This is a great opportunity for you to "make the moment right."

Yes, its a pain in the ass.

Yes its no longer a program.

Yes this person will call corporate. And yes they will end up receiving much more in monetary value via store credit (etc.) bc you're being obstinate about giving someone a tall coffee.

Honestly its not that hard to just give them the coffee to save you the time of having to argue.

Here's how you do it: " starbucks actually no longer honors that tall cup of coffee for bag of coffee. But what I will do today is give you the tall cup of coffee on the house. Enjoy and have a great rest of your day."

Hit right now recovery and the problem is solved. You just saved having to piss off a customer over a trivial matter. You saved your SM having to deal with corporate emailing them about why they wouldn't allow a customer to get a tall cup of coffee. You saved the company MONEY by getting the customer out of line, and by not having them call corporate, this customer doesnt get a $10 or more debit applied to their card. You should absolutely care about that. YOU get stock that vests each year. Imagine all of the incidents that add up. It costs the company money. It costs YOU money. Those MSR debits dont come out of thing air, jack. And all because you wanted to be obstinate to prove a point.

And you know what happens next time that same person (or anyone else) walks through the door with that bag of coffee asking for a tall coffee? " Starbucks actually no longer honors.."

Save your SM the trouble, but more importantly save yourself the trouble. Its a damn cup of coffee. Dont burn the calories trying to prove the point.