Does this happen to you? You order a tall, no-whip frappuccino at Starbucks, and what you get is your frappucino... topped with a huge, taunting dallop of whip.

That's been happening to me and Babe at many different Starbucks all over the Bay Area. Eight out of ten times we get whip when we ask for none. What is going on?

Are all Starbucks employees semi-deaf, lacking any length of short-term memory, or otherwise incompetent? A former roommate, who was also a former employee at a Starbucks, said that the stores are tightly run, and they put their employees through intense training courses before they are able to start working. Ha! And if that's not the truth, well, how hard can it be to take an order and make coffee?

If it's not incompetence, it must be a conspiracy. Starbucks employees are told not to serve fraps without whip, because without the extra sugar on top they're so-so, banal concoctions unworthy of the $2.50 they demand. Or maybe they know deep down people really want the whip, and ordering a no-whip frap and getting one with whip is sort of like a loophole. If they didn't order it, it's not their fault if it makes them fat.

Try it. Order a no-whip frap and see if you actually get one.