great show guys, and thanks for the shout out. Fausto, I can’t believe you went into the Starbucks I was talking about and asked them if they thought I was talking about them! Nice

There is a very friendly woman who works there one day a week, and at another Starbucks in the city 2 days a week…which is who i was referring to

I agree with Marc about working for a small business. I used to work for a tanning salon and the lady who owned it was out of her freaking mind. One time she got mad at me because I wasn’t using the coin hopper that she had bought because it was faster to count the change by hand. She flipped out and broke all the rolls of change open so I would have to use the coin hopper. It was always something crazy with that lady. I still work for a small company but they treat me good. However I know that a lot of my friends who work for large corporations i.e. American Eagle, or Time Warner have much better benefits than I do and more rights as an employee. Including benefits for same sex couples. I know that in Nebraska it is still legal to fire someone for their sexual orientation so working for a small company as a gay man can be scary. Basically a lot of larger corporations are more gay friendly, at least in Nebraska.

I love Starbucks it’s fast and they always have cute boys working at the one by my house. We also have serveral local coffee shops here but they aren’t as convenient. The people who frequent them usually spend a lot of time there talking or reading. I just want a quick cup of coffee to go. If a cute boy serves it up, even better.

Could I just put it out there that I think the fight over Starbucks (and everything else that people are bitching about that is completely unrelated to the issue at hand) is really stupid. If you don’t like it, don’t go. And if you want that consistency, then go.

50+ years ago, when McDonalds opened, the nation was dominated by small, Mom and Pop burger joints. Now, there are barely any left. I would imagine the same thing happening with Starbucks and smaller coffee houses. But today, no one complains about there being no more lucnchcounters left.

Oh, and don’t forget Coke and soda counters, department/grocery chains and general stores… the list goes on and on.

Regardless of Starbucks’ business practices, they have made a name for themselves. There is demand for their products. I don’t like them at all, personally, and do whatever I can to stay away from their stores.

Perhaps it can be said that Starbucks, while successful in the business world, has failed the larger idea of cafe culture and betrayed the idea of an intimate, locally run operation that actually serves good, quality product. Not just a bunch of cups of wet sugar.

PS: I make my living working at a small, intimate, locally run operation that serves good, quality coffee. And I spend every day explaining to people that a ‘caramel macchiato’ is actually just a vanilla latte with whipped cream and caramel on top. If I have one problem with Starbucks, this is it. They’ve convinced many many people they know something, when in reality… they know nothing.

That was absolutely hilarious!

Barb is really f’ing hillarious! If she had her own podcast I’d totally listen. It was refreshing to hear Barb’s post party line insider perspective on Starbucks. Incidentally I posted about a taste test done by Consumer Reports last year in which they rated McDonalds coffee higher than Starbucks:

Starbucks, $1.55, was strong, but burnt and bitter enough to make your eyes water instead of open.

Is that what happened with the gasoline prices too Pete? Is that just supply and demand at work?

There’s no such thing as a free market according to Chomsky.

holla holla!
I listened to the podcast on the road from Cheyanne to Denver yesterday afternoon… Gave away my old mini ipod stuffed with music and feast of fools podcasts to my dear friend to listen to while she drives the rest of the way to Des Moines. She was cracking up and listening the whole time, but frowned when Fausto mentioned nationalized health care. I dont know what to say about that.

politics curdles the custard.

I wrote last night and fragged the posting, when I woke up, it was on a yellow sticky on my monitor….

I’m only 20 mins in but had to pause it and comment before I forget. On the 20 hours a week thing Barb mentioned, I used to work for Wal-Mart and they would let part-timers work over 30 hour weeks like a full-time employee. But so they didn’t have to pay me or others overtime they would lie on the books and slowly space out the extra hours I had done over several weeks when I had worked less then 30. They got away with it b/c Wal-Mart owns everything it uses to function. From the employees to the offices that regulate and set the rules so in the end they would never get caught by the government. It was their way of over working you on holidays and not having to give you the overtime pay so Wal-Mart can save itself some money. No wonder they can sell you shit for less cause they dont pay fairly. Corporate America is a f*cking machine. I hate it b/c in the end no one wins.

Great show. Loved Barb, so very real and honest. Hope to hear her on again sometime. I found a fairly hot gay parody to Kate Perry’s hit, “I Kissed a Girl” Hope Ya’ll enjoy it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BSjbicw59U