It's not about the whipped cream.

Dear Starbucks,

I've been a loyal customer for about a decade and I've even been one of your employees. I know what it means to be part of the Starbucks team and give back to the community. I recall how important it was to learn customer names, their favorite drinks, what day they'd come in, and whether or not their son's t-ball won the championship team. It's supposed to be the coffee shop version of Cheers, where everyone knows your name.

But this isn't the case anymore. No one knows my name at my neighborhood Starbucks, because they don't ask. I'm just another lady in a long line of customers being helped by exasperated baristas. Rushing to fill drink orders, they barely look up from the register. "Can I help the next person in line?" is the most common phrase, no longer is it, "how's your day?" or "is your son's swim team doing well this season?".

This brings me to the constant issue I have with my very simple drink order: Grande Mocha Peppermint Frappuccino with no whipped cream. It doesn't matter what order I put those words in, at my neighborhood Starbucks, they don't know my name, and I always end up with whipped cream, and I always have to hand it back and ask the barista to remake it. They usually don't. 9 times out of 10 the whipped cream is simply scraped off into the trash leaving some behind, and always stuck in the straw that was already inserted for me.

I don't write this to gripe and moan about my drink, the only drink I ever order, being wrong. I write this to let you know that when a customer visits an establishment a few times a week, every week, and orders the same drink every time, that establishment should take the time to learn that loyal customer's name. What happened to the "wow factor" when it comes to customer service? At Starbucks, it's gone.