You’re already in line at Starbucks – having failed to order by app – when you spot one of them. That dude who is looking down not at a cellphone but at the Post-it note that holds the orders of his office mates.
Even ordering via app has issues. There’s often a crowd waiting at the bar end because Gen Z, which tends to prefer anything but human interface, has overwhelmed the baristas with the same orders-of-magnitude drinks. Starbucks says there are more than 170,000 possible drink combinations available, but outside estimates have put the number at more than 300 billion. And the person in front of you always seems to be ordering 100 million of them.