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THE WEEKLY WIPE

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12-second Wi-Fi interruption elicits silent rebuke from Starbucks patron

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April 1, 2008 | Issue 5-13

TUCSON, Ariz. – A brief lull in Wi-Fi service Monday at an area Starbucks sent customer Sean Miles into a rage that triggered an internal chastisement the coffee shop, leading him to contemplate submitting a bitterly-worded complaint on the company’s website.

 

Miles, a University of Arizona junior, spends hours each week at the Starbucks near the school’s campus. “I’ve never had a problem with my connection here before,” said Miles, while feverishly attempting to refresh his Gmail account. “This is a horrible waste of time. I haven’t even logged on to Facebook yet.”

 

The junior political science major almost went to complain to the store’s staff after the first eight seconds without Wi-Fi but instead decided to make extra noise by left-clicking his browser’s refresh button from a height of two feet and frequently rolling his eyes to a cadence of loud exhales until his signal was restored.

 

While wireless service was re-established in less than a half minute, Miles wonders if this type of thing will become a regular occurrence in the future. He said he will consider submitting feedback on Starbucks’ website outlining his displeasure but said he likely will not do so because “the Internet connection here probably won’t last long enough to click the submit button.”

 

Miles, who stands to remain angered by the incident for the next five to six hours, did softly mutter that he might think about “visiting a coffee shop where they had Internet that worked” moments after his laptop regained a connection, noticing that the four baristas on duty pretended not to hear him. “Oh, sure, like they don’t have any idea there’s a problem.”

 

Starbucks employees claimed they had no knowledge of an issue and seemed unconcerned by news of 12-second downtime.  “Did someone say something?” asked shift lead Julia Herrod, who said she would be happy to offer a free cup of coffee for the inconvenience.

 

“Oh, a free cup of coffee,” said Miles, reacting to the news of the appeasement offer. “Will a free cup of coffee go back in time and allow me to be the first to vote against that trade in my fantasy baseball league?”

 

While Miles remains upset over the service time-out, he admits that he in all likelihood will continue visiting the Starbucks store in hopes of one day speaking to one of the many female students who frequent the location after visiting the gym across the street. 

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