Aside from sit-down restaurants, the most patronized F&B outlet in town for me is Starbucks or Pacific Coffee. No I don’t really go for the caffeine kick or the taste of freshly ground coffee beans, and quite frankly I don’t find the quality of these coffee chains any appealing either. I visit their outlets when I need a place to rest my feet, stay sober from the crazy pedestrians on the world’s most crowded streets, and to kill time in between appointments around the city. In Hong Kong where a 500 square feet jewellery store in Causeway Bay was reportedly rented for HK$1.4 million per month, or the new to-be-opened Apple store is spending US$20 million on fit-out in Central’s IFC mall, a HK$33 venti cappuccino feels like a bargain for a 2-hour refuge in the midst of all that madness.
There is a lot to be studied under the Starbucks logo. Economists use Starbucks’ pricing of different sized drinks to explain costing theories. Psychologists will tell you how that each order can be customized provides the one final shred of perceived control that each patron gets to salvage in today’s helpless world. Nutritionists question the high calorie content of its Frappucinos (and plenty more), though Starbucks fearlessly rolled out its Trenta-sized iced products that are 30% larger than Venti. At 916 mL, the Trenta is actually larger than the average capacity of the adult human stomach (900mL).
So what are The Top 10 Things You don’t Want To Hear From A Guy At Starbucks? Here is David Letterman’s answer.
10.”We ran out of coffee filters, so I’m using one of my old undershirts.”
9.”Try our triple cappuccino — It’s a legal alternative to crack.”
Confessions of a Corporate Shopaholic 
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