Should I Give Them A Second Chance?

After I logged a complaint on Starbucks.com, I got a nice note back that apologized for the service I received at 7&E location and they asked if they can send me some free drink coupons for my troubles. Sure, but I am not sure if I will be the one using them. I may just give them out to my Starbucks junkie friends. You think you can win me back with a few coupons? We will just have to see how much coupon we are talking about. After all, since the price hike of nine cents on every drink, I can probably get a tall something with nothing added. I could be wrong. Maybe I will be surprised. So, I ask you, should I give them a second chance?

Maybe I should ask the folks over at Starbucks Gossip. I found their blog (hilarious by the way) during my search for the ultimate complaint against the mocha monopoly. Maybe before I reconsider I should check out the Starbucks Oracle, which tells me the type of person I am based on what I order from the Barista.

Oh and P.S. - the only Starbuck I like is the female pilot on Battlestar Galactica. I bet she doesn't drink your coffee!

UPDATE: I guess I got my Good Coffee Karma back...two days in a row I have had positive experiences at Starbucks. I ordered a tall coffee and they made me a grande, no extra charge. Then, today, they accidentally made one too many grande coffees and just handed it to me. Granted I am on the other side of the river, so perhaps this doesn't count as it is technically not D.C. customer service. Coffee Karma can be a powerful thing, so I told the baristas that they run a great ship in their Pentagon City location.

Can I Get A Venti Fistful Double Shot Full Caff Can of Whoop Ass?!

I am done with Starbucks. Let the boycott begin immediately. Your monopolistic customer service has annoyed me for the last time.

Andiamo a Vapiano?

This just might be my first FORK DC blog entry. After a long day at work...we are talking 11.5 hours, I decided to walk home from Farragut North, near my office. On my way, I walked by this new restaurant experience known as Vapiano Pasta Pizza Bar. I have to admit, when I walked in and had to receive a briefing before dinner, just on how to order dinner, I was a little turned off. But, hell, I had a long day and the idea of having a steaming bowl of fresh pasta, made right in front of me, was truly appealing.

For a full review, log on to the FORK DC blog: http://forkdc.blogpsot.com

Not Having to Carry Change All Day...Priceless

I hate change. No, not that kind of change. I mean the change that you accumulate with every purchase of a coffee or a soda. First you break the 20, then you break the 10 and then you spend a five and all you have left is a pocket full of change. I hate walking around making that jingling sound, exhibiting a treble beat with every step. My keys are enough to make a metallic beat with every walk, but adding change just makes my walk obnoxious. So, as a result, I don't carry change. Instead, it just piles up on my desk or by my beside table until I get enough courage to take it to one of those change counting machines. Ergo, I am a big fan of my checkcard, compliments of the company that brought you the phrase, "Priceless. For everything else, there's MasterCard."

That being said, I hate when people stop and ask me for change - mainly because I never carry it with me. Believe me, when I have it on me, any chance I am given to rid of it, I will gladly turn it over. So, please don't take it personally, when I say I don't have any change. And to the homeless man I lost my cool in front of tonight, I apologize. I know you may never read this, but you caught me at the end of a long day. I was just set off by you asking me for change and then pitching a fit and giving me attitude when I said I don't carry change. You called me a liar and other words I dare not type, and that was not fair. Dare I ask why the homeless in this town have such an attitude?

Do You Mind Waiting While We Fix Our Camera?

D.C. is not known for its customer service. Institutions like the Department of Motor Vehicles do not help the negative reputation this city maintains. I now remember why, when I renew any sort of license, registration or other bureaucratic documentation for this city, I elect to pay the max and renew for the longest time period possible. It is because after enduring the battle of all things bureaucracy, I never want to step foot in one of D.C.'s government offices again.

Who remembers the first time they had to take their vehicle down to get it inspected? Remember how you felt when you crossed out of NW DC and found yourself on that Anacostia freeway only to wait in a line that wrapped around the block, a block that was not in the best part of town. Boy did you stick out in your Honda Accord with that sticker on your bumper that screams I am a yuppy and I am proud of my yuppee-in-the-making son who will hopefully go to Georgetown and then work as an intern on the hill and then run for Congress somewhere and go down in history as a corrupt politician!

Well, my most recent battle with he-who-should-not-be-named, i.e. THE DC DMV, began one early morning, mid-week. After losing sleep all night about whether I would get there in time, I got up around six in the morning to prepare my documents and rehearse my answers for the big bad BUREAUCRATUM! I got to the Georgetown DMV location exactly 45 mins before the office opened. I was shocked to see fellow DC residents already waiting, no, camped out! This reminded me of undergraduate days, when we would all try and beat each other the the registrar's office to be first in line to sign up for Organic Chemistry or Diff EQ. If you were in the first 50 people, you would be good. Not true here. If you made the top 10, I think you could guarantee getting your license or registration in time to get to work. After all, this was a weekday and yes, I had planned to lose productivity for this - my license to drive in the nation's capital.

So, after being yelled at by the contracted security guard - can't blame him, he is just doing his job and exhibiting his LITTLE POWER, we were allowed in to take a ticket. My ticket, as you can see said my wait time was 4 minutes! Sweet! I would so get to work on time. Of course I spoke to soon and some bureaucrat must have seen the elation on my face, because just as I took my seat, an announcement was made.

Ladies and Gentlemen, if you are here to get a license or id or renew a license or id, you are going to have to wait. Our camera is currently broken and we don't know how long it will be down. We have called the repairman to come take a look at it, but he will not be here for a while. You are welcome to wait, but I don't know how long it will be. We will let you know.

Well, you would have thought I was in a scene of the Breakfast Club. Businessmen and women, moms and dads, college students all turned into angry scowling customers and threw pens and clipboards and gasped and sighed. I swear I even heard a few f bombs. I am sure it was not within earshot of the security guard, because I think he was itching to throw someone out, and he would have had a great start to the day if he could make an example out of one of us pissed off customers.

Well, I guess you know where I am going with this. My four minutes vanished and someone got turned into two and a half hours of waiting. Thank goodness I had a good book and my iPod to distract me for a while. Of course the longer we waited the more angry the mob got and I did get to see one man thrown out. There were several coffee violators who tried to sneak something other than water into the DMV. NO GO! So, another two hours of my life gone and all I have to show for it is this little ticket stub that says they took 4 minutes of my time.

Unfortunately, this ticket stub didn't really fly for a note explaining my tardiness to my boss. He just shook his head and said, "better time management." I quit right there and then.

Okay, so I didn't really quit, but I wanted to call the rest of the day a loss. Now I am good until 2012 or at least until I move.

Who Decides The Code Red?

Do you ever wonder who gets the decision authority to declare a code orange or code red day in the Nation's Capital? Is it the weather man? Is it the mayor? Is it a health official? I just want to know who I can send a thank you note to when I get a free ride on the bus or a free ride on the metro. Of course, a free ride on the bus comes with drawbacks - namely everyone takes the bus. Thank goodness I get a seat early in the commute, because otherwise I wouldn't not be happy about standing face to armpit with someone trying desperately not to fall with every touch of the break pedal. No, instead I get there early, get a seat and read the paper all the way home while people fight their way to the back of the bus - "Can you please move down?"

Although the other day, there was this guy who had a huge umbrella. You know the type that look like jousting sticks. He was listening to his iPod and with every beat of his music he would pound the tip of his umbrella on the floor of the bus. Well, it drove me absolutely batty! I turned around and shot him several looks that said, "Cut it out!" He was clueless and had no idea. He continued to do it until the bus driver got pissed and stopped the bus to ask him to stop. Of course, the man did not hear him because he had his iPod earbuds in his head. Finally some woman tapped him and got his attention. The bus driver explained to him that every time he would pound his umbrella on the floor, the driver would think there was something wrong with the bus and it was making that noise. So, the idiot stopped. I was able to enjoy the rest of my code red bus trip all the way to NW D.C.

What's With the Big Red Ds?

Has anyone else noticed these big red d’s around town? I have noticed them in some funky sculpturesque looking bike racks around the city. I also saw a few maintenance trucks driving around with a big red d period on it. Is this supposed to be some sort of campaign to infuse DC pride? Maybe it is the sister project to the failed attempt in Baltimore. Does anyone remember that BELIEVE campaign that Mayor O’Malley, now Governor O’Malley, kicked off. All those banners were hanging around Baltimore for a few years and were supposed to force people to have pride in their city and clean up and all that stuff. Is that what this is? I just need someone to tell me, because I don't want to make a fool out of myself when I try and lock my bike up to one of these supposed pieces of artwork and get in trouble or something.

Will The Drowning Man Take His Last Breath?

D.C. is a town built on rumors. Political playing fields peppered with hungry egos makes fertile ground for rumors. I recently read a review of those books that make up the series "Overheard in New York." The concept that you publish the scandalous things you overhear on the street or in the subway cars, DC is prime real estate for this. I don't get too excited or agitated by the rumors that buzz with the day to day politics of D.C., but every once and a while there is a really interesting one. You know the ones about the baseball stadium or the metro fare hikes or even the HOV lanes. Well, the latest I heard is that they are going to remove The Drowning Man from Hains Point. I haven't been over there in a while, but maybe I should go pay my last respects, just in case the rumor is true. Random movie trivia to close out the posting. What movie has an opening seen that shows a politician committing suicide near The Drowning Man sculpture?

Update: Clearly, I am a little behind the times with my rumor mill. Thanks to Sarah for posting a comment to let me know the following from the WashingtonPost:

"The Awakening" sculpture, which had been part of the Hains Point landscape since 1980, was bought this spring and will become part of the waterfront development as well.

Does this mean I can go visit him down in the waterfront?