i don't have internet set up at my apartment yet (though that process is in motion...but taking longer than i want it to. sigh.), but starbucks has free wireless and i've been spending an hour or two at a starbucks every day since i arrived, doing all those things one does online. there is also a great deal of people-watching and people-listening to be done at a starbucks. here are some things i have observed:
an entire class of 8th graders and their teacher who came in for a coffee-shop poetry-reading experience. which was probably cool for the kids but was horrible for all the other people there (myself included). i don't want to hear awkward 8th grade poetry and then forced clapping. ugh.
two job interviews, each more awkward than the first. the person doing the interview is calm and practiced and looks like he knows what he's doing. the person being interviewed is awkwardly wearing a suit in a starbucks. after doing many, many interviews myself this year, i feel for the interviewee.
one "how to be an american" conversation led by some professional-looking woman who'd made a whole binder with pages like "how to get a cell phone" and "how to get car insurance." she who spent at least an hour going through everything in the binder with an australian man. this is a service that some company provides? i mean, it's genius, but i had no idea.
one first date thing? she was like 35 and he was like 65 and she talked the WHOLE time and he just looked at her with googley eyes. there was a prolonged hug at the end. this was at 10am on a friday. what?! so uncomfortable.
one bus driver who, while i was sitting on the starbucks patio, parked her bus at the curb and ran in for a coffee. THERE WAS A PASSENGER ON THE BUS.
two strangers agreeing that "this is the best starbucks, in terms of character, in the city." what does this even mean? and forgive me, but aren't all starbucks THE SAME? isn't that kind of the point?
oh starbucks. thank you for your free internet and your entertaining patrons.
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