Interesting - particularly as the Italian dude in Starbucks may well have put the request through his own linguistic calibration first (thinking you looked like an urbane, worldly sort of chap who would have noticed that you were speaking to an Italian and would try to put him at ease by addressing him in his own language). It's a minefield out there!

Personally I get irrationally wound-up by fashion dictating the term I must use for the size of my coffee. "Tall", "Grande" etc is nowhere near as clear-cut as small, medium or large - why change it? Being a Grumpy Old Man in training (fast-track), I naturally insist upon ignoring the suggested nomenclature.

I hate being told a bar only has Pepsi when I order a Coke too.

And another thing....

[Hughesy]
 

I hope, in true Falling Down style, you tossed the milk in the guy's face and demanded a latte under threat of an ass-kicking and general Tucola meltdown.

The whole "ordering in Starbucks" thing brings me (a normally sanguine lefty by nature) into apoplectic rages of Hughesy, or sometimes even Grovesy, proportions.

Perhaps it is because I am of sub-continental origin that I take particular umbrage at the spotty 19 year old Portuguese lad who can barely speak a word of English asking me to repeat my order of "a cappucino" at least three times, with a weary look on his face that says "you obviously can't speak English properly cos you just got off the last banana boat from Madras".

"Oh - you want-a CAP-PUC-IIIINO? Whya you not-a sayso?! Whadda mistaka to make-a etc. etc. "

"Fck you Manuel. And the donkey you rode in on"

As I think Tucola has remarked on before, it is also amusing to see the posh birds (usually trainees at law firms) ask for a "qwa-sann" for brekkie and get no joy from the polish bint at the Pret counter.
 

I'm saving up my Scottish pound notes just for the confusion it causes the Lithuanian serving staff in Benjy's.
 

funnily enough all my screen prompts appear in Spanish, so this rant is prefaced at each turn by "el usuario ---- dijo".

latte's a cracker - I do hope you lads don't pronounce it "lah tay" a la Gaylord Focker