Friday, February 08, 2008

Blogging in Starbucks

Hi, so, I'm in London

Long story, some of which is on the Monkey Blog...

But I've been sitting upstairs in Starbucks near Charing Cross for an hour and a half.

And no one has tried to sell me coffee.

And I can't go and get coffee, because I have laptop, bag, coat, phone, power cord etc.

My original latte is cold, people come and go... It's quite busy actually... and I'm thirsty

It seems odd doesn't it? Why don't they serve coffee in Starbucks?

9 comments:

  1. You know what, I was actually gonnna post on a similar topic the other day - the automation of the Irish cafe. It started Tues lunchtime when I got a hankering for a pancake cause I knew I wouldn't be home til very late. I dropped into about 15 places on my way back through town and it was a case of no, sorry we're not set up for it, forgot to order them in, or "what's a pancake".

    Gone be the days where a cafe could make any random food you want, scrambled eggs made in a pot, thick slices of toast, etc.
    It's all quantity over quality.

    And your experience fits in to it. The automated system doesn't allow for service. If you had walked in and sat down for 8 hours without buying anything, they probably wouldn't care.

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  2. That is scary. Perhaps Starbucks is truly a 'destination' in the way Wagamama claims not to be.

    They lure you in, leave you coffeeless and stuck, until you are absorbed. Perhaps that's what the coffee is made of. Like Soylent Green. Both good and bad news for hobos...

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  3. I hate starbucks....They are evil! Give me a real cup of coffee, not a latte, grande, double soy, syrup dosed cup of skinny crap!

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  4. And yet you frequent their evil emporiums! I'd never been in one til I met you there! I can be on my high horse about the Juice gig as it was a charity event for the Marie Keating foundation :)

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  5. I don't really like coffee, there I said it! I'll drink a mocha now and again but in general I'm a true and true paddy, tea all the way.

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  6. And on the same topic Bewleys don't use those big white mugs any more, they use WIDE cups so that the coffee goes cold.

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  7. No Cno2, it's very much part of the 21st century. They're not selling you coffee, they're selling you a brand, a lifestyle. I'm a bit of a coffee head myself and the only thing I can drink in there is a straight americano.

    I'm with Milan on this - seek out the old school non-prepacked automated experience.

    And no Jo, even if it was for charity you, and The Juice, are still puppets of the grand imperial plan ;)

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  8. I was a tea junkie but I'm not anymore . . . more later.

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