I’m sad. I can’t find my glasses. I think I left them in an office at internship. I’m partially sad because it means that I’m starting to get a headache from looking at my computer for the last couple of hours writing a report. The other part of me is sad because I’m in a coffee shop, and without my rectangular, dark purple plastic framed glasses I don’t look like I belong here.
Okay that might be a bit dramatic, but I do feel like I look more the part when I wear my glasses when I do work in coffee shops.
Today I landed at a Starbucks on one of the main drags here in the city that is packed. This was anticipated, as it is par for the course on a partially sunny, but cold, Saturday.
When I walked in there were no seats available, but as you know if you’ve ever been to a coffee shop, the rotation in and out of chairs happens fairly quickly if you’re patient, and stealthy. It is a lesson in human behavior as you scan the room to see who is finishing their coffee, who is packing up some of their work materials, and who is chatting and will be there for hours. Sometimes you’re even psyched out by someone packing up but isn’t willing to leave just yet. “Are you leaving?”, “Um no.” Awkward.
So, I got in line to order my venti (which my mom would say “large” as she wont pander to their lexicon) coffee (iced because I was hot from walking the couple miles here, since it’s “nice out”, though now I’m freezing). I was up next and clearly still scanning the Bux and I spotted a man who was packing up his bag at the corner of a long old wooden table. In a moment I had to decide a) wait longer in line after, but have a seat, or b) get my coffee and hope another seat opens.
Well, I dashed for the seat, however it’s slightly disappointing as my back is facing the rest of the shop (not good feng shui) so it is not optimal for people watching. I’m at a group table though, so it’s at least not boring when I take a break from looking at my screen.
Anyway, so I got my coffee, while someone watched my stuff. While sitting here, several people have rotated in and out, and often the person sitting next to you will say “will you watch this?” as they either get another coffee, something to snack on or are finally using the bathroom after a half hour of doing the leg shake after a big coffee.
It’s interesting that in this community, it’s “safe” to do that. I mean I can’t think of may places I would leave a laptop, a phone, my bag, my jacket etc, and walk away from them. I am pretty hesitant to do that even here, but there is this feeling of safety in the community here. You just kind of assume that the people doing work in a Starbucks are well to do enough they don’t need your Mac with a crack in the apple on the front.
Speaking of Macs.
I was at another coffee shop this week doing some work, and it was a smaller independent shop. There was a point when I looked around, and I was one of LITERALLY 9 people with the same silver MacBooks open in front of them. Keep in mind there are only seats for probably 20 people, and the remaining people were reading. I’d surmise their silver Mac was sitting in their North Face backpack or FEED bag. I had my glasses that day, and I realized how much of a hipster I must have looked like in the context of this place…and how much I have bought into this “club” by having a Mac.
Now today, in a more mainstream shop, there are computers of all types, but still the majority is silver MacBooks. At my table alone only 1 (out of the 5 computers) is something else (What is an Asus?). I vacillate from being happy to be part of the seemingly in-crowd, to being kind of embarrassed that I’ve bought into the BS.
I mean don’t get me wrong, I love my Mac, and part of me still wants an iPhone even though I’m pretty sure my Droid Incredible is “better”, but why do I even like it? Well I can feed you the lines about how it’s sooo user friendly, fluid, it’s nice to work on, and pretty and bla bla bla. I mean yeah, I believe all of those things, but most of it is the cache, if we’re being frank.
Relevant Breaking News: Another silver Mac was just brought out onto the table by the guy next to (hi if you can read this, guy, nice satchel). The ratio now 1:5.
Now am I saying that I feel like people who don’t have Macs are different or less? No way, actually not at all if anything that seems to be more unique and a statement these days. However, what it does mean is that there is this sense of “community” between Mac users that is either something special or completely fabricated. Or both. Either way, it’s kind of silly.
Maybe for that reason alone I’ll stick to my guns about my Droid.
Don’t get me started on iPads. They may be fun and cool, but really? Like I need another thing that is touch screen, that can break, that is annoying to type on and is awkwardly sized that I look more pretentious using it than my MacBook.
Okay, sorry, I know saying anything anti-Apple, may get me blacklisted, but I said it. I think iPads are iStupid.
But, regardless - I’m a Mac, mutt. As is true with the rest of my life, I have a collage of traits and attributes that are from various and sometimes conflicting backgrounds and my technology patterns seem to not be the exception to this rule.
Okay, enough about my rant. Battery is dying, I have a headache, and this venti has officially gone through me.
Until next time,
E
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