Do you want three shots or four?

The UK has certain distinctive advantages over America: the history, the unique atmosphere, the pubs, the bookstores. It is really a wonderful place to live. But America does much better than the UK on a few fronts. Selection, for one, is infinitely better here, whether in the housing market or the grocery store. Most of all, though, I have noticed how much more convenient everything is in America. You can get food practically any time of the day or night, most stores are open until at least nine or ten: whatever you need is right at your fingertips. Unfortunately, that also applies to whatever you want, and America simply wants too much.

Having convenient access to your needs is a very good thing. Even having easy access to your wants can be a good thing, as long as those wants are held in check. But without due control, the occasional indulgence can morph into full blown greed. Then we begin to think that what we want is what we need and will not take no for an answer. This sense of entitlement is unfortunately all around us.

I recently was in a Starbucks for a quick coffee when I observed a most troublesome scene. Before me in line was a middle-aged woman, rather orange with fake tan and loaded down with every possible type of jewelry. Along with her thirty or forty rings she carried a Gucci bag and yapped vigorously on her Blackberry, loudly complaining about the long line of two people in front of her. When she finally made it to the till 45 seconds later, she ordered a triple grande latte. For those of you not into coffee, that's a medium latte with three shots of espresso (there is no "x" in espresso), "But you can throw in a fourth shot if you want to," she told the barista. You see, every time Starbucks brews espresso, two shots are produced because of the machine set-up. So this lady knew that four shots of espresso would be made to create her three-shot drink. The extra one would have been used in my drink.

"You did just want a triple grande, not a quadruple grande, right?" the barista enquires.
"Well, yes, but you'll have an extra, so if you just want to get rid of it in my drink, that's fine. That's what they always do at the Starbucks I normally go to."

By this point I had already ordered my drink, which also required espresso, with the other cashier, so clearly the extra shot would find a home, but the woman was making it very clear that she wasn't just trying to help the baristas, she actually expected them to give her the fourth shot for free. At only fifty cents a shot, I was rather appalled by the dicotomy of her affluent appearance and her miserly coffee habits. It's one thing when a long-time barista throws in an extra shot for a loyal customer because of friendship; it's not the same when you purposefully buy one shot fewer than you want just because you are stingy, while all along expecting a better beverage than you purchased.

Just today in the car I heard a Schick (I think) commercial making use of America's sense of entitlement. The whole commercial is founded on examples of people ordering less than they expect. First someone orders a burger and is mad that he did not receive two burgers. Then someone else buys three of something while expecting four. Schick then steps in to say that we should expect more than we pay for, and that's why Schick gives us three blades for the price of two.

The idea that we deserve more than we actually pay for is a by-product of American convenience. It has become so firmly established that the customer is always right that customers now often demand much more than is right. It's McDonald's fault if you can't hold your coffee properly in your car; it's the Universal Studios' fault if you go into their haunted house and "suffer mental anguish." Preposterous. (By the way, here is site detailing a few ridiculous lawsuits.) Nor should you assume you can get something more than you pay for without a coupon. It's time we lost these "rights," for they were never ours to begin with. Convenience is no excuse for greediness.