[r0h1n]

>>“But giving any name at all was making people — you know, the undercover agents — feel very uncomfortable. It just didn’t work for this location.”

>> There are no frequent-customer award cards, because officials fear the data stored on the cards could be mined by marketers and fall into the wrong hands, outing secret agents.

What? CIA agents don't like a real-name policy or their coffee consumption being mined by marketers? Who'da thought.

[thret]

This reminds me of the Seinfeld joke:

Jerry: This isn't a good time.

Telemarketer: When would be a good time to call back, sir?

Jerry: I have an idea, why don't you give me your home number and I'll call you back later?

Telemarketer: Umm, we're not allowed to do that.

Jerry: Oh, I guess because you don't want strangers calling you at home.

Telemarketer: Umm, no.

Jerry: Well, now you know how I feel.

[hangs up phone]

[hughdbrown]

So here's an idea: why doesn't Starbucks create and distribute the names? A sticker goes on the cup and the secret agent gets the corresponding name on a piece of paper. Like, they print paper with two parts: one part is the sticker that goes on the cup and the other goes to the customer.

Or maybe do it inside-out: print the cups with some phrase on them and have paper that peels off with the same phrase to give to the customer. And do it across all the Starbucks stores. I'd like this: the number of times I have to explain "Hugh" [1] or get a cup that says Q or Hue or Hu is modestly annoying.

[1] That conversation goes like this, at least in my imagination: Me: Like Hugh Grant or Hugh Laurie or Hugh Hefner or Hugh Jackman or Hugh Brown. Barista: Who is Hugh Brown? Me: I am Hugh Brown and you are making my coffee.