"And get a white wicker basket for Joy..."

Magnet #1142 - Starbucks Coffee

Little did we know that that text would spark the funniest team story to come out of our golf tournament last month.

We sent our youngest teammate out to the store to run some errands. We texted him to pick up some sharpies, some paper towels, do the daily Starbucks run, and get a white wicker basket for Joy.

An hour later, when the dude showed up in front of me with a tray of a lone venti cup marked JOY, I could only look in askance at him. Particularly since I hadn't ordered a coffee. He hands me the tray and I kinda back away, saying, but I didn't get that. He looks at me and says, "Yeah, the people at Starbucks didn't know what a White Wicker Basket was, so they made me this."

Here's the thing. Ya'll should all want to play poker with me, because I am incapable of keeping a straight face. So I can only imagine the look of utter confusion at his utter confusion, and then my barely muffled laughter as I slowly realized that I was being handed what he thought was a white wicker basket. Even the dude who sent him on the errand had his head cocked slightly, wondering what was going on. And as we dissolved into laughter, I said, "But I wanted a White. Wicker. Basket."

"Yeah, this is it. I showed them the text and everything, but they were still confused, and this is what they gave me."

Tears were welling up in my eyes from the laughter, so I had no choice but to say thanks and take the coffee. I then proceeded to walk around with it for the next couple hours, giggling periodically, in between bouts of hysterical laughter.

I stopped him again a bit later, and I was like, "Ummm, so we're clear...I wanted a White. Wicker. Basket."

He looks at me, and goes, "Yeah, I know. But the Starbucks people didn't know what it was. I'm sorry if it wasn't what you wanted." I giggled again and walked away.

It wasn't until later that night in the office, that we actually went through the White. Wicker. Basket. story again, with the same result. Finally we took pity on the poor boy and Googled images of a WWB...to which he replied,

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

And the light went on.

In the end, you have to excuse him - he's a boy. How many boys in their early 20s know right off the bat what a white wicker basket is? And, within the context of the texting, yeah, maybe we should have been more specific between the Starbucks run and the WWB for Joy.

Still, it provided hours of entertainment and joyous laughter. Literally. It's why I could NOT pass up this magnet. I just couldn't.

Tell you what though. I'm very sad I'll never be able to recreate that drink, because that White Wicker Basket?

Was the best damn Starbucks coffee I've ever had in my life.

Paying it forward

Magnet #244 - Half & Half Bottlecap

I'm relatively new to this blogging thing. It started as a lark, a way to catalog all my magnets. Then it became an exploration into the blogger mindset and WOM marketing practices.

Now, it's become a daily ritual: perusing my collection, picking out the magnet of the day, and figuring out what to talk about - a half & half mishmash of part silliness, part serious content. (Psst, how awesome is it that I had a perfectly pink [for NBCAM] magnet for today's meme-alicious topic?)

Since one of my favorite bloggers Televisionary tagged me in this round-robin of viral marketing, I'm paying it forward with my own list of favorite founts of information.

The Rules: I'm to share seven facts about me (like I haven't shared more than seven in the last 243 magnets, heh), and then tag seven other bloggers.

And away we go, short and sweet:

1. I used to be a romance editor. Still am, on a freelance basis. Now I'm hopefully a much kinder and not as skeevy Pete Campbell, having been in advertising for a decade now.
   
2. I was born in Chicago, raised in North Carolina, and live in New York City. Which means I have an accent that flows with the company I keep or my level of sobriety, middle-American values with a hard-ass New York attitude and just a tetch of country.
3. I was almost a kidnapping victim. Yes. There will be a magnet on that.
   
4. In any given week, I watch at least 30 hourlongs of scripted television. Which means I value television more than sleep. Yes. I know. There's something wrong with that.
   
5. I am a giant among my people. I'm 5'4" (and a half - every bit counts), and for Filipinos, that can be pretty tall, dammit.
6. I cheat regularly on my boyfriend, George Clooney. No. He doesn't mind. David Tennant and Joshua Jackson might, though. Or not.
   
7. When I'm not feeling apathetic toward my job that doesn't save the world, I'm a workaholic. Except during Fall TV and Sweeps. Oh, and when my DVR is at dangerous levels of full. Nothing worse than coming home to find your shows didn't tape.
   

And, below are seven of my most visited noncorporate (except Dezeen) blogs. Obvi, there are a ton more on my Google Reader, but these, and the ones along the right-hand column, are where I hang.

1. Dezeen
2. Ephemeral New York
3. The GoldenGait Bridge
4. It's Nepalese to Me
5. Jeremiah's Vanishing New York
6. Stuff I've Seen on TV
7. What's Alan Watching?