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Starbucks is not a freak'n business centre!

whatever

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So I'm sitting in a Starbucks in Cabbagetown the other night, minding my own business, just enjoying my tea and setting up my lesson plan for the next day's history class. All good, right?

But then these guys come in. One of them, the young guy, seems reasonable enough. It looks like he's been dragged away from home at this ungodly hour by this other button-down lord of the manor. You know the type. The type that thinks that everyone under thirty thinks Starbucks is a happening place, and so arranges all of his business meetings at one to try to look hip by diffusion. As if.

So the old guy starts getting all animated, throwing around buzzwords and code talk, trying to make himself look conspicuously inconspicuous. Big secrets at this table, indeed. Terribly important that "the competitors" not know whether we put the logo in the top right corner or the lower left.

I could see the old guy getting agitated, like he wanted to get up and leave. I'm sorry, did you book this Starbucks, sir? They have these places, with doors and locks, they're called rooms, why not get one? Why go to the trouble of leaving the manor if you don't want to be seen or heard by the plebes? Do you not have the key to an office in those fancy pants of yours?

I wish this guy would go to Europe and visit a cafe there. Everyone's chatting, waving, walking, etc. and no one goes there for privacy. Starbucks is not a business centre folks!
 
Funny.

Nice try, but you left out the part where you start shooting him passive aggressive dirty looks. It's not like you were "just minding your business."

For once I find myself sympathizing with Admiral Beez. If it had been me, I would have nailed your skinny hipster ass to the wall:).
 
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6.5/10

You lose points for the use of "business centre", which I've only seen used to describe poorly lit rooms in hotels where you can access the Internet via dial-up on a 486.
 
I wish this guy would go to Europe and visit a cafe there. Everyone's chatting, waving, walking, etc. and no one goes there for privacy.
On the contrary I have no interest in privacy, you'll usually find me chatting to anyone and everyone wherever I go. Assuming we we're both there at the same time and you were the guy who kept looking over, and if you were interested in what we were discussing you could have struck up a conversation. I would have then gladly have chatted with you about my projects, business, life, etc. There was no secrecy in what I was talking about, I was trying to be quiet, use low tones and looked around because I didn't want to disturb others, not because I wanted to conduct corporate espionage. I don't use Starbucks as a business centre, but instead as a stress release from the day, and a good place to meet with friends and chat. That's my biggest complaint about Toronto cafe culture, or at least Starbucks, in that no one talks, instead it's a room full of laptop lingerers listening to their iPods - you almost want to ask them why they bothered leaving the house - but to each their own. I've been to cafes in Israel and Europe and I love the vibe and chatter - and yes there are history teachers and business guys doing their thing too.

If you'd mentioned UrbanToronto I would have been very pleased to shake your hand and introduce myself. I see this as an opportunity lost to meet a fellow UT member. My minor at University was history, and it's my life's passion, particularly European history, though not so much on the military, more so on cultural. I remember a classical Roman history class I took in around 1994-5 and on day one the prof said we will not be studying much on Roman military history, and half the guys in the class left. Not me though, I loved learning about the bureaucracy, mechanisms and daily life of the Roman Empire. Check out http://www.roman-empire.net/ for some great info. I also love Toronto and Cabbagetown history, and have been quite involved in operations at the historic St. Peter's Anglican Church on Carlton. Suffice to say, I would have loved to strike up a chat about what you we're working on.

I didn't think I looked that old, sniff... But then again maybe we're talking about two entirely different instances and peoples, like in Sliding Doors.
 
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