In the spirit of year-end top 10 lists and holiday giving, here's my Christmas gift to cilantro: the top 7 things at Cosi in 2007 that are (perhaps) more annoying than cilantro.
7. The tagline, "Simply Good Taste"
6. The use of the word traditional in the Traditional Cheese Flatbread. (In case you were wondering -- traditional cheese is mozzarella cheese.)
5. The way the soup guy stares at me when I order a tomato soup, rather than ask what he's really thinking, which is "What size (eye roll) of tomato soup would you like (eye roll) ma'am?," until I say say, "Um, small?"
4. The worst incarnation of lunch salad-ready factory farm chicken ever known to man, and at a premium price.
3. The inconsistency in flatbread salt level. It's immeasurably better when well-salted.
2. The very very small print on everything (especially the overhead salad menu) rendering it impossible to determine what you might want in advance, giving you nothing to do while you wait in line, except strain your eyes in vain.
1. The expression "Nothing Says holiday like eggnog (we don't know why either)." Ick. Is there anything more annoying than cold calculating corporations trying to seem ironic or hip or coolly ignorant? No, there isn't. It's very annoying. Furthermore, the reasons eggnog say holiday are obvious:
i. Eggnog is served always and only during the holidays.
ii. Does nothing, in fact, say holiday like eggnog? What about mistletoe, snowflakes,
Christmas trees, menorahs, turkey, ham, family, red and green together, peppermint sticks, the calendar months November and December, presents, mulled red wine, Santa Claus, reindeer, etc., etc. These take nothing away from the eggnog/holiday association, (in fact my coworkers have confirmed that eggnog is on their top 5 list of holiday word associations) but would question the superlative "Nothing" says holiday like eggnog.
iii. People love eggnog, even if they don't love eggnog. It makes you feel warm and nostalgic. The corporate suits have absolutely, deliberately chosen eggnog as the symbol of the holidays to make you (the consumer) associate warm, nostalgic feelings with them (Cosi) and, you know, buy more stuff, and then backed away from this deliberateness by suggesting the eggnog reference is innocent, accidental, organic. We could all learn a lot from Starbucks.
See you in 2008, earnestly back to the business of hating cilantro.
6. The use of the word traditional in the Traditional Cheese Flatbread. (In case you were wondering -- traditional cheese is mozzarella cheese.)
5. The way the soup guy stares at me when I order a tomato soup, rather than ask what he's really thinking, which is "What size (eye roll) of tomato soup would you like (eye roll) ma'am?," until I say say, "Um, small?"
4. The worst incarnation of lunch salad-ready factory farm chicken ever known to man, and at a premium price.
3. The inconsistency in flatbread salt level. It's immeasurably better when well-salted.
2. The very very small print on everything (especially the overhead salad menu) rendering it impossible to determine what you might want in advance, giving you nothing to do while you wait in line, except strain your eyes in vain.
1. The expression "Nothing Says holiday like eggnog (we don't know why either)." Ick. Is there anything more annoying than cold calculating corporations trying to seem ironic or hip or coolly ignorant? No, there isn't. It's very annoying. Furthermore, the reasons eggnog say holiday are obvious:
i. Eggnog is served always and only during the holidays.
ii. Does nothing, in fact, say holiday like eggnog? What about mistletoe, snowflakes,
Christmas trees, menorahs, turkey, ham, family, red and green together, peppermint sticks, the calendar months November and December, presents, mulled red wine, Santa Claus, reindeer, etc., etc. These take nothing away from the eggnog/holiday association, (in fact my coworkers have confirmed that eggnog is on their top 5 list of holiday word associations) but would question the superlative "Nothing" says holiday like eggnog.
iii. People love eggnog, even if they don't love eggnog. It makes you feel warm and nostalgic. The corporate suits have absolutely, deliberately chosen eggnog as the symbol of the holidays to make you (the consumer) associate warm, nostalgic feelings with them (Cosi) and, you know, buy more stuff, and then backed away from this deliberateness by suggesting the eggnog reference is innocent, accidental, organic. We could all learn a lot from Starbucks.
See you in 2008, earnestly back to the business of hating cilantro.
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