Venti, Dark, Room

Well another month has passed with no blog entry from me.  Apologies.

A few months back my company ran a “Wellness Challenge”.  They do this every year and I usually participate.  You can set up teams, measure your health (via weight lost, minutes exercised or steps walked), and earn points that can be spent on prizes.  This year they really focused on steps walked though so I put on my pedometer each morning and really tried to take as many steps as possible.

I would find longer routes to do various routines.  I even went to an upstairs bathroom via a route that netted me about 500 extra steps round trip.  I began walking more at home at night (which the dogs much enjoyed).  I even changed how I got coffee.

The free coffee that is almost undrinkable is only 70 steps away from my cubicle.  The coffee in the cafeteria downstairs is 250 steps (give or take depending if I walk down or ride down the escalator).  They serve Starbucks brand coffee and when I want coffee, that is where I normally go.  However, in my effort to increase my steps I began to walk to the nearest Starbucks which is just over 1/2 mile away.  The route I took to get coffee was now almost 2,000 steps so I would walk it most days (weather permitting).  I even got a co-worker to join me a time or two.  A few times early on I even walked a bit further to the Dunkin Donuts (but their coffee is not to my liking).

The Wellness Challenge lasted (8) weeks so I made 30+ trips to Starbucks.  I still make the trip most days even though the challenge has been over for a few weeks.  Other than trying iced coffee a time or two, my order was always the same, a venti coffee.  I have not visited Starbucks that much in my life and when I do it is usually with the wife.  I normally let her order for me.  As with ordering at restaurants, I let her order 2 things that sounded good to her, let her try each, and then have whichever one she liked least.  So, I have not developed a feel for the Starbucks language skills needed to place an order like all the normal patrons do.

I stood in line the first few weeks feeling like a foreigner in a foreign land while those in front me of me in line let their very complicated sounding orders roll off their tongues while the cashiers reacted with effortlessness jotting of the key words or symbols on the sides of cups (“Triple, Venti, Half Sweet, Non-Fat, Caramel Macchiato” anyone?).  Sometimes the cashier would ask to confirm an order first before the person could even speak.  I assume these people were regulars and ordered the same thing each time.

I quickly wanted to be one of these people.  I wondered how many days or weeks of coming in and ordering the same thing would net me a place among these people.  I was hoping for that “Norm!” feeling like on the TV show “Cheers”.

At first, I just ordered a “Venti Coffee”.  Sometimes the person would ask me what kind of coffee I wanted.  They offered (3) blends each day and when asked I would just indicate that I wanted the darkest roast.  After a while I started ordering a “Venti Dark Coffee”.  I also noticed that most times they would ask if I wanted room for cream (I did).  Occasionally though they would not ask this so I changed my order to  “Venti, Dark Coffee with Room for Cream”.  Once I got my order perfectly worded (and even a bit complicated sounding) I ordered it this way every day, day in and day out for (4) weeks.

I am still waiting for anyone to remember me and my order.  I began to get frustrated about not getting recognized in this way.  I began to formulate hypothesis about why I was not being remembered.  Maybe I needed to order a drink that required some preparation?  My drink was too easy perhaps?  After all, it was just coffee.  They did not even need to write my name down and then yell it out when it was finished.  Maybe that was it, maybe they needed to know my name!  Maybe I need to find something else to order that required some assembly (“Venti Iced Skinny Hazelnut Macchiato, Sugar-Free Syrup, Extra Shot, Light Ice, No Whip” perhaps?).

I think I will continue my morning walks but I think I will stop visiting Starbucks.  It will save me $2.54 per day (the price did go up $0.09 during my visits).  The same thing is only $2.09 downstairs in the cafeteria.  They don’t remember me there either (and I can avoid the Pizza Nazi).  The wife is suggesting we cut back on our caffeine anyway.  I wonder if they will even miss me?

Jon