My “Starbucks” Theory
It was only within the past couple of years where I had my first Starbucks beverage. My parents always thought the coffee was too strong and Dunkin Donuts was their place to go get coffee outside of the house. Since my parents never went there when I was a kid, why would I be there myself? As I became a teenager, Starbucks became synonymous with a rich white girl who would yell at her barista because she got a grande and not a venti. This was at least the picture that was painted for me, which could be different to another person.
The morale of this story is that I was a Starbucks hater. It is easy to hate on things that are popular. I know I do it and almost everyone else does. To copy a Bill Simmons and Ryen Russillo take, it’s fun to “zag” when everyone else is “zigging.” While everyone feels one way about something, you feel a different way.
No matter how I feel about it, most people like Starbucks. In fact, enough people liked it last year to give Starbucks $24.7 billion of their dollars. For what ever reason, people liked these “overpriced” priced drinks, and were willing to pay for them consistently. How could they do that? Maybe, because the drinks are actually good? This could be a crazy thought for a kid who never had Starbucks before in is life, and maybe had stepped foot in once or twice.
I never had Starbucks, but I still thought it sucked. I tried it one time, and it was actually pretty good. I could see why people liked these drinks so much. Now that doesn’t mean I think it is still a good idea to buy Starbucks every day, but I could appreciate it for what it was. So next time you find yourself hating on something that you haven’t personally experienced, go check it out for yourself. If the majority of people like it, there is a pretty good chance you’ll like it too. Try a new piece of food even though you’ve never had it. Listen to someone on the other side of the isle before you make your judgment on them based solely on other people’s tweets. Check out a tv show or movie before discrediting it. I know I’ve done all these before, and you’ve probably done something similar.
Next time you find yourself creating opinions on something that you haven’t personally experienced that everyone else likes, the odds would say that you would probably like it too. I know I have this problem, but I am hoping to do this less often.
