I really should never go to Starbucks. Really.
Problem is, Sunday mornings my downtown options are a bit sparse, Rain Dog, my favorite cafe, always being closed. I vowed to avoid Starbucks and chain-store greed once I'd kicked my Caramel Frappucino habit a couple a years ago--all those calories and all that money..(Plus the fact that I once worked a brief three weeks in a Lincoln Park location during grad school with people being rude and surly and throwing $100 bills at me for a $2 cup of coffee.) I also got really tired of the person in front of me ordering the most complicated drinks known to man and making me late for work. But I stopped in this morning looking for a sandwhich and an iced mocha and was slightly disturbed that when taking my order, they asked me my name. While agree this probably simplifies things and makes it easier to avoid someone else snagging your drink, I was thrown off for a second, and gave her my last name (habit I guess from all the takeout I order) and she acted a bit surprised I hadn't given her my first name. Sure enough the folks in front of me got their coffee after the barrista bellowed out their names and drink orders. "Two vanilla soy latte's for Jack and Jill" and somehow I found the whole thing a little annoying and intrusive. Luckily, I was the only person waiting , so he just handed me my mocha. I'm always a little creeped out when service people call me by my first name like they know me in stores and such. Maybe I'm just strange, but it implies a false sense of familiarity somehow that annoys me.
There was talk a couple years ago of having us wear ID's or name tags when working the front desk, and this also disturbed me. Occasionally, some of my co-workers have attracted crazy stalker types. There are a lot of freaky people around here and I would prefer most of them not know my name. We have some little name tags we can wear during special events if we like, but I'd prefer to avoid the "HI, MY NAME IS KRISTY..." sort of thing altogether.
