Who's asking? Starbucks, that's who.

This isn't a blog about customer service, although I do post the odd thought now and again when I've had a bit of service that has been brilliant, or awful, or just funny.

But after I put up the piece below, about customer care, I saw an ad in the paper saying that Starbucks were about to start asking for customers' names, so that the baristas can label our paper cups.

OK, I thought, I see where you're coming from. Make it a bit more personal, build a relationship, create a community, get us all a bit more touchy-feely about our daily latte.

Personally, I'd feel a bit more touchy-feely about Starbucks if they didn't insist on opening one on every corner of every town. (One of my favourite scenes in Shrek is the one where the townsfolk flee a branch of Starbucks only to run straight across the street into another).

Then I heard John Holmes on BBC R2's "The Now Show", and his brilliant explanation of how the new Starbucks' policy wasn't really welcome in Britain.

Apparently, John was in his local Starbucks during the first week of the "...and what's your name?" request.

"...and what's your name?", asked the guy behind the counter. "Stick it up your **** mate", came the reply.

And it got even better, a couple of days later.

Back in Starbucks, they are persisting with the "get the name" policy.

" ... and what's your name?" asked the guy behind the counter.

And someone from the back of the queue called out "Don't tell him, Pike".