As I write this, I am enjoying a seasonal coffee beverage for a little less than $4. I am an aficionado (or sucker) of the seasonal beverage, as I don’t have a drink, you know, the one where upon entering a coffee shop the baristas shout out your name and ask, “The usual?”
I think “the usual” is what draws people into the cloister of the coffee shop. The usual suspects and faces congregated together behind the bar, behind the newspapers and in the seats create . . . the usual. The caffeinated beverage or baked good is just a caloric ally.
In the barista job description, I imagine there is some sort of a advice for creating a welcoming environment for the patron, which is the basis for this community. I mean, where else can an older gentleman (and that is what I hope they are) make small talk with a cute young girl without being blown off or reprimanded?
On the other hand, the welcoming environment may not always necessarily mean that the baristas know your name or are even friendly. It’s just that you are automatically connected by coolness and your disdain for corporate coffee.
Whichever the case may be, coffee shops have become the third place in which people live their lives. After home and work, it is where many people choose to spend their time – before, after and (sometimes) during work or school or even perhaps when they should be home. It has become their usual spot.
Police officers, retirees, hipsters, mothers, teachers and teenagers all congregate at these shops. They come to see and be seen, to be known and to know others – not just by their “sugar-free soy mocha” or their “five-pump vanilla, nonfat, no-foam, double-cupped latte”; the drink is just the conduit for human interaction and relationships.
Good baristas can pull a precise shot; great baristas can create and empower authentic relationships. Yes, for many caffeine is one of the elixirs and necessities of life, and to others it is only useless, warm, brown water. But hearing the hearty hello where everyone knows your name can sometimes bring about the same physiological effects as the caffeine.
Regardless of your need for or indifference to caffeine-infused beverages, coffee shops can be a refuge from small children, loud roommates or loneliness. They can be an easy place to build on the foundation of old friendships and a relaxing location to laugh and gossip with the new. People can process life with one another, socialize, be together and become known. They are socially accepted venues to meet someone, for flirting and for relationship positioning. They are also ideal for noncommittal dates.
Coffee shops are hubs of commerce. Actual work, networking, sealed deals, decisions and handshakes are all hammered out over americanos and doppios.
These “usual” places with their variety of choices can also be hamlets of refuge, a clear space to think or create. This third place, this usual spot, where you can spend $10 really fast, is not only about buying a beverage to get you through the day, but providing and making connections that can help get you through the seasons of life.
Plus, they are a respectable and much more socially accepted venue to be drinking at, at nine in the morning!
Kristalyn Simler lives in University Place with her husband and two children. She is one of six reader columnists whose work appears in this space. She blogs at www.kristalynsimler.com. Email her at ksimler@hotmail.com.
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