Are today's coffee shops supposed to be quiet sanctuaries for reading, sipping coffee and relaxing, or are they hot spots for social gathering, discussions, studying and working?
Today as I was looking for employment diligently at the local coffee shop on my laptop, sipping coffee and taking an odd phone call, I was approached head-on by the Coffee Witch. This older lady of about 60, pointed her scaly finger and in a nasty, scolding tone likened to that of a mother to a young child, lectured me about the coffee shop codes of conduct. Which were:
- this is not an office
- my behaviour was inappropriate
- your talking to loudly
- the upbringing of my "people" is rude
- we have not learned anything
- we do not respect the rules around us
Unaware of any signs that read "Please refrain from talking or working in public coffee shops", and certainly a little confused as to who “my people” represented, I replied, "If this is bothering you so much, it would have been polite for you to ask me kindly to take my calls outside and let me know it was bothering you".
This was rebutted with a swift kick to the ego and a noisy screaming match where the lady scolded me that "we people" should "know" this behaviour is inappropriate and that she is fed up with how many of us don’t respect others around her.
As an innocent customer in the coffee shop I figured one of two things could have happened the last time this lady entered the shop. 1) She was surrounded by an array of twenty-something’s who were annoying her while she was trying to read the granny report or 2) She is an evil witch who needs her coffee.
So, are today's coffee shops supposed to be quiet sanctuaries for reading, sipping coffee and relaxing, or are they hot spots for social gathering, discussions, studying and working?
Who knows? All I know is that this battle could have been avoided if it had been dealt with maturely. If "My People" had an in-proper upbringing, as the Coffee Witch so vividly pointed out, then why was she the one screaming rudely at me?
This volcanic bitch fest, in my opinion, solidifies the generational gap to which young people and old people-with respect- also deal with on a day to day working basis. Blaming improper upbringing is a generational discrepancy that far too many older generations tend to judge us on. It’s not fair, or accurate that we should be classified a certain way because of our age and tendencies. It’s not our fault! We were born this way, and that does not mean that what we do things wrong, rudly or inappropriatly. It just means we do things differently.
As I hastily let her finish her rant, my last words from my exhausted ego was a polite suggestion to "maybe take some meds and go to a library" and I continued working diligently on my laptop, sipping my coffee.
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