the cafe's alive (or not) with the sound of music....

oh music.
particularly cafe music.

i've been to places that only rotate crappy hipster vinyl, yes *vinyl* as an attempt at being edgy.
i've worked places that let you bring in your own stuff (within reason), which usually works pretty well for setting different moods and having vayst variety.
i've worked at places with crappy XM radio bullshit.

and now, there's the next inevitable phase-pandora. ideally, this could be the best music variety out there, however, not so much when your stations have to be "pre-approved" (a.k.a. STRICTLY CONTROLLED/ edited) by the powers that be.

per suck-tastic when the approved stations all sound the same/ play the same lame whiny emo singer-songwriter shit/ lull you to sleep and generally put the majority of customers right into *WORK MODE*.

no really. there is a notable difference in the vibe/atomosphere when the pre-approved stations are playing versus when T.P.T.B. are out of the day and we choose fun shit (like M.I.A. or Garbage or She&Him or DePeche Mode....etc.) store stations= office death

by this (office death) i mean everyone zombie'd out on their laptops/ipads, silent as death and creepily quiet/library shush-shush. when the choice is a more lively (NOT approved, also been called "lame" by one of T.P.T.B.) one, people talk. they interact. they make friends. they get up and walk around and make the place welcoming and lively and RAD-TACULAR!

so i say- fuck the system. damn the man! save the empire!

The Entrepreneur's Guide to Coffee Shop Etiquette

The Entrepreneur's Guide to Coffee Shop Etiquette

an awesome, awesome well-researched and thoughtful guide to cafe etiquette. by surveying many actually **IN** the industry, this mashable article really digs into the nitty-gritty of how to be a good, respectful, well-liked patron of coffee houses.

just one juicy except to wet your appetite and convince you to read the whole article:

"

We asked each of our entrepreneurs and coffee shop vets to give some final tips of advice for others hoping to master the coffee-shop-as-office lifestyle. Isaf says that in most cases, the trick is to follow the Golden Rule: “Don’t be ‘that guy.’ Everyone knows who ‘that guy’ is … don’t be him.” Here’s a bit of insight to exactly what that means:

• Don’t bring your own food.” — Phillips
• “Enjoy the space provided for common usage, but don’t freeload. It sucks for everyone and will mean losing access in the future.” — Isaf
• “Try not to have anything super offensive up on your screen — think of that as equivalent to cursing loudly throughout the coffee shop.” — Pelsinger
• “The staff works hard making your drink, getting your food, cleaning up after you and even keeping the Wi-Fi up. Remember to tip. I suggest using the same percentages as at a casual dining restaurant.” — Dustman
• “Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Baristas know a lot about their shops and will be happy to tell you, for example, when the best time to bring in a large group or the most power-outlet-adjacent location is. Finally, this is probably very obvious and applies far beyond coffee shops, but as long as you pay a small amount of attention to the people around you (both employees and fellow guests), you’ll be fine. A little empathy goes a long way.” — Kasperowicz
• “It’s so very not cool to not bus your own dishes if there’s a visible bus tub. Sure, eventually the café employees will get around to it, but in the meantime you’ve just left the rest of us staring at your garbage, and you’ve messed up your spot so it can’t be filled by someone else immediately. That’s just rude.” — Shipley
• “Frequently, power outlets are at a premium in cafés. Just as you shouldn’t hog all the prime seating locations when the store is busy, you shouldn’t hog the power outlets. Belkin makes a fantastic small, easy-to-stick-in-a-computer-bag power strip that has three outlets and two USB slots. There have been several times when I’ve been out either at the airport or the cafe and have been a hero for everyone there because I had that power strip. Great way to make some friends!” — Dunning"

i promise for a more personalized update soon. my personal life is in family-crisis/anxiety mode right now.

sass and cappuccinos

there exists a fine line between friendly banter and outright rudeness. i tend to straddle the two worlds fairly seamlessly, reserving the bitching for behind closed doors. however, i would love to be able to tell jerks-asses to their faces just how awful they are.

the real sticky-wicket, however, is what i call "taming the shrew" (a.k.a. taming down my personality to better relate to more difficult customers). why do i find this problematic? well, first of all, i hate feeling like i have to stifle myself/hide my true colours just to appease others. second, i tend to come across then, as a push-over. third, repressing my personality tends to quickly become a major bad-mood inducer. which then turns me into a buzzkill bitch.

also, i believe i may have mentioned this before ( in fact--i have! see : quandry/ conuundrum of same-aged "regulars") but it's become a more technologically intertwined world since march 2009 and i am finding that more and more regulars are "friending" me on facebook. and i'm friends with my employers. and my co-workers. and trying to keep it all straight and neat and tidy and unoffensive is really fucking difficult. the solution i've come up with so far is aside from one or two exceptions, most have landed on a separate, stream-lined feed that prevents such tangles. but what about those few i truly like? and wish to get to know better?and find intelligent and intriguing and beguiling, amusing, etc.???

deader than deader than deader than dead

today, at the shop, it was D.E.A.D. dead. there was a window of 2 hours where i counted a total of 5 customers. now granted, it *IS* a holiday weekend/week and the weather is awfully nice....

it's hard to be at work when it's like that. first, because this was more an "emergency-related" return to the world of coffee, but second, i know that labour is the HIGHEST cost at any job. while i definately need the money, it's difficult being '"trapped" in a slooooooooow day.

unrelated: i'm not sure if it's because of where i live/ work but what is up with all the women who are preggers??? and only about half of them are drinking decaf (i'm not a doctor, clearly, so i won't question those who get the full caffeinated versions)