"In vacant or in pensive mood..." I am: Bekah; 24; Law Student / Favorite Things: Carbs (so there!), Johnny Damon, Smiling at babies, Grilled cheese, Comfortable silence / Favorite Supreme Court Justice: Brennan / Favorite Wilson: Owen by an inch / Today's Special: Song: Elliott Smith, "Bled White"; Quote: "You know, there's like a butt-load of gangs at this school. This one gang kept wanting me to join because I'm pretty good with a bowstaff." Please love me: mmbekah@yahoo.com


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At Least They Display Local Artwork on the Walls...

I have been attempting to work at Starbucks lately because 1) they have dial-up internet and 2) it's not the law school. My favorite coffeehouse is not technologically advanced enough for my research-assisting needs, so I've had to branch out. But regardless of Starbucks' internet capabilities, I'm going to have to come up with a few more reasons to be here if it's going to become a regular working environment. Why? All of the usual suspects are of course to blame, including the general lack of personality in the atmosphere, the glaring commerciality of the establishment, and the hoity toity names for all of the drinks. But there are other reasons.

First of all, the music is virtually unbearable. Lots of trumpets, pseudo-jazz, and saccharin Frank Sinatra-type garbage, all played way too loud. My coffeehouse plays Interpol and The Flaming Lips, and only sometimes plays music too bizarre even for me (I recall one particular incident with moaning and loud cricket noises that went just a bit over the line from cool to weird. If you're not sure whether what you're hearing is music or someone slowly dying, you might need to reevaluate your choices).

Secondly, the patrons are less interesting than the ones who frequent my usual place. At least there I get a variety of strange characters who take random pictures and scribble in their little notebooks. I like trying to figure out what those people could possibly be doing with their lives, and how they have the time and money to spend day after day in a coffeehouse (because something tells me they're not law students with really nice parents like mine). Here at Starbucks, everyone has a laptop and seems to be actually doing work. It's boring. And if they're not doing work, they piss me off. For example, a teenage girl in an orange halter top just came in with her boyfriend and started slow dancing with him to the music. Barf. In the middle of the day, in the middle of a public establishment. Barf. She then proceeded to order a "Grande nonfat mocha latte with just a tiny drop of whipped cream" or some such nonsense. Did I mention, barf? Yes, my friends, that is a lot of vomit.

To top it all off, the employees speak extremely loudly. I like background noise, but when one particular conversation about how some lady's husband is excited about his new job in sales and her brother is gay rises well above the jazzy easy listening blaring from the speaker above my head, I actually start to feel flames of anger burning my cheeks. They are also the type of employees who will tell someone who orders a particular thing, "Oh, that's actually not very good. What you really want is..." Sweet Jesus. On the other hand, there is a constant supply of caffeine, the window seat is pretty comfortable, and I can research without setting foot in the law school. I guess it boils down to the following question: Which is worse, a corporate coffeehouse or a law building crawling with stressed-out graduates studying for the bar? I'll have to do some more research before I can make the call.

posted by Bekah at 11:27 AM :: |