Random Thoughts: Things That Annoy Me at Starbucks



Photograph by Carlos yo



This is a new series composed of random thoughts that I have. Maybe you'll find them interesting...or extremely sad. Don't know which but here it goes...

Things that annoy me at Starbucks:

1) The guy who treats the arms of his comfy leather chair like a drum set, mindlessly going BANG BANG BANG. Is the name Ludwig or Gretsch listed on the front of that frickin' chair? No? Then it's not a set of drums!!!!! Respect a nice piece of furniture would ya?

2) Girl on the phone who's next in line and who is standing in front of the barrista and who is clueless that she's holding up the line because she's on the phone and we're waiting for her to order but she's too busy and the people behind her are thinking evil thoughts. Should we download a nasty virus to her phone? Should we use her phone to play the game, how deep is this water well? Should we just drown her in a vat of steaming Sumatra? Word of unsolicited advice? Love the people around you. Not your phone.

3) The person who blocks the entire electrical outlet because they have a mini-brick for an AC plug yet chose to use the top plug. You could plug that into the bottom one and leave the top one open for others to share. Related gripe: The jerk who uses all the plugs to power his laptop, phone, I-Pad, and his electric car parked just outside. Don't be an outlet hog.

4) When a particular location has cheap, wimpy chairs made of thin metal and plastic. You can be comfortable for maybe 15 minutes if you're lucky. Good wooden chairs are the way to go and the locations that have them are my personal favs. Extra points if they have comfy chairs to read books in!

5) The lady who came up to me as I was writing and asked what I did. She had seen me almost every day at this particular Starbucks working on my little laptop and was just curious. With a courteous smile, I informed her that I was writing a novel. Her reaction? She turned away and left without a word. I'm serious! It was like she was thinking, A writer? Oh, I thought you were doing something important. Well lady who-thinks-writing-isn't-a-real-job...Let's get something straight....When I write, I can travel to any place in the universe or go back to any time in history or create things that don't even exist yet. I can experience the triumphs and failures of hundreds of lives. Now, what did you do on that day? All you managed to achieve was to buy some coffee and then insult someone. Lady, I hope that cup of delicious Pike Place Roast burned your tongue. And by the way, the fictional teen girl whose life you think is trivial? She flipped you off when your back was turned.

*Side note: The one thing that keeps me going BACK to Starbucks are the barristas! Most of the ones I've dealt with are friendly and bust their butts to make coffee. So I salute all you wonderful barristas! You guys always rocketh with me.

What do you guys love/hate when you visit Starbucks? Or any cafe in general?