UNCONVENTIONAL THINKING BLOG

There is no doubt that right now, in mid-2007, Google is the premier company in the world. It buys all of the best minds, it drives them to keep making the impossible, possible, it grows its business model almost daily and it makes it all work, cubed. It seems there is nothing Google can’t do.

So I say it’s time for the search engine, advertising, algorithm crunching juggernaut to buy Starbucks. Starbucks? Why the hell would they want to do that? Because what used to be one of the true stars of the corporate galaxy-a Google of its industry-is now a sad, tired, arrogant, sloppy, remnant of the past. Yesterday, I had breakfast with a friend in the Starbucks in New Canaan, CT. Did I say breakfast? Airlines don’t serve such plastic food. But we were there and hungry so we picked the best of the worst and then set out to find a table outdoors. Oh, there were plenty of tables, but we had the temerity to want a CLEAN one. At the Starbucks 2007, that is always mission impossible. So we bused the table ourselves and enjoyed the autumn like day in New England. And then we both had to use the restrooms and let me say I’m glad we ate first. I know this store has been open for years-and it used to be a delight when Starbucks still had the word “customer” in its lexicon-but I don’t think the restrooms have ever been cleaned. EVER! My friend and I could only debate if the ladies room was more disgusting than the men

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 30th, 2007 at 5:04 pm and is filed under Business, Management, Marketing, Small Business, Unconventional Thinking . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.