Tag Archives: starbucks

Playing “Where’s Jeff?” in Vancouver

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Playing “Where’s Jeff?” in Vancouver could be a fun game, but I don’t think enough people know me to spot me. Maybe that’s a good thing. I don’t have a striped red shirt and jaunty toque like some people, so that may make me harder to spot in a crowd.

Although I still have the ’70s porn star moustache thing going on so that may make it a little easier.

Today, on the last day of my vacation, I had intended to get out and do some sightseeing or touring or something but instead got several emergency emails from work and ended up going in for 3 hours. Yup. Check out the dedication! I spent the whole time I was there solving a series of problems, which in general were of my own making. But also due to a lack of foresight and testing. Sucked.

I left work at 2:30, got home, had some lunch, walked the dog, played with the dog, then headed downtown to meet Chris. Chris had to go to the doctor for his broken ass leg problem again. More drugs, more tests, more pain. Poor guy.

So I hung out at the Starbucks in Chapters for a while trying to accomplish some of my work for the day. It was loud and noisy and hot. Apparently men swarm in about 10 minutes before I got there and form a series of impromptu chess tournaments. It was kind of interesting. Some 20-somethings playing chess against what could be their grandfathers. Quite a range. Seems like speed chess since the matches didn’t last very long.

I met Chris in front of Vancouver Optical where I had perused their latest series of displays. They always have such interesting windows. I usually like their October ones best, when they get a bunch of props from horror movies made for local productions. A little gruesome, but fun!

Now I’m hanging out at the Starbucks at Helmcken and Howe across the street from the doctors office. Chris is in getting his bursitis checked and fixed, I hope. Turns out he’s not alone. Another friend also has bursitis and has been off work for quite some time because she can’t sit for that long (Hi Jessica). That’s gotta suck.

When Chris is done, I’m hoping for a long-ish but leisurely wander home. I need some downtime before we hit the couch for the night. And undoubtedly the dog will pounce on us the minute we get home.

See, that game of “Where’s Jeff?” would have totally sucked. Outside of home, I’ve been in the same 5 blocks all day.

Taking it on the road

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I’ve been on a mini-vacation this week (3 days) which is nowhere near enough, but better than nothing. Mostly I’ve been doing maintenance on a few websites, playing with the dog a lot, a few minor domestic chores and generally doing sweet f*** all. It’s great. I could get used to it.

Today is day 2 and I decided to take it on the road. Chris and I bought a laptop about 2 months ago (on credit card, 3 months no interest, already paid off thank you very much) and it’s never left the house.

That’s not quite true. I took it to Metrotown on Good Friday to meet Chris but we didn’t go anywhere to sit that I could pull it out and use it, so it stayed in the bag. I consider that “not going out”.

Today, I finished most of my self-imposed chores at home and took the dog on a good hike. The sun was out the whole time, some puppy friends were out and he had a good time. Then I decided to head downtown. I had to drop some checks off for the orthodontist and since it was nice, I decided to relax outside the house for a while.

I considered where I could go, and settled on the close and familiar Starbucks inside Chapters downtown.  Not very exotic or interesting, but I knew my Chapters card would get me some free wi-fi and I could have a little coffee. Having never done it on this laptop before (only on my iPod), I assumed it would be easy. WRONG.

According to the Bell WiFi Hotspot site, their connection/setup isn’t compatible with FireFox, my browser of choice. So I fired up IE. It worked “better” but the connection screen kept refreshing and never gave me the “You have 2 hours” message. In fact, it even yelled at me once saying I had tried to connect too many times before the connection was ready and I should “Stop it. Now!” – yes, it actually said exactly that.

I finally opened a new tab to my home page and it worked. I guess the connection was established but the Java applet they use wasn’t compatible with this 64-bit version of Vista. 20 minutes wasted.

So here I am, sitting in the middle of Starbucks, surrounded by a lot of people (it was empty when I arrived) and writing this blog post. Fun. I’ve been tweeting, checking email and generally trying to look busy, productive and somewhat less pretentious than most people I usually see, but guess what!

Starbucks, enjoying my mystery beverage.

Starbucks, enjoying my mystery beverage.

Using your laptop while sitting in Starbucks with a giant coffee cup (full of mystery fluid, or empty) looks pretentious. No matter what.

Stop me? Not bloody likely! I love being able to do this. The freedom is pretty cool. I should activate my webcam and take a picture. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do.

There you go! Now I have to leave. Not only do I want to get home before Chris, but 2 women just sat down RIGHT NEXT TO ME. They pulled 2 empty chair and just sat down. No table, no nothing. It makes me uncomfortable.

Aw crap. It’s raining. Thank god for the Sears viaduct to the Skytrain. Minimal wetness.

Thanks for reading…

Greatest Invention Since Post-It Notes?

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If you frequent Starbucks, or really any place that sells HOT to-go beverages, you’ve probably experienced “the geyser” as I call it.

You’ve got your $8.00 140 degree cinnamon chai tea misto latte double espresso, dressed it with raw sugar, whole milk and a sprinkle of chocolate powder, put the lid on and you’re ready to go. On the way out the door, your toe hits the kick plate and you jostle the drink a little bit, but you’ve got it under control.

Here comes “the geyser.” Just a little bit of your hot drink spurts out the drink-hole (which sounds dirty) and drops directly onto the web of your hand scalding you, pissing you off and causing you to drop said $8 .00 drink, cursing and swearing.

Well, Starbucks now has a way to prevent that. They started showing up in Vancouver late last year, and they may not be as new as I think. One exuberant barista called it “The greatest invention since Post-It Notes” which I may not entirely agree with, but they are great.

What is it called? I have no idea, but it’s basically a swizzle stick with a plug on the end. Or is it like a miniature pacifier with an extended stick? With a bit of research it seems to be called a “splash stick” and was introduced like a year ago as a result of feedback on the Starbucks social networking/customer service site called My Starbucks Idea.

I’ve got to say I LOVE these little sticks. I don’t know if they rival Post-It’s or some of the other brilliant inventions, but I do like the idea they came from an online community suggestion. I also REALLY love that they keep the rain out of my coffee as I trudge back to the office or condo with my coffee in my now-safe-from-burning hand.

Absolutely Shitty Customer Service!

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Recently I bought 3 items from an online webstore for West Coast Favors. Not a huge order, total of about $60 in the end after taxes and shipping. 1 of those items was the reason for the whole order with the other 2 being just fun and useful, but added to justify the cost of shipping.

Guess which item I didn’t get. Yep – the one I wanted.

There was no email saying it was back ordered, no phone call, no indication on the invoice. Nothing. So I called to enquire as to the status. If it’s back ordered and just delayed, that’s fine. In the end it turns out it’s not listed any more. Out of stock, with no re-supply pending, but not discontinued. But that’s not the point.

The first rep I spoke to was asked “Do you not send emails about back orders or missing items?” Her reply was basically with 40,000 orders a day they can’t. To me that says there is a problem with the system. It should be automatic.

Here’s the kicker – she told me that sometimes email doesn’t go to Canada very well. HUH? I explained 2 basic facts to her. 1 – I deal with email and the internet all day. Emailing to Canada is no more difficult than emailing to Akron. 2 – My mail server is in Texas, not Canada. She said “I’m not going to have an argument with a client across an international border” and then she HUNG UP ON ME!

Rule 1 of customer service. NEVER HANG UP ON A CUSTOMER. There are exceptions to this rule, but I wasn’t being rude, abusive or swearing. Just pointing out the flaw in her EXCUSE. Had she just left it at “oops, sometimes we make mistakes” I would have been fine. But no. She tried to make EXCUSES.

Her supervisor was shocked and appalled, but couldn’t do anything since I didn’t get the reps name and since I hadn’t given her my order information, there was no tracking. Again, bad system.

BY CONTRAST!

To console myself (and acquire breakfast) I went to Starbucks. It’s my favorite Starbucks at the corner of Davie and Seymour in Vancouver. The staff there are almost all super nice, super friendly and having a good time. Ok, the lady who took my order could have been better, but I’ve never seen her before.

The barista and my 2 favorite staff were just awesome, laughing and joking. We had a good time. I recommend them in the morning. I never go later in the day so I can’t be sure what happens then.