This morning I went to buy some ammo at a sporting goods store and arrived there 10 minutes before it opened. There happened to be a Starbucks there and so I figured I'd pass the time and buy a $3 cup of coffee that doesn't taste any better than a $1.50 cup you buy at the gas station or convenience store. I only been in a Starbucks maybe twice before.
Anyways, I was looking around inside of the Starbucks and saw people just sitting at tables and on couches(yes, they have couches inside Starbucks) by themselves, reading a book and drinking a latte or whatever.
Explain to me this. What makes a person get up at 9:30am or earlier, travel to a Starbucks just to sit on a sofa couch and read a book? Is this some yuppie thing? Are they waiting for someone to make intellectual conversations with? Are they waiting for someone to explain the meaning of life to them?  Why not just stay home, make yourself a pot of friggin' Folger's or Hills Bros and read your book on your own couch?
I dunno. People like myself who enjoy passing the time shooting endless amounts of ammo at paper may come strange to some people, but living inside a Starbucks is all beyond me.

Just to add. They have a jar at the counter for tips. What greedy ass people expect someone to pay $3 for a small coffee and then feel they need to tip the counter person for pouring a cup of coffee?

We have a place down here that is a "cyber cafe". I had to take care of some business at this guy's office, but I was WAY early for another reason, so I went in this cafe to hang out for a while. There weren't any real yuppie types, but at 6am I was pretty surprised to see about 6 people in there just reading, surfing the internet, or chit-chatting. I thought the same thing, WHY? They didn't appear to have just walked in off the street like me, and some of them talked to the employees like they were regulars. I can be a regular on my own couch where I cn drink my own coffee and scratch myself, and not have to go home to fall asleep.

Why are you criticizing people who are up early and reading Starbucks?  A little confused.  Ever think that they were reading a really good book last night and want to get back into it ASAP while getting their caffeine fix?  Maybe they have an hour or two to kill before they go to work next door?

The tip jars are for the low-paid barristas, not for the company that charges so much for the coffee.

Starbucks drip coffee isn't that good, but it's miles better than that shit that comes out of a metal can. If you don't taste the difference, don't criticize people who do.

BTW, I don't hold stock in Starbucks or particularly like their coffee, I'm just wondering why you care so much about how other people spend their time and money.

Never been to one, and will never go to one. I refuse to pay that much for a cup of coffee that will probably taste nothing like coffee in the end.

Aviator

I'm not a coffee person either but going down to the local Starbucks with my buddies was almost a daily social event.  I guess I would go alone if I was hungry and didn't have anything better to do.

STARBUCKS:  STrategic Area Reconnaissance Bases for Undermining Crazies from Kalifornia.

Hmmmmmm.... Iced Cafe Mocha... [:D]

The way I see it, people are social creatures... why would you go to a bar to listen to music you don't particularly like and drink overpriced beer?  (And if you say it's to pick up chicks consider that's another reason they're at the coffeehouses, too)

One of my favorite ways to spend a lazy afternoon is at Barnes & Noble finding new books (and being able to read some of it before I buy it!) and drinking Starbuck's coffee. [:P]

Hmmmm, raven a starbucks junkie?? [:)]

We're not being coffee nazis and saying "all people up at 6am with books and coffee in starbucks must be exterminated." We're just saying that some folks just have nothing better to do. If I had an "hour or two to kill before work" guess what, my ass will be in bed, asleep, so I am more [u]prepared[/u] for work.

And as for that "shit that comes out of a metal can" goes, you do realize that is what you are getting at 24 out of 25 restaurants, right? And I can make it at home for, well, lets see, $3 a can, that makes 500 damn cups, oh, about a nickel a cup. Hmmm, 5 cents or 3 dollars, hmmm? And to be a regular? come on.

OK, sure, maybe I [i]AM[/i] a regular at the gun shop. And ok, maybe I [i]DO[/i] pay $3 for a good beer, but that's totally different. [;)]

I admit I am one of those people at Starbucks. Sat. morning I like to grab the paper. Go Starbucks, order a grande Americano with room, and read my paper. It feels good to be outta house. This is specially good when I lived in SoCal. They had a Starbucks in Corona del Mar I use to like to go to. They had a patio you can people watch on. It was nice to just be in the sun, near the beach, checking people out. I would drive there, about 10miles, even though there was one around the corner from. It was just a nicer location.

All I drink is Starbucks coffee... big difference from the store brands.  I have it delivered to the house, a couple of pounds a month.  Not cheap, but it's worth it IMO.

Becuase houses are so expensive in California that I cant afford furniture.

$3.00 a can?!?  What kind of sh*t coffee are you drinking?!?!  Even my homemade coffee is around $8-10 a can...



How is that different?  In fact, if you're at a bar it's $3 for the run of the mill beer.. not the good stuff.  My Newcastle last night was $4.50 a glass.

Plus.. add up the number of beers you would drink in one evening (my average is 3-4) and compare that to one, maybe two cups of coffee.  Noone in their right mind is going to drink 3-4 grande lattes in a few hours.  NOW what's the better deal financially??  [:D]  

He he he I'm at a Starbucks right now!  Brought my cup of coffee from 7-11 to drink at the nearest Starbucks to check out the scene.  Coffee cup is hidden behind my coat so they don't call the cops.    [:)]

-RoadDog

AMEN!  Miss Magnum,   I'll take one of those $3 Grande Americanos because I just invested $1500+ in a preban AR-15 that does not do anything different than a POST-BAN or for that matter a $300 Ruger Mini-14.  OH, and by the way I'll take two of those $28 Tom Clancy  novels and would you wrap one of them please.

Damn!  now I need a refill,     BARTISTA!

I go to Starbucks to drink coffee because that's what the implanted chip in my dog tells me what to do......

ooops, excuse me, different thread.....

UPDATE:

InTheBlack, to answer your question, I've noticed there are lots and lots of [b]hot[/b] women here drinking coffee at Starbucks!  Kind of like a Miss Magnum look-alike convention.  Oops, sorry Miss Magnum is on the board somewhere!  

I'm just sitting here and gawking at all these (single?)women!  Better than staying cooped up in my hotel room watching tv at the Hilton hotel.

Nice weather, babes galore, good pastries,intellectual conversation, outdoor patio and uh...expensive Starbucks coffee.  Maybe that is the reason why people come here to Starbucks behind the "iron curtain" of PRK.  

Man! Why does the whole state of Kali have a soccer mom in every SUV and mini van?  Those soccor moms better not have a cell phone in one ear and screaming at their kids while driving like a drunk on New Year's Eve.  They better not be on the road on my long trip back home or my GPS will be set on "Phasers" if they do!   [:(!]

-RoadDog

Damn starfucks is a plague upon society. It is like a real life version one of those crappy yuppie movies that is on the idependent film channel where goatee heads sit around  
discussing who has the most new bohemian lifestyle. Damn commies. I can't wait for the power to go out compeletely in kalifornia then chain react into washington state.

You want coffee??? Put a mug of water in the microwave for 3 minutes, then add a spoonfull of folgers.

no-no don't listen to Imb. It's ok to go to SB's,  just remember to take that attitude that you have when you are shopping for more mags for your AR....

THREE MINUTES? Surely your microwave is more powerful than that.

Hey, I like my water hot, not that special  simmer-lukewarm temperature that the goatee heads need so they don't singe their delicate facial hair.

I come by it honestly through my family - the [b]Huns[/b] were always a traveling group of folk. It seems we like to get up early, get out on the road and stop somewhere far down the highway for a good breakfast.

And I like breakfast best of all meals, when traveling.

Nothing like waking up at 5:00 in the morning, under a tent up in the mountains of New Mexico, with your father and uncle having gotten up about a hour earlier to make some real campfire coffee. You know, the kind where the coffee grounds are just put in the pot, to boil away.

Then driving into Taos, or thereabouts to have a true farmer's breakfast in some little greasy spoon cafe on the Square. And being finished with it all about sunrise!

With all the scenery coming up before your eyes, it was unlikely you'd remember you were hungry again until after dark.

I do miss that kinda traveling.

Eric The(Screw-Starbucks)Hun

Anyone that thinks that Folgers is coffee (actually floor sweepings and rat s**t)has been inhaling Hoppes #9 for too long. It is simply cheap crap in a can sold to people who don't know what coffee is supposed to taste like.  
I like Starbucks coffee, but I make it at home, $3 a cup is better spent on beer.
It sounds to me that some people just can't stand when a business is successful by selling the customer a good product and expands to fill the market void created by crappy coffee at convenience stores.

Here in Miami there are a couple of them inside the Barnes and Noble bookstores. I go ther get myself a double expresso in a big cup to make myself a type of coffe they do not offer, It is what is know in spain as a "cut up", kind of half coffee and half milk. Then I grab a satck of GUN rags and read thru them.

1 buck for parking with the B&N stamp for 3 hours, read all the magazines and books I like without having to buy them only to find out once I got home that I learned nothing else, but was forcefed a lot of advertisement for crapy stuff.

$ 3.00 is good value, plus th eye candy helps too.

Bawwwwhahahahahahaha!!!  ROFL

Aviator

Maybe if these people slept the extra hour or two, they wouldn't need to pay $3-$5 for their caffeine fix.



First, why is a place that charges that much for a cup of coffee can't pay it's employees better? Gee, maybe if they charged less, more customers would come in? Second, Like it's my problem these people choose to work for an employer who overcharges their coffee and underpays their employees. Starbucks, with $3 coffee, aren't that particularly busy where the barristas are working up a sweat. I'll tip a waitress at a resturaunt a 15% tip for taking a correct order, bringing me my food, coming back and asking me if I would like anything else, refilling my beverage and so on. I will give a smaller tip or none at all if service was bad. Heck, I'd even give the cook a tip, if the food was excellent. But pouring a cup of coffee deserves as much tip as the guy at the McDonalds fry machine. That tip is, get another job if you don't like the pay.



I agree with you there somewhat. I guess it comes down to personal taste. To me Starbucks coffee tastes bitter and requires half a cup of sugar and cream to kill the taste. I don't see how Starbucks is considered better than others that are half the price. bUt that's just my opinion.



 I am just curious. Like why some people bitch about a $2.00 gallon of gas, their college tuition is too high, and that they can't afford rent, but it is considered social and "in" to be at a place that charges $3.00 for an 8oz cup of coffee. Yes I'll pay $2.50 for a beer at a club,once in awhile, but then at the same time, I get to dance, listen to music, meet people and have fun for the price of that $2.50 beer, whereas the people at a Starbucks aren't really there having that type of entertainment. Just sitting there by themselves, quite, like they were inside a library or funeral parlor.

Miss Magnum
Now there is a lady for you.  Now only a woman with guns, but she has good taste in beer, reads books and an animal person.  
Have a beer on me.

[beer]

[red]reddobie[/red]

yeah..I think Starbucks sucks too. Not the price or coffee or stuff like that. It's the freakin' IDIOTS who watch Friends WAY too much!!I mean I like to shoot and stuff, that is no better than farting off in a coffee house,really. But the "better than you" look they are so quick to show...that's what pisses me off. I always walk by and smirk at them. Hey, I'll bet I'm "better than them" at putting holes in their Navagators with a .223! I honestly think that the best reason for them being there, is that I can purchase books and magazines there when the regular line in the bookstore is too long..!!!!! What can I get you sir??? An Iced Cappuccino? how about a nice $3 bottle of water with caffeine added? How about you ring up my book, then go SERIOUSLY think about committing Suicide!!!!!! MORONS!!!! O.K. now I feel better! Later guys....