It's Not Nag, It's Just Me

Saturday, September 29, 2007

When Caffeine Is the Same as Alcohol?


Okay...why am i blogging again, you might asked? Hmmm..good question. It all began during the trip to Hanoi, which is a crappy trip, by the way. I have no idea how or why...but it was on the 3rd day or something that I suddenly received a dialogue box on the bottom right of my screen mentioned that 'Wireless Network detected'. That is quite new to me as I am aware that the IT people in my company had kind of disabled that feature. Hmmm.....

By the way, this is Halong Bay, at 11am on a bright sunny (aka freaking hot) day.

So, when I came back to Bangkok, I never tried it until one day sitting at Starbucks (another outlet) that I decided to connect to the wifi. Shamefully, I did not connect to the wifi network provided by Starbucks but to McDonalds free wifi. Am I bad? I mean having a latte in Starbucks but accessing McD's wifi. Reasons? McD do not provide that much of a plug point...

Anyway...there was a day where I attempted to connect to Starbucks wifi but alas, it's not free. Fortunately it will be free for normal broadband subscribers as long as one can key in the login name and password. And that is where it ends. I could not remember the password. Until this afternoon, after a few attempts of searching for the password for the past few days, I finally managed to retrieve it...hahaha...so here i am...blogging live.

Oh...i'm supposed to talk about Caffeine and Alcohol.
Too much caffeine will keeps me awake while too much alcohol will makes me sleepy. However, both will make me visit the lavatory more frequently which could be quite an annoyance. In the disco, enjoying the music and dance, and then you need to pee. By then, your spot on the dancefloor would have been quickly taken by others...those leeches! In the cafe, working comfortably and then you need to pee, of which i will have to find me sandal (yes, i normally took off my shoes in Starbucks) first.

And both are expensive too.

going off soon...there's the finale of So You Think You can Dance on TV tonite...Hic!

Raspberry Blackcurrant Grande

That's one of my favorite drink from Starbucks.

Recently, the outlet that I normally frequent employ a non-average looking staff. Well, she's definitely Thai, but she also looks a bit of a half-kid (that's what Thai people term those with mixed blood) and she kinda dye her hair as well. However, I doubt her proficiency in English though. Not that I mind but she's working in Starbucks, located in one of the posh-est area in Bangkok, with many expats stay.

So, there I was, at the counter and there she was feeling very delighted to serve her customer. So I opened my bloody mouth..and spoke (I believed) very clearly...'Raspberry Blackcurrant, Grande'... she was stumped for a while, looking confused and then she uttered the following: "Oh...you want a Latte, hot?"...I kinda looked surprised and raised my voice a little and also point my (bloody) finger to the menu board and said out again...'Raspberry Blackcurrant'...of which another staff came over and save the day.....

So..Starbucks management, let me tell you this...before you put your stuff to man the counter, please make sure the staff clearly aware of all the basic, common products available. This product is not new..it has always been on the menu board...and yet, I'm stumped that a Grande can became a Latte...didn't i mentioned about her English skill...

Hmmmmmmmm.............

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Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Curiously Ridiculous

Was trying to find a word that ryhmes with ridiculous and the only one that came on top of my mind was curious...hence the aptly inappropriate title.

Anyway...don't ask me where I have been since it's been weeks since i've updated this blog. Anyway, this entry is about my favorite fast food restaurant. Unfortunately, this is a negative feedback.

Recently, McD begin changing a number of its outlets into McCafe outlets, which is a combination of the beloved fast food restaurant and a upmarket cafe. Imagine Starbucks+McDonalds (McBucks? StarDonalds?). Anyway, while the concept is good and supposed to expand its consumer base to cater for the yuppies but I just find the ordering of its products a bit annoying and ridiculous. Or am I the one that's being ridiculous?

Perhaps I was being spoilt by Starbucks that i would prefer a big mug of Coffee rather than a small shot (i.e the McD gourmet coffee). But at the same time, I like the McD burger menu. Therefore, I will end up ordering a burger or a McMuffin and then the a regular latte.

As a consumer, I would expect to just place the order with one cashier counter. But the McD management (at least here in Bangkok) have a different idea. They decide to separate the McCafe adn the McDonald's counters. Therefore, I will need to queue and order the latte from one counter, then move on for anoter queue and then order the burger from another counter. I really do not care what was the rationale behind such concept but from a consumer point of view, it's totally ridiculous.

I recalled in Malaysia, there's this McD outlet of which you have to order the dessert from the dessert counter, which is actually another ridiculous idea. The concept behind the Dessert Counter was to cater for On-the-Go consumers who just want a Sundae Cone or a McFlurry while those who want the full meal could go for the main counter.

Imagine if McD in Thailand applied the same ridiculous (have you counted how many times i have used the word 'ridiculous'?) concept, I'll will have to end up going to three counters (queue three times) just to have a burger, a latte and a dessert. It's RIDICULOUS!!!

And for the McD management who happened to be reading this, your McCafe concept kinda suck. Firstly you are no Starbucks, so don't go there. Offering WiFi means you encourage people to visit your outlets and used the laptop to surf the net for hours...but you don't provide plug points. Isn't that RIDICULOUS? It's like offering French Fried but no Ketchup. RIDICULOUS!

McD coffee at Starbucks price...RIDICULOUS!

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