English Professor Kicked Out Of Starbucks For Ordering 'Incorrectly,' Cursing At Barista

MANHATTAN -- An English professor claims she was ejected from an Upper West Side Starbucks by cops for refusing to order according to the coffee chain's rules, according to the New York Post.

Lynne Rosenthal, who says she holds a PhD from Columbia, told the paper she asked for a toasted multigrain bagel at the Starbucks on 86th Street and Columbus Avenue -- then blew her top when the staffer behind the counter asked her if she wanted butter or cheese on top.

"I just wanted a multigrain bagel," Rosenthal told the Post. "I refused to say 'without butter or cheese.' When you go to Burger King, you don't have to list the six things you don't want."

"Linguistically, it's stupid, and I'm a stickler for correct English."

Rosenthal, whose grudge against the coffee chain also extends to refusing to order by the trademark "tall" and "venti" sizes, next began yelling at the staffer to hand over her plain bagel, until the manager finally called the police, according to the Post.

Starbucks staff said Rosenthal incited the face-off by hurling profanities at the staffer.

"She called [the barista] an a--hole," one worker who witnessed the incident told the Post.

Comments

[Nick Traitouros]

08:39 AM on 08/26/2010

We knew it would come to this.

[chertre]

12:08 AM on 08/25/2010

What I find hard to understand is how this professor could sound so self-right­eous and proud of her behavior. Being that rude to someone, ESPECIALLY if you have a doctorate to live up to, is shameful.

My own experience working in retail affirms the first commentato­r's beliefs about certain customers just "having it in" for an employee. Whatever receiving end of the conversati­onal exchange you're on, you should try to facilitate understand­ing rather than find lack thereof a reason to spill your anger out

[wilray]

01:55 PM on 08/23/2010

I wonder want the Professor does at Burger King. Does she order a Whopper? Or does she say "I want a really big burger with a lot of stuff on it?" At McDonald's does she order a quarter pounder or does she order a burger royale? Did you know you can buy beer or fabric by the yard?

http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=fKLNp890Q­lc

http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=JJBMGArun­DM&NR=1

[shelagh63]

10:37 AM on 08/23/2010

Oh dear a typo..indi­vidual. What can you expect from a wage slave?

[shelagh63]

10:35 AM on 08/23/2010

Starbucks is the devil for sure. But why oh why do disgruntle­d customers think that it is accepptabl­e to take their complaints out on a BARISTA WHO IS NOT PAID A LIVING WAGE? WHY? To what end does the doctor expect in abusing an hourly employee? What sort of entightled­, educated, guest in a coffee shop abuses hourly employees. I'll tell you; after thirty years in the hospitalit­y biz I have met this woman many times, sometimes she imateriali­zes as an arrogant and abusive male, sometimes a drunken teenager, sometimes a pissed off anybody. I cannot tell you how many meals that I have had to comp for oh, I don't know, a pissed off guest who was looking for a fight, maybe a couple had a disagreeme­nt on their way into dinner, maybe a professor who was denied tenure that day, maybe an anybody with a hangover. Looking for a fight. Ridiculous and pathetic. Perhaps if the good doctor had taken up her distaste for the store's lingo with the indivisual­s responsibl­e for said lingo and not going off on an hourly employee things would not have escalated into her arrest. This type of conduct merely feeds the immolation of polite discourse in a civilzed society. How sad, the squanderin­g of an education.­..to prove a futile point at the expense of an hourly wage earner.

[Ben Cohn]

12:33 PM on 08/23/2010

I cannot disagree more. When you work as the clerk at a place your are responsibl­e for taking complaints of customers and dealing with them in a reasonable and rational manner. The reasonable thing to do in this instance on the second time the the Prof said "give me a multigrain bagel" would be to give it to them no questions asked. Heck I've worked at places were not only would that be what the boss told us, but then even if that same jerk customer got the bagel and said "hey I wanted butter on it", you smile and say sorry and put butter on it, you don't say something like, "but you said you wanted a plain one". The customer is not always right, but doing what the customer asks is almost always the correct buisness decision.

[Puffin16]

04:24 PM on 08/19/2010

My son worked for Starbucks (and always seemed to clash with the manager, who was into the rule book big time. They taught him to speak "Starbucki­an" and he was told to correct the customers who didn't use the terminolog­y correctly. So Mr. Sarcastic (my son) would correct the customes the opposite way if they did use the Starbuckia­n. No, you don't want a venti, you want a large!

He didn't work there very long.

[Myshkin57]

10:32 PM on 08/19/2010

I don't get all the problems with 'venti'. 'Venti' means 'twenty' since it's a 20-ounce cup, so the name makes perfect sense. 'Large' actually makes less sense because 'large' is a relative term, and isn't a descriptio­n of any intrinsic property of the size.

[deweydecimal]

09:09 PM on 08/22/2010

I agree and they have a grande size.

[owlsocks]

06:08 AM on 08/24/2010

Yes 'venti' means twenty. But we don't live in Italy, and neither does Starbucks home office.

It's sounds a bit snobbish and elitist, and is really just speech promoted to make their business seem a bit less like a cookie-cut­ter coffee chain. (Which is exactly what Starbucks is.)

[MajorKong]

02:34 PM on 08/19/2010

Pretty stupid thing to get into a shouting match over.

A bulldog will beat a skunk 10 out of 10 but it ain't worth the fight.

[JStading]

11:58 PM on 08/18/2010

He got ejected for swearing at the person who was likely one of the 600 students who is paying over $5,000 for the privilege of being crammed into his 8 AM lecture on the Foundation­s of Western Literature­.

The only reason people typically work for Starbucks is because they need the health benefits or because they need the (typically low) wage to eek by while in school. Either way, they don't deserve to be crucified for enforcing a corporate policy that requires them to take orders a certain way.

[blownfuses]

07:29 PM on 08/18/2010

If you were to simply ask the barista for cream cheese, then is it implied that you'd like a bagel with that?

No. Cream cheese is still just cream cheese. A bagel is not just a bagel anymore.
I will always indicate my requests for toppings in my original order.

My local Starbucks routinely asks me if I'd like to upgrade my coffee size. How irritating­! I always want a size small, so I order a medium. When the barista tries to convince me of the size large instead, I say "Oh no! That's far too much. You know what.. I'll just take a small coffee instead."

[wilray]

05:46 PM on 08/18/2010

She should never meet Sarah Palin. The way Sarah murders the language, I can see the English Prof. doing the same to her. The only question would be was it a premeditat­ed homicide, or was it temporary insanity.

[ObamaSupporterPete]

01:00 PM on 08/23/2010

It is clearly an instance of community service.

[OldenAtwoody]

06:40 AM on 08/18/2010

Jack Nicholson (Bobby Dupea): I'd like an omelet, plain, and a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast, no mayonnaise­, no butter, no lettuce. And a cup of coffee.

Lorna Thayer (Waitress)­: A #2, chicken salad sand. Hold the butter, the lettuce, the mayonnaise­, and a cup of coffee. Anything else?

Jack Nicholson (Bobby): Yeah, now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, give me a check for the chicken salad sandwich, and you haven't broken any rules.

Lorna Thayer (Waitress)­: You want me to hold the chicken, huh?

Jack Nicholson (Bobby): I want you to hold it between your knees.

[stargazer13]

03:16 AM on 08/18/2010

aah professor I order rye toast dry all the time and most of the time it comes to me wet with grease butter ! about 90% of the time the wait staff who bring me my toast dry I make sure they get a big tip

and the others who bring me my toast dripping with grease butter I make them take the toast of my bill

and I am a waitress by trade so I kinda understand ! Kinda

[courtb]

08:02 AM on 08/18/2010

At starbucks, they just give you the toppings, you put them on yourself. So I personally don't understand at all.

[Havana Thinks]

01:17 AM on 08/18/2010

What race was the Starbucks employee? Was the barista's last name Gonzalez or perhaps Wong?
Did she have an accent?

I ask these ?'s believing the Ph deed stuffy old professor may have been offended not by the words so much; but more bcuz the barista was a different race, color, etc...

[carlgardner]

10:07 AM on 08/18/2010

Maybe she's got this out of proportion­, maybe she's unreasonab­le, maybe she's got a disproport­ionate bee in her bonnet. I don't know. I don't think any of us knows enough about what happened to be sure what we'd have thought if we'd been there and seen and heard it. On what we've been told, I can imagine all sorts of reasonable reactions both for and against her.

But to immediatel­y accuse her of racism? On no evidence? That strikes me as an unreasonab­le, unfair reaction. Funny that your own comment betrays some evidence of prejudice against her because of her age.

[american truth]

12:54 PM on 08/18/2010

I don't know...Col­umbia's pretty left leaning.

Its a university nestled right in between Latino and African-Am­erican communitie­s. Many professors and employees are of Latino, African-Am­erican, and Asian decent.

[Nichole Boultas]

12:02 AM on 08/18/2010

Barista I meant. Sorry.

[Nichole Boultas]

11:54 PM on 08/17/2010

Oh my God. Why couldn't that barrister just drop it and let het have the bagel?

[Myshkin57]

10:34 PM on 08/19/2010

Did you read the article? She started on her tirade before she got it.