Refreshing, isn’t it?

Published 3:20 pm Thursday, February 28, 2008

Notice a difference? With Starbucks employees now properly trained after a three-hour refresher course on correct button-pushing, Chief Executive Barista Howard Schultz hopes to turn around the coffee giant’s fortunes and its stock price.

Inspired by this commitment to excellence, Your Humble Buzz Correspondent took a similar three-hour refresher course to brush up on his snark skills, thumbing through vintage copies of Mad magazine and pushing the buttons on his TV remote to watch “The Colbert Report.”

Priming the pump: The U.S. House has passed a bill that would charge $18 billion in new taxes against the biggest oil companies and cut into their taxpayer-funded subsidies.

Stung by the legislation, the oil companies sent their lobbyists to a special three-hour refresher course on how to properly influence members of Congress with campaign donations and golf trips.

Know when to fold ‘em: A Mill Creek bar owner rejected a plea deal and is charged with running a poker game without a license.

His refresher course is likely to last more than three hours.

— Jon Bauer, Herald staff