I can walk into several coffeehouses and be greeted by my first name. That feels good. 🙂 I also know several of them by name. At some locations I can even have the baristas call out and say, ‘The usual, Monte?” These young people and the coffeehouse can easily become an extended family. We will almost always have some sort of conversation whether started by them or me, asking questions such as, “How was your weekend?” or “What have you planned for the day?” I find it comforting when they let me know I’m a person and not just a customer with money in his wallet.
They are a community. As I sip on my mocha latte I look around the coffeehouse. Every coffeehouse has piped music. Sometimes the music can be enjoyable and sometimes quite annoying or loud. The baristas, as well as the customers, all have a ritual, their own routine. There are all ages of baristas and customers. You’ll find the student working on homework, professors from campus grading papers between classes, business people on the way to the office and retirees like me. You can have a simple cup of coffee or one of the foo-foo drinks. Pastries in the display case, a burrito, a bagel and more. So, I consider myself a regular.
I suspect most coffeehouses have WiFi and most customers have a laptop or smartphone. Some customers are doing research, checking news feeds, Facebook, email while enjoying coffee and down time. And, even with piped music many are plugged in to their own music.
People meet in coffeehouses for coffee and conversation, first dates, last dates, business and planning meetings, read a new book or newspaper. Many coffeehouses have local artists displaying their work. Some have local musicians performing on certain nights. One coffeehouse packs it in with a Poetry Slam they put on once a month.
Each has it’s own ambiance, feel. This ambiance is created by the location, decor, the baristas, the owner, the customers and of course the quality of their product.
4 Comments
Cedric Canard
Nice set of photos Monte. I always enjoy your café photography. I’m sure you’d have enough to make a nice little book.
It is nice when you frequent a place often enough that the employees know you by name. The only places where that happens for me is the restaurant where my son works part-time and the café where my daughter works as a barista which doesn’t really count since, you know, she already knows my name 😉
I don’t frequent anywhere else regularly enough to become known unfortunately. Though I am not sure the lack of regular attendance on my part would be the problem as much as the fact that the turnover of employees at cafes in Australia tends to be fairly high in my experience.
Monte Stevens
We see high turnover on baristas and I attribute that to the young age of the baristas and we are a college town. There was a time in my past when I was on a first name basis with several bartenders. 🙁 Not really the best situation.
Thanks for the positive comments. And, I have thought about the book on coffeehouse life.
Tom Dills
As Cedric said, this is a great story and adds to an already impressive group of photos that you have made over the years. There’s a lot to be said for being a regular anyplace, whether it is a coffee shop, store or restaurant.
Kathy & I frequent a group of restaurants owned by a local couple and have gotten to know many of the folks that work there. The owners are the type of people who treat all of their employees like family and it shows. They are very loyal and stay around for a long time, but do tend to move around from location to location. We make an effort to learn all their names, and get to know a little about their family, school, career ambitions. They really appreciate that. Just last evening our favorite bartender texted me photos of his newborn son. Regular is good! 😉
Monte Stevens
It’s a good thing! One of my favorite baristas just moved to Louisville for his doctorate degree. I can understand how you two connect with waiters and waitresses. Family when they send photos. 🙂