Down Syndrome

"Soy Chi Latte for Jackie"

Jackie seems to be about four months pregnant and she grabs her drink and wobbles to a table with another woman who is having a conversation with someone on her cell phone. The conversation goes as follows:

Other woman-"Okay I am going to call you back Jeff, Jackie and I are at Starbucks and I don't want to be rude."

Jackie-"It's ok Lisa, finish your conversation."
(Lisa gets off the phone)

Lisa-"It's always so hard to get off of the phone with him, anyway how are you doing girl?"

Jackie-"I'm ok I guess, I'm still thinking about whether or not I should go ahead and have this baby."

Lisa-"Yeah, that's a difficult decision and I know that you may feel that if you don't have the baby you're being selfish."

Jackie-"I just don't want to bring a baby in this world that's going to have to live with the disease of Down Syndrome for the rest of its life. I really don't think of it as being selfish but as sparing my child the humiliation."

Lisa-"Are you sure that you are trying to spare the child the humiliation or yourself?"

Jackie-"I don't know but when a woman becomes pregnant if anything goes wrong you begin to feel that it is something you did wrong. I really need to make a decision because I don't have that long."

This is a situation that many people would judge from the outside not knowing what it would be like to raise a child with down syndrome. Most woman dream of having the "perfect" child and when that doesn't happen it's like their whole world comes tumbling down. When a person has a child with special needs they know that their life will never be the same. Many special needs children never grow up to have families on their own and this pains a parent to even think about. Someone told me once that just because you're pregnant doesn't mean you'll have a baby and just because you have a baby doesn't mean that they won't have anything wrong with them. Bringing a child into the world is a blessing but it can also bring on many heart-wrenching worries.

Carla's Drunk Brother

"Marble Mocha Macchiato for Carla"

Carla is holding a conversation on her cell phone. She appears to be talking to a sibling. The conversation goes as follows:

Carla-"A letter came from the Secretary of State."

(pause)

Carla-"It says that you were arrested and convicted for the offense of operating while impaired by liquor."

(pause)

Carla-"It says that your license is restricted and that the only place that you can drive to is to your place of employment."

(pause)

Carla-"Boy you really need to get it together."

There are many times when I want to drink and escape from my life. When people drink to the point of being what we call "pissy" drunk, it's like death. Drinking alcohol to this point is like committing suicide for a few hours only to wake up and realize how screwed up your life still is. Bars can be compared to Starbucks I guess. People go to bars to escape and people go to Starbucks to escape. You can also get shots at both places, it's just that one place allows you to drive home legally afterwards. What if there was a ticket for driving under the influence of coffee or espresso?

I met a lady in the Starbucks line once who said she was trying to cut back on her caffeine addiction. She said that she was down to about one cup a day. Her coffee habit sounds like someones addiction to cigarettes or alcohol. I hear people say all the time how they are trying to quit smoking and the last step before quitting is getting down to a pack a day for some people. I asked her what she was ordering this time. She says, "The new Marble Mocha Macchiato." She says that, "today I am just pretending." She has to satisfy her caffeine addiction, so if it's not coffee it has to be something close to it

Carrie's Boobs!

"Iced White Chocolate Mocha for Carrie"

Carrie walks up to the counter and grabs her drink. Now I'm not the one to look at another woman's boobs usually but hers have definitely caught my attention. They are extremely BIG and they look like they are hurting her. They could be hers but I doubt that very seriously. Carrie is of a lighter complexion and the top part of her chest area looks really red. Maybe she caught a rash from the implants, I don't really know but they look horrible. They also look lumpy, like there is a fist in there. Carrie grabs a cup holder for her drink and another woman walks up to her and the conversation goes like this:

Woman-"Excuse me Miss, I'm not trying to be rude or anything but are you're breast real?"

Carrie-"Wow, it took a lot of balls to ask me that but no they aren't real, I got them about a month ago, why?"

Woman-"I'm thinking of getting implants because my husband is obsessed with big breast and I don't want him to cheat on me."

Carrie-"Honey, if you get them, get them for yourself because he still wont stop looking at other women."

Woman-"Why do you say that?"

Carrie-"It's not the breast that he's obsessed with it's the women, so even if you get implants he'll get tired of them after awhile. You know what they say?"

Woman-"No I don't?"

Carrie-"There's no titties like new titties."

This Carrie chick is really telling the truth. Why do people have to always assume that women who get implants are shallow individuals? Maybe some of them are doing it for themselves. Seriously though, do we ever just do things for ourselves? When women dress up to go out it's usually for other women, not for their man or themselves. We dress up for other women because in our minds we are secretly competing with one another. We notice when another woman looks at our shoes or clothes and we make a mental note. The mental note sounds like this, "One point for me Bitch!"

"Cafe Latte with Peppermint for Marcus"

Marcus grabs his drink and sits down at a table. He sits his drink on the table in front of the lady that is sitting across from him. He gently touches her hand and she puts her head down and begins to softly wipe the spilled coffee that is on the table with a Starbucks napkin. Here is their conversation:

Marcus- "We are going to get through this."

Female-"I don't know Marcus, a baby?"

Marcus-"I know, I know, I really fucked up but I still have to be there for my child."

Female-"What about being there for us?"

Marcus-"I will be there but what type of man would I be if I didn't take care of my seed?"

Female-"What type pf man would cheat on his wife? You didn't just hurt me you hurt our entire family. How am I going to explain to our son that he has another brother or sister by someone other than his mother?"

Marcus-"I'll tell him that men Fuck up and that he'll understand when he becomes a man!"

~

Men are often excused for their infidelities by the simple fact that they are men. Women will often stay with a man after he's cheated but men don't seem to stay with the woman. Is it a territorial thing? They have a problem forgetting the fact that another man "marked" their territory. Cheating is definitely universal to women and men of all races. I was told once that a man can cheat and still love his girlfriend or wife. I don't know if I necessarily agree with that but I do know that men will cheat for physical reasons and women usually cheat because they are missing something emotional from their mate. Here are a few signs to know when a person is cheating:

• Cell phone is always mysteriously dead or turned off when you call
  
• Cell phone is always turned off when they are with you
• Never met his/her family
• Always working late
• Always text messaging (this is a new thing, why text message unless there is something that they don't want to say in front of you
• The person doesn't like to go to very crowded places, i.e. malls, festivals etc)
• Cell phone has a security code so that no one can call out or browse through the call log without a password

These are just a few signs but a person will know in their heart when someone is cheating. Do men really cheat more than women or are women just better at not getting caught?

The Lady who hates her Damn Job!

A woman comes in and orders a Brewed Hot Coffee and makes an announcement to the baristas' about how she's late for work. There are about five people in front of her in the line. She glances at her watch and then the Hoopla games that are for sale. She picks up a bag of coffee and looks at it for a few seconds and she then puts it back on the shelf and frantically glances back at her watch again.

~

Why is it that people come into somewhere already late and then expect people to move and the clock to tick to their pace? The fact that she woke up late lets' us know that she's going to a place where she really doesn't want to be. She's in a hurry to probably go kiss ass at a place where she's under-appreciated, a job that she wouldn't dare go to without her morning "dose" of caffeine, yet she's rushing the baristas'.

As this woman is sitting in her car driving to work, she's taking very cautious sips of her coffee. Each sip of caffeine takes her to another place, a place where she's forgotten how to get to on her own. A place where only her coffee can take her. She remembers love, she remembers not rushing and savoring every moment of life. Since she's misplaced love, her coffee is the only thing that she can still call her own because she knows that it will taste the same every time.

Charlie's Coffee

"Will you be getting both drinks today Charlie?"

Charlie is an older gentleman whose wife is deceased and Charlie comes in everyday and orders the same two drinks. Charlie has been around long enough to remember when there wasn't a Starbucks chain. He comes in because the vibrant young baristas' remind him that there is still happiness in life. He loves to live vicariously through their stories and their lives as he remembers the life he lost with his wife. Charlie's wife died of cancer a few years ago and his world has been dark and desolate ever since.

He talks to the barista about some medication that he's been taking that seems to be giving him weird side effects. His reason for telling her this is because she asked why he hasn't been in for awhile. As Charlie is telling her his reason, he's happy to know that someone notices when he's missing. His wife use to notice and in a way the baristas' have become his companions. Charlie pulls out a picture of his granddaughter who's six now. The barista responds with, "Wow she is getting so big!" Charlie gets his sugar free drinks and tells the barista, "See you tomorrow!" He knows that Starbucks will still be there tomorrow. The barista is praying that Charlie will

Brewed Hot Coffee

The simplest drink you can order at Starbucks is a Brewed Hot Coffee. In life those people who drink Brewed Hot Coffee are usually very complicated individuals. The Brewed Hot Coffee drinkers don't believe in the Caramel Macchiato or the Strawberries and Creme Frappucino. What they want is coffee in its purest form, all the other stuff is too fancy and their lives aren't fancy, they're real.

So here I am again sitting in Starbucks like a fly on the wall, watching how the customers interact with the Baristas and each other. Some are on cell phones, some are in meetings at different tables but they are all talking.

~

Guy comes in talking on a cell phone, here is what I caught of the conversation:

"I really want to believe her."
(Pause)
"She did confess first, I guess she gets points for that?"
(Pause)
"How could she fucking do this to me?"
(Pause)
"Should I just stay with her and know that I have a freebie to cheat at some point in the future?"

Cheating is the topic of many conversations everywhere and I just so happened to witness one firsthand. Poor guy, you never really here of the guy getting cheated on. Are relationships the prerequisite for cheating? I mean why the hell wouldn't a person just stay single? It seems as if sex makes people feel connected. When men cheat their heart doesn't necessarily have to leave the relationship because it's all physical to them. When a woman cheats there is usually an emotional attraction.

The Name Game

No matter how busy life seems, there's always time to visit Starbucks. With the price of therapy increasing to hundreds of dollars per session, a $4.20 drink doesn't seem all that expensive. So here I am in Starbucks spending $4.20 for my therapy session. As I look around at the other customers, I realize that I am not the only one who buys into the "Starbucks Therapy"

The coffee drink doesn't do much for my problems but it feels good to be in the presence of people who like to pretend just as much as I do. Starbucks is like the new country club, except the fact that there is no membership fee and if you're not a prestigious member of the community or own a substantial amount of real estate they still somehow manage to remember your name.

I think that Starbucks has figured out the secret to marketing. They realized that everyone wants to feel like a "regular". They play the "Name Game". When I am standing in line and I get up to the counter and the barista knows that I want a Grande, Iced, White Chocolate Mocha, it makes me feel warm inside after I've been dealing with such a cold, cold world. Even without owning stock, the customers feel like they have a vested interest in the company.

Why spend the extra money for coffee? Because you pay for the experience not the coffee