For us grumpy seniors who are up until all hours of the night (and dare I say, for the teachers too), a cup of coffee can be the only thing capable of keeping our eyelids opened and our brains semi-clear throughout the day.  

Although we fall back to sleep at least twice morning and run out of the house with our hair tangled and our skirts half on, we make time to stop for that necessary caffeine boost. We even (usually) manage to make it to Starbucks and to advisory.

But now, our advisory attendance is in jeopardy. The Starbucks Corporation announced this October that baristas are being told to “slow down” due to complaints about the lack of “romance” in the drink making process.

Say what?

My caffeine-deprived brain didn’t catch that.

If the Starbucks Corporation thinks they are doing us a favor by slowing down their efficient assembly-line method, they are seriously wrong. Making us wake up five minutes earlier to watch a barista give our coffee some TLC is not going to make us any happier.  

And as if Starbucks doesn’t already have enough addicts lined up out the door, they’re now experimenting with selling alcohol.

With this change, not only would Starbucks’s study-friendly atmosphere vanish faster than you can say “ARC,” but teens would no longer be able to work at the coffee chain.  Not exactly great for a tired, job-searching teen.

I beg you Starbucks: save the romance for a date and the alcohol for a bar. Is it really that hard?