Standing in our front hallway I was ready to head to the airport. I needed a cab to get me there, so out came my iPhone, into Google I went, and typing “call yellow cab vancouver” I pressed the number Google showed me without a second glance. I was surprised that rather than be put on hold a voice answered immediately and said:
“Black Top Cabs, David speaking”
Twenty years ago, Starbucks started expanding north into Canada and Vancouver was one of the first cities to see a proliferation of Starbucks stores. At the time, I was looking for a coffee store where there was skim milk (non fat milk for my non-Canadian friends) on the counter. I was tired of coffee shops where I had to constantly ask for cold skim milk for my coffee. Fortunately, Starbucks included skim milk on the counter in every single one of their stores. For me, this was the key differentiator that made me a Starbucks customer for the last 20 years.
The last two weeks, skim milk has been disappearing from Vancouver Starbucks stores. Every time I get a Starbucks coffee, which is usually more than once every day, I have to ask for skim milk so that I can add it to my coffee. When I do, a four litre jug is retrieved from the back and put on top of the counter for me to open and pour into my coffee. Not only has Starbucks taken away the key differentiator that made me become a customer in the first place, they make the experience of getting what I want unpleasant.
Music is one of my hobbies and something I have had in my life from a very young age. After feeling stagnant with my music for some time, I’ve been looking at more ways to put music back into my life.
I listen to CBC Radio 2 Tonic. My passion is jazz music and Tonic is a nightly program that features two hours of jazz music. A few times lately I have been listening to Tonic when I have heard a musician that I really liked.
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about his experiences in trying to rent a place for him and his family for summer holidays. He had used a couple of the popular online sites. He had made inquires on several properties and was surprised that even after 24 hours some of his inquiries had never got a response.
I am often surprised at how strongly I react to the physical form factor of things that I buy and use. My wife does the toothpaste buying in our house and she recently bought Crest toothpaste that came in new packaging. At first it seems like a good idea — toothpaste that will stand up on the bathroom counter.