as part of my assistant manager training, they are letting me do all of the ordering for our store. each week i take count of what's on hand, compare it to store pars, factor in holiday madness, and order everything from toilet paper to white mocha. i think it is scary and more than a little daring for starbucks to rest its holiday fate in my nervous, untrained hands.

let me tell you, there's a lot to remember when doing this ordering business and sometimes things can fall through the cracks, tiny forgiveable things like stir sticks or trash bags. this week something really big fell through the cracks, something of great significance for a coffee company, something like, ohhhh, ESPRESSO.

so, uh, if your latte tastes a little "off" this week, i don't know anything about it...