Soy milk at Starbucks

Wtfiuwsb?!

(My spell check just suggested ethogram, whatever that is.) Clearly it wasn't yet familiar with the shorthand for "What the F is up with Starbucks"!?

Lately I've been drinking coffee again. It probably won't last long because I'm not a big fan of caffeine. But I go through phases. Anyway, the drink I usually order is an iced coffee with soy milk, unsweetened. Simple enough.

Some baristas were charging me $2.45, but others were charging me $2.95 (an extra .50 for the soy). But, the menu doesn't specify it. It says iced coffee, or iced coffee with milk, same price. A manager corrected the transaction once because he said it wasn't an up-charge. So, I thought that to be true. Occasionally, someone would charge me for the soy and I'd say it wasn't extra, and they'd fix it. That's until I tried this at one particular Bucks to the wrong barista. She wanted to make it into a whole big thing, telling me the menu says soy is extra, and I was wrong. I just said I order it a lot and it's not an extra charge. I don't want to make anyone's day suck.

But now I was curious. I called up Starbucks corporate outside on the sidewalk drinking my coffee. I explained to the gentleman from their customer service department that I enjoy an iced coffee with soy milk, and I've been charged inconsistently. I wanted to know if the extra .50 should be charged.

Drumroll please?!..........yes.

Hmm. Well, from now on, when I don't get charged the extra change, it's a bonus. That makes the whole experience better.

This leads me to another question. Why is soy milk an extra charge? Dairy milk is from an animal that needs to be raised and fed and milked and pasteurized and shipped cold and on and on. It's crazy soy milk, from plants, is pricier. What a world.