On Reading in Starbucks

Oh hey. Long time no see. The last time I posted was August, which is wild. I guess after six years of blogging monthly my brain just kind of stopped? But also, to be honest, this semester has kicked my ass and I lost most of my motivation to do anything that wasn't complaining, crying, and/or watching Schitt's Creek. But since the semester ends next week and November ends tomorrow, I thought I should at least post something. So here's my favorite essay that I wrote this semester (also the only essay in college that I've gotten a 100 on and the feedback from my professor made me cry lol oops). For this essay, I had to do weekly observations and then pick my favorite one to write a short essay on. I ended up using my first observation where I went to a Starbucks and looked at everyone around me.

One of the first things you notice when walking into Starbucks is the general atmosphere. The lights are lowered, music plays softly, and the smell of coffee and sugar drifts through the air. You want to stop and savor the feeling, but you have a job to do, so you step forward and place your order: a chai tea latte today because you panicked and picked the first thing that came to mind. The drink is made quickly and you grab one of the empty tables nearby. Taking out your notebook, you begin observing the world around you, killing time, sipping your tea, and praying to any and every deity out there that nobody has noticed you observing them. Various people sit among the tables and chairs throughout the store. The two people to your left are talking softly in a different language. The baristas are joking behind the counter and playing with an empty whipped cream canister. A light jazzy melody plays softly. But none of that holds much attention. Instead, your attention is drawn to the older man slightly to your right, sitting in one of the larger chairs and relaxing with a book. You can’t make out the cover of the novel, but you don’t care about what he’s reading so much as why he’s reading. Why come all the way out to a Starbucks just to drink overpriced coffee and read? The anxious introvert inside takes over and you cannot come up with a single reason why someone would drive all the way to a Starbucks to sit and read. There’s books at home. There’s coffee and tea at home. If you want coffee shop sounds, you can easily find a ten hour video on YouTube. Yet, here this guy sits. Drinking his coffee and reading his book.

You find yourself making up stories about this man. Is he a lonely bachelor who comes to Starbucks to listen to the sounds of the world around him? Maybe he makes the effort to leave the house a few times a week and he finds himself at various coffee shops. Perhaps he’s a secret billionaire, tired of doing whatever billionaires do, so he has no problem spending a little bit extra on a regular cup of coffee. Maybe he runs a very successful coffee blog and is working his way through the entire menu, creating a masterlist of the best tasting coffee or maybe he’s compiling a list of the best coffee shop to read in. There’s no way to know without talking to him, but the stories you come up with in your mind seem to be more interesting than the truth so you go back to jotting down notes until your drink is gone. You leave the store but he’s still there reading, completely oblivious to the stories you’ve created about him.

My original observation

Depending on life and my motivation in general, hopefully I'll have another update next month, but if not then oh well. C'est la vie. I hope you're all having a happy and safe holiday season.

~Maddison