I'm not sure why I'm defending Starbucks, but I highly doubt you'd have any trouble ordering a small coffee. Why do you feel like you need to find where it is on the menu before ordering? And I'd assume whatever the clerk mumbled was something like "room for cream?".

Their size names are pretty stupid, but it is good marketing. The fact that people talk about the difference between tall and venti means they are discussing Starbucks, which is good for business. It has become cool to bash Starbucks and how smug their customers are, but it is just a coffee house that mostly serves milkshakes. A black coffee may be a bit more than other places, but the environment is (usually) pretty nice for reading or talking or whatever. You can't lounge around in a comfy chair with a book at most places. And in my experience locally owned coffee shops, while they have better coffee, always close way too early.

Not that there is anything wrong with only wanting a mobile to make calls, but it is pretty easy to find the value in having a smart phone. In my pocket I have access to the entire internet. I can research anything at any time. For an inquisitive person (or anyone that likes to argue) it is a great tool and helps you learn. I can hold my phone up to a speaker and learn what a song is. I can listen to music, read a book, play a game, make a shopping list that I probably won't lose or leave at home. At work, my little radio won't pick up NPR at times, so I stream the local station through my phone.

It is expensive, but it is rather life changing to have access to the internet at any given time. Being able to do that on the same device as my phone is just a plus. My emails come to my phone as well, but I don't have to look at them right away. It is what you make of it.