The exchange I had yesterday at Starbucks...

Barista: How may I help you?
Me: A grande cafe au lait, please?
Barista: What?
Me: Uh, a cafe au lait?
Barista: You mean a cafe misto?
Me: (slaps forehead) Oh, right. A misto, please.
Barista: That will be two-fifteen.

Normally, I remember to call the cafe au lait a cafe misto (pronounced me-stow) when I visit a Starbucks, but yesterday it slipped my mind. Every other coffee shop calls it a cafe au lait. Only Starbucks insists on calling it something different. Why they do is a mystery to me, as is the fact that they don't even list the misto on their menu. Is it just not a popular enough drink to mention? Are they hoping people will buy the more expensive cousin of the au lait: the latte? Personally, I subscribe to the theory that somebody high up in the company had a childhood dog name Cafe au Lait who was hit by a car and the mere mention of the drink by that name brings back too many painful memories. I know it's an unlikely theory, but it's nice to imagine that some decisions weren't driven by the bottom line.