I never thought that I would hear these words coming out of my mouth, but we Americans simply have too many choices. I know, I too once thought freedom of choice as a good thing. That is until I tried to buy a cup of coffee. I thought I knew coffee. So color me stunned one day as I placed my order at one of those coffee places. 

“Did I want French Roast, Dark Roast, Italian Roast, Columbian, or Costa Rican?” inquired the young woman behind the counter who looked to young to know that much about coffee. She seemed so perky that I wondered how much of the brew she had had already that morning. 

Did I want a cappuccino, a latte, or an espresso? All of these could be made with clouted cream, scalded milk, sprinkled with a pinch of cinnamon, or coconut, laced with a touch of grated vanilla bean and a dollop of Cool Whip. Did I want it with foam or sans foam? In an 8 oz. cup or 12oz. cup? Did I bring my own To-Go mug? Can’t a person just get a plain cup of coffee anymore, I thought?  Now you can understand why I prefer to get my buzz from Scotch. The choices are simple: straight up, or on the rocks.

Need a shot of caffeine and you don’t drink coffee? How about a Coke instead? Here too we are bombarded with choices. Coke with caffeine or without. Diet coke, Cherry coke, or Cherry vanilla coke; coke with vanilla, lime, with lemon. Do you want it from a fountain, in a can or a bottle? You say that you prefer it in a bottle. Would that be an 8 oz. bottle or 16 oz. one?  Dear Lord, make it stop.

You go out to dine and you have ten entrées. Your meats can be blackened, pan-fried or pan-seared. They can be sautéed, broiled or baked. You have your choice of vegetables; including a medley of field greens that look like someone pulled them straight from the field. Matter of fact I think I have seen a few of them in my field/yard.

Need new jeans? Do you want them baggy, slim-fit, faded, acid wash, stone washed, or distressed? Do you want them with button-fly or zipper-fly, straight leg or boot cut?  All these choices may be great for people who have hours to try on jeans. Call me crazy, but buying a girl was as simple as going Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Mo. Make the wrong choice and you simply yelled “Do Over” and you did. 

Retailers justify this madness by telling us that by having all these choices that they have something for everyone. Let me just say this: too many choices can cause consumers to run screaming out of the store without buying anything. I suspect that is one choice companies don’t want us to make.