Having four sizes (Short, Tall, Grande and Venti or “小”, “中”, “大” and “特大”) is not new in the US, but it is rather new in Hong Kong and China. What is newer still is the way barristers consistently try to trick customers into buying larger cups. It has been twice for me to face the problem in few days. The conversation goes like this:
Customer: “I would like a tall latte.”
Barrister: (Showing three cup sizes on the counter and pointing to the middle one) “You mean you want this size?”
Customer: “Well, I want a tall one. If that one is a tall one, then yes, I want a tall one.”
Barrister: “Okay then, I give you this one.”
The result if the customer does not check the price is that he just paid for a “grande” instead of a tall coffee. Try asking for a “short” size, the discussion goes on even longer.
The trick is even worse when using chinese. Asking for a “tall” coffee in Chinese is “中”, which means medium. If the staff shows you three cups, pointing to the one in the middle, and asks you to confirm you really want this one, you will end up with a Grande every single time.
For a company that is supposed to strive on customer experience, it feels really pathetic to face this kind of situation.
It’s different in the US as most companies (i.e., McDonald’s and Starbucks among others) phased out the “small” or “short.” Starbucks still offers it but doesn’t display it.
So there are still three sizes, but the bottom size is now larger. I can’t ever keep track if small is now regular, or medium is now large, or what. And so you get into these weird conversations about trying to order LESS food. They’ve done it to confuse us and to upsell us. Horrible persuasive behavior by Starbucks to simply remove the size they don’t want us to order. I’m sure they have numbers and preference info that they would use to justify their decisions (”our customers have told us they want a larger portion size….”)
SuperSize Me anyone?
It is amusing to see that although on the surface greater emphasis is put on health concerns, like obesity and diabetes, at the same time we drink bigger and bigger frappuccinos and cokes…