Greeters at Starbucks? Oh, please no.

As far as I know, this is just a suggestion from a Wall Street broker on a business website, and hopefully that's all it'll be. He is suggesting that Starbucks needs a "greeter" at the door to smile and ask how they're doing today. What for? You already have the barista, who is (usually) friendly. This is another step in the wrong direction for Starbucks. I still go there regularly, but it's becoming more like a McDonald's than the third place that it should be. And a "greeter" would be taking a page from Walmart's book. It just makes a company seem even more corporate and artificial, with this bland, manufactured politeness. I think I'd be embaressed to go to Starbucks if they instituted a ill-thought out policy like that.