Starbucks Redux

The clientele at our local Starbucks are always a source of amusement, frustration, and disbelief (see previous post here).

Yesterday was a rainy Sunday, and I needed a good coffee to sustain me through a photo shoot at a derelict house. Pleased to find just one person ahead of me in line, I figured I'd be in and out in a flash. Such optimism after so many years!

The woman ahead of me had two boys with her, aged 9 and 11 I would guess, and had ordered herself a coffee, and hot chocolate for them. I waited while she fumbled with her money and continued to stand at the register long after her order was complete. Then I waited at the pick-up bar while she multi-tasked, trying to taste her coffee, hold her phone, and talk to her kids. The shaggy-haired boys were as slow-moving as their mother, and took their sweet time leaving the counter area as they licked the whipped cream from their drinks.

By now both myself and another man behind me had our coffees, and had to wait while the boys took up the entire milk station. They were shaking sprinkles onto their drinks, pausing and laughing, and it took a moment for it to register with me what was taking so long. I suddenly noticed their mother standing off to one side, holding up her phone...and I realized she was shooting a video. She could clearly see two people were waiting to get some damn milk for our coffee, and she was shooting a video of her kids putting sprinkles on their hot chocolate. Like the good Canadian I am, I resisted losing my shit on her.

I eventually drove off on my photo mission, but ran into roadblocks set up for the Good Life marathon. Instead of a ten-minute drive, I had to take several detours and fight traffic for thirty minutes to reach my Riverdale destination. As I gathered the tools of my trade before entering the house, I realized that I had memory cards, a tripod, lenses, a flash, and a spare towel (for kneeling on filthy floors)...but no actual camera. OMG.

At least I had a good cup of coffee to see me through the return trip.