Starbucks

We all feel a certain way about Starbucks; it is a demon against mom and pop coffee shops, it is a pusher of  a drug, it is the best thing on the planet.  Whatever your take, it happens to be the place I often go to plop down for a couple of hours to get on my computer.  I can always locate one easily on my iPhone when I am out and about in the city.  Just tap on the calendar on my phone, it locates where I am, I type in Starbucks and red pins drop down on the map in all the nearby local locations.  Quite convenient.

Half the time, I am not even on my computer.  I am watching the people in Starbucks.  Or the people outside walking by.  It is one of my favorite NY things to do.  People watch.  It is 4:21 p.m. on Friday.  There is a gaggle of high school -- probably junior high -- girls at a table near the window.  Well, one got left out.  Like musical chairs (I first typed duck duck goose, but that's not right).  She came storming over near me (I thought she was coming after me).  Tall, lanky girl, with short brown hair and glasses.  I was sure she was going to cry.  She grabbed a chair and headed back across the room to the group of unawares.  She slammed the chair down about 2 feet outside the circle.  I was sure the tears were coming.  The girls jumped and gasped.  The left out girl started laughing.  She joined the circle.  Everything was normal.  I truly hated that age.  Awful.

I saw another woman interviewing someone for a job.  She was reading interview questions off a sheet.  I guess they ask the same exact ones of everyone for consistency.  She sounded like a robot.  Some people like the "brand" of Starbucks.  You know what to expect anywhere in the world.  But come on, people are people.  We are all different.  A little touch of individuality.  Maybe the interviewer was having a bad day and grateful for the list of questions.

What I am grateful for is to be able to sit here on a Friday afternoon and do one of my favorite things -- people watch.  I don't necessarily have to be dreaming up what my next career is going to be.  I don't have to have a list today.  I gave myself time.  Today I am grateful for that time.

Not everyone likes dogs, but if anyone has been reading this blog, or knows me, you know that I do.  On the front page of the online NY Times (you have to scroll down a little), there is a 5 minute video about a domesticated Basset Hound learning how to hunt -- Channeling His Inner Hound.  My favorite part is the two dogs howling.  One woman describes them as comical.  All I know is that I was smiling, like an idiot in the middle of Starbucks, for 5 minutes.