect order and they yelled at you or didn't understand what you were saying? its a way for them to communicate with one another to assure you get what you ordered.
Wouldn't an easier way to communicate with one another to assure that I get what I ordered be to use the actual words for what things are instead of expecting everyone to be savvy to some brand-specific lingo?
Just sayin'
brand specific? if anything, it is losing its brand qualities much like kleenex, xerox, and rollerblade. if you really think those terms (short, tall, grande, venti) are exclusive to starbucks, perhaps you should get out a bit. maybe even off the island? live a little?
i dont know why everyone is bitching.. i always order a "medium black coffee" at starbucks and i always manage to get a medium sized black coffee without any sass or eye rolling.
pretty amazing concept, i know.
Well, Venti is exclusive to Starbucks, and "getting some Starbucks" does not equal "getting some coffee from just anywhere." I've been a barista and I know for a fact that using different words for things for which terms already exist is more confusing, not less, which was my point.
If the name changes, then the PC police win.
The term "skinny" still gives me nightmares from my barista days 15 years ago (never worked at starbucks). It had nothing to do with conscience or body image or whatever, but it was just really fucking annoying to hear people come in all day and say that word in reference to a damn beverage.
It was almost always a particular type of female who would say it (though back then it was mainly used in reference to skim milk). she was often overly tanorexic, and would get this self-satisfied expression and suppress a slight giggle, as if she fancied herself perpetually adorable.
Even worse were the ones who would triumphantly beam and order a "skinneeee mocha with whip" so the entire place could hear how they had brilliantly deducted how using skim milk would allow them to be "bad" and order whip cream.
If you order a "skinny" drink, you just sound ridiculous. Even though I don't care about her motive, I'm sure other baristas are in full support.
This country is just nuts. When I came here, I was surprised at what an effort it was to find non low-fat anything in supermarkets, and whole milk at my friends' houses. Maybe if we all stopped drinking giant coffees with mountains of whipped cream all day, and ate in reasonable portions, and actually walked at least DOWN the stairs and escalators, we could all enjoy our "tall" whole milk lattes.
Come to think of it, there's something rather sinister about being subtly influenced into changing your vocabulary so that "tall" means "small" while paying so much for your coffee. Maybe it's a form of hypnotism, or a subtle form of Stockholm Syndrome. I'm pretty certain that tired, overworked people in dire need of a caffeine/sugar fix must be quite impressionable.
Newspeak at it's finest.
I think Starbucks should give every employee a copy of that "Skinny Bitch" book that Victoria Beckham was sporting in celebration of the drink.
they should just use Vicky Beckham as the term.
I'll have a Posh latte...
You know, you CAN order coffee in starbucks like a normal person and they will give it to you. I go in and say "Medium coffee please" and that's what they give me.
Whoops, Nick S beat me to the punch.