The Chain Gang

Charming Luddites Actually Miss the Days When Starbucks Baristas Mangled Their Names

The good old days.
The good old days. Photo: Eva Hambach/AFP/Getty Images

On the list of things worth being nostalgic about, chain-coffee-shop baristas messing up your name should … probably not even be in the running. But for a handful of Starbucks’s Frappuccino faction, getting a coffee cup with the correct name is a future they don’t want to belong to. The Wall Street Journal tracked down a handful of these dissatisfied Luddites, who complain that while they enjoy the convenience of the company’s mobile ordering app, it has otherwise detracted from their experience. The problem for these customers isn’t a buggy app — though others complained about glitches like orders being sent to the wrong location — but that names aren’t handwritten anymore, smiley faces are nowhere to be found, and excitedly anticipated mispronunciation is no longer a part of the customer-service experience. Some might argue that the real problem is the scourge of fake names and the associated stunts, but they’re misguided. The Luddites, though, know that these touches were what made getting coffee from an international behemoth with more than 24,000 locations worldwide different.

[WSJ]

Luddites Miss Starbucks Mangling Names