shut down

I've been waiting for five minutes in line at the starbucks in the alaska airlines terminal at LAX. I finally reach the cash register and order my usual weekend-only drink, tall decaf soy latte. The woman who is standing behind the counter then tells me that their espresso machine is broken and that we can only order tea and frappacinos, no coffee drinks. Oh yes!

The first thing I tell her is "why don't you announce this news to the ten people standing behind me in line because half of them are wasting their time". The second thing I tell her is "you should close the doors, turn off the lights, and go home".

There are two rules that all companies should follow and rarely do I find them doing it right. FIRST: don't run out of your core product, no matter what. It's called "starbucks coffee" not "starbucks tea" or "starbucks drinks". Imagine a McDonalds running out of fries or KFC running out of chicken. SECOND: if some natural disaster or other godly event causes you to not be able to serve your core product/s close the doors and send everyone home. Staying open only makes it worse.