Thursday, January 7, 2016

Working at Starbucks-day 1.

 
I have not started working at Starbucks for real. I am not qualified to make coffee unless it is a Keurig.  But if you follow me on Facebook  you have noticed my curiosity about people that bring in their laptops and do work in Starbucks. I am hoping to find someone writing a novel or something.   I decided to join in so that I can see what these yahoos are actually doing.  I make art and it is usually 1/3 hand drawn or painted and 2/3 digital.  So I decided Starbucks was where the digital part would occur.

 Well lets start out with the fact that I do not have a computer bag, so I had to use my kids backpack that she stopped using....It looks like this.




I did my best to hide this as  I am sure no one would share what they are up to with a mom legitimately using this bag.  I thought I would start off easy, it is my first day after all. I got a table near the counter where the baristas take your order. So truth be told, not many laptop workers near me.  I will make my way over to their area, I have to take my time.


 I noticed a tired mom come in with a toddler. They sat near me. after the balancing act of getting her kid a milk and cake pop and then getting herself a coffee I looked over and remembered that tired look. She face-timed her own mom so her little girl could talk to her grandma. This is when the mom said that she was " so glad to be out of the house, her toddler (the one with her) was throwing up all night".... Say wha??  Not cool. I watched other people come in and sit where they had sat. I wanted to warn them. I also was questioning the seat I was in.  I should probably just work from home.  ewe.

Now this next part was the best part. The two baristas were guys in their early twenties.  One said to the other "DUDE. I saw this guy in concert awhile back, I really think you would like him. I had not heard of him before."   guy #2  " What is his name?"   guy #1 John Popper.   Guy #2 Cool I'm heading to lunch I will check him out!!!     Here is where I sat with my mouth open. um. what.  OK I have listened to John Popper (along with everyone else my age), since 1995. If I had to "look him up"  then, it would have been  in a card catalog at the Brownsburg Public Library.  If you do not know John Popper I am not making fun of you. You are either too young or too old, not a big deal. BUT if you are near my age. this is an equivalent conversation  "Hey I found this amazing stuff you put on bread, it makes it so much better, its called butter."----"No way, I'm heading out I will check it out!"
So..... guy #2 comes back from lunch and says "That guy is awesome! He used to sing with Blues Traveler!----guy #1 "Hmmm, Oh yeah?" (He had no clue who Blues Traveler was)   Again, I salute these young men for finding great music.  I am by NO means making fun.  Everyone has an age.  It just felt like I was in some sort of time warp.  I am sure that when I was 19 people listened to me with the same eye rolling.  If blogging were cool for 19 year old baristas, they would be blogging tonight about the 39 year old mom with the ancient laptop,( that has to stay plugged in to keep charge) that also carries a dinosaur space bag.  I am sure they are too busy discovering Dave Matthews.

Two women came in and ordered coffee and only spoke Spanish.  The barista did his best to relay the order back to them in Spanish. I could tell by the way the women reacted he was botching it. Then he started talking to other baristas about their order in Spanish like it was what they had done all day. The others played along and also spoke in spanish.  It was kind of funny like they had pretend it was a  Spanish Starbucks or something.  When the women left " El Starbuckos" was closed and back to normal.

I am sure I will find out more when I try to sit near real Starbucks patrons. I know it sounds like I got zero work done, but the work is easy to do while I am listening to people do their thing.  I noticed that I really have a ton of distractions at home and will probably do more work in Starbucks. I will be periodically reporting back my work day stories.  The new project I am working on is crazy intricate and I have questioned myself on why I am actually tackling this, but hoping that I love it when its done.  Hint. If you are a dog lover you will love it!!