Starbucks - Woodmere, Ohio

I'm back!  I've made the long distance move from New Jersey to Ohio and come through the holidays.  I'm very excited to get back to my Starbucks visits and blogs.  This Starbucks is my local Starbucks.  Today is my second visit to this cafe.  I found the store just as busy today as it was during my first visit in December.  Upon entering, I grabbed the first available table, which became available because someone was leaving as I came in.  The seating area was totally occupied.  As I was settling my things, a couple of women decided to leave.  I liked their table better than mine so I quickly gathered my things and moved.  I found that I would be sharing the table with one of their coffee cups.  It so irritates me that some people feel that it is perfectly okay for them to leave behind their trash for someone else to remove.  I find this kind of behavior as rude as that of those who feel that they are too good to either open doors for themselves or to say "thank you" when someone has opened it for them.  Unfortunately, I've found that most of the time it is a woman who behaves in this manner, but I've had a few men do the same.  I've taken to saying loudly "Thank you" or "Your Welcome" when this happens to me, however I'm not so sure that those words even register the way I want them to with the rude person.  I wonder what the truly appropriate response to that kind of behavior might be, a response that would "hit home".  By the way, not picking up your own trash comes in as #10 on the rude behaviors list at the site listed below.

After settling in, I went to the register to order my coffee.  Usually I order a Tazo China Green Tips tea, but today I took great risk in ordering a fully caffeinated Starbucks brewed coffee at 4:00 PM.  I ordered a Tall Blonde Roast, the latest addition to the Starbucks brewed coffee choices.  But Blonde Roast?  There is nothing blonde about this coffee.  How do they come up with these names?  What happened to light roast, mild roast, etc.?   Anyway, Blonde Roast in hand I headed to my table, along the way I noticed that a gentleman was leaving.  As I preferred his location, I confirmed that he was leaving.  "I'll take your table then.  I like it better.  Real estate in this cafe is a tightly held and valued commodity."  He said, "Yes.  It's ridiculous!"  I then noticed that his location was not as highly valued as I had thought, there was no outlet!  "Oh, there's no outlet." I said.  He replied, "The reason that I'm leaving.  It's ridiculous!"  Back to my first location I went.  Although, it was a bit chilly at my table,  I was sitting next to a window, I did like the view.  Just outside my window was Malley's Chocolates.  The store's window front and door were romantically decorated with red and pink roses, presents wrapped in heart paper and heart-shaped boxes of various sizes full of promises of candy for love, all under a red roses fabric valence.  It is truly an adorable store front.  Made me think of a couple of my favorite holiday movies SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE and YOU'VE GOT MAIL.  Does that make Tom Hanks my favorite holiday actor?  Probably.  I can't wait to visit Malley's.   Such a happy little face!

INTERESTING ACTIVITIES:  It seems to me that this Starbucks is a favorite meeting place for people who need to study in groups.  There were multiple groups working together or people being tutored.  At the table beside me sat a man tutoring a young woman.  "Mr. Tutor" caught my attention the moment he came in, he had thin frizzy reddish blonde hair that he had painstakingly blown and hair sprayed to cover his bald spots and ears.  Yes, I said ears.  Perhaps in the winter he prefers a hair covering to ear muffs or a hat, both of which would mess with his hairdo.  He was a small man dressed in black pants, black turtle neck and black shirt with black wingtips.  Soon after he came in, a young woman came in and sat down at his table.  Before long he was helping the woman with Advanced Algebra.   I could hear him in his heavy Eastern European accent say things like, "I've told you this before.  What is this? A joke?"  She would simply giggle and proceed to give some excuse for her answer choice or poor work.   During the time that I sat like a hawk watching for better real estate, he tutored more than three students and took scheduling phone calls in-between sessions.  He was still working when I left several hours later.  Guess he's good.  And YES, I proudly listend in on the conversations around me.

Comfort Comments:  At this location there was a fireplace along one of the side walls.  It was positioned on top of a concrete platform that is just right height for relaxing your feet while you enjoy your drink sitting in a comfy leather arm chair.  There was a wide variety of seating options:  small two person cafe tables, two person bar tables, four person square tables and over-stuffed leather arm chairs.  I like the fact that the register and barista area is in the back of the store.  This arrangement allows the customer to be somewhat removed from the business and noise of the bar area.

Shop Critique:  There was only one condiments table and it is located at the back of the store by the bar area.

Employee Comments:  The employee who served me at the register was helpful and friendly.  Since the bar area and the condiments area are in the back of the store, I have not had the opportunity to observe the employees or the ongoing condition of the condiments table.   I did find the women's rest room clean and the condiments table clean and orderly when I ordered and when I left.  The cafe itself was clean, well except for that cup so rudely left on the table.

Pick of the Week:  Madi Diaz "Let's Go"
NEW (at least to me) at Starbucks:  Bookish Reading Club - I love this idea.  While on wifi at a Starbucks you can read books free online.  The books are available for a limited time, but while available you can read and participate in discussion with other readers.  How cool is that?!!  I love it.    Marvel Digital Comics  What fun!

Interesting/Entertaining: 
http://www.starbucks.com/
http://www.propermanners.delphireview.com/rude-behavior-in-public.html
http://www.malleys.com/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108160/  Sleepless in Seattle
http://youvegotmail.warnerbros.com/
http://www.woodmerevillage.com/

Starbucks - Commack, Long Island, New York

Another Starbucks Coffee with a drive-thru!

I have never been one to ever run into Starbucks Coffee, order then take off. So, these drive-thrus are just beyond me. From the early 90s when I visited my first Starbucks outside of Seattle, which was in Houston, I've loved the Starbucks Coffee shops. Not only are most painted in colors that I find soothing, but most also have furniture in arrangements that beg me to stick around.

Throw in the music and I'm more than happy to settle in.

This Starbucks Coffee is quite large inside. I headed immediately to the leather couch to stake out my claim. That being done, I placed my order, "Venti China Green Tips, one bag in, one bag out please." I decided to tweak my order just to see what response I would get. The barista didn't miss a beat. She simply asked me if I would like for her to give me the bag or put it into a cup. It felt really good to have someone listen to me and to hear me. It seems that we communicate with one another more now than ever via phones, cell phones, email, texting, etc. Yet so many people say that they feel like no one listens to them. We're all too distracted. Maybe this is the real service and free gift that Starbucks gives its customers. Not only do they listen, but they hear us. Could this be why people are willing to run in, run out or go through the drive-thru passing up the comfortable seating? Being heard, whether ordering a drink, expressing an opinion or saying 'I love you', makes us feel connected and valuable. With my renewed sense of value, I organized myself on the couch and began my soldier's letter. I wondered if my soldier would enjoy 'listening' to me as he read my thoughts on the importance of listening.

Enjoying this Starbucks Coffee with me were several people reading, a group of people having a meeting, a few people working on their computers and a couple of men sitting at a table playing with what appeared to be their new fancy cell phones. I was so entertained by them that I found myself meeting one of the gentlemen eye to eye a couple of times. At one point, he raised up the newspaper that they were photographing with their phone cameras in order to hide his face as he spoke to the other gentleman. I cracked a smile. He just didn't appreciate how lucky he was, someone was listening!

COMFORT COMMENTS: Larger than most Starbucks Coffee shops that I've been in, this shop has a leather couch with a coffee table and two small side tables, four over-stuffed chairs with a foot stool at one of them, two computer tables with a free standing floor lamp at one of the tables, multiple round tables and a small alcove with two more over-stuffed chairs. There were so many good choices of seating that I was almost driven to try them all. I especially liked the the warm touch that two oriental rugs provided. It seemed to me that customers liked using the free standing floor lamp. It put out a nice soft lighting for the computer table. As you can see in the photo, this Starbucks Coffee has many large windows. Most of the windows had pull down shades which the customers could and did use as needed. Besides the floor lamp and oriental rugs, another unusual item in this Starbucks was a large screen TV that displayed the title and artist of the music that was being played. I loved that and found myself using it a couple of times. Nice! I've never mentioned this in previous blogs, but Starbucks gives away cards for a free song from I-tunes each week. This program is called Pick of the Week. Although I do not use the cards myself, I do send them to my soldiers in their letters. I sent a couple to my daughter when she was studying in Venice, Italy. She gave me a thumbs up for doing that.

SHOP CRITIQUE: I found this shop to be very clean except for the condiments table. When I came in the condiments table was messy with sugar, milk spills and paper. After two hours of being in the shop, I noticed a customer ask for more creamer. An employee carried more creamer to the condiments table, but did not tidy-up the table. It was still messy when I left. I've noticed that this seems to be a problem in all the Starbucks that I've been to so far. Is this because the employees get busy behind the counter and just forget or do they not see it as a problem? I don't know, but I don't like the way it looks and Starbucks shouldn't either. I found the women's restroom to be very clean and neat. Not only was there a user friendly trashcan but a soap dispenser that actually works leaving no puddle on the floor. Although most of the windows had pull down shades, the front windows did not. I had to adjust my seating due to the heat and brightness of the morning sun.

EMPLOYEE COMMENTS: I found the employee that served me to be friendly and efficient. Other than that it was difficult to watch or inter-act with the employees due to the size of the shop.

HELPFUL/INFORMATIONAL WEB-SITES:

www.soldiersangels.org

www.starbucks.com

www.ehow.com/how_6055026_listen-other.html