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| Second Third Place |
Starbucks is my favorite
Third Place of choice - if I am to use one - but the
Coffee People at the entrance to
Concourse E at PDX is the most available watering hole when flying on
United Airlines (my preferred carrier for frequent flying miles membership). My regular choice:
Cafe Mocha Decaf with whipped cream (that sounds like a line out of
You've Got Mail (1) - staged in New York City, but where Starbucks has penetrated the metropolitan giant with small pieces of the Pacific Northwest
coffee culture that sustains residents there through the ten continuous months of cloudy weather and rain).
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| Customized cafe mocha decaf |
For health regulations, the concoction has to be handed over to the customer in a paper cup with the generic, non-biodegradable cap in
place, upon which receiving I put on the generic brown paper sleeve to
serve as a heat
insulator, step over to the service bar where the nutmeg, cinnamon, and
chocolate shakers are available for customers like me to custom
adulterate the hot drink by sprinkling the spices on top of the crushed
whipped cream, to then carefully reattach the non-biodegradable cap, and
then gather up my carry-on bags and waddle my way to my gate carrying
everything and thinking about that first sip of my coffee drink.
_________________________
(1) Line from
You've Got Mail when
Joe Fox says: "The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people
with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just
to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat,
non-fat, etc. So people who don’t know what the hell they’re doing or
who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee
but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino."
A book is specifically written about Starbucks culture in America that draws
commentary by newspaper columnists, not unlike what the
Frank Navsky character would write in the movie.
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