Starbucks is a place that serves coffee and offers free wifi. It is not a library. It is not your office. While you’re welcome to work there, you do so with the understanding that this is a business that caters to many different types of people. Yes, even people with children are welcome to enter Starbucks. They’re even welcome to pull up a chair and stay a while. Sure, they’re responsible to make sure that their children aren’t tearing up the store, and that they’re behaving reasonably. What they are not responsible for is keeping their children church quiet so that you can work. Starbucks sells baby food for Pete’s sake. Occasionally, there will be children there.
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If I got here first, this is MY seat. If you arrive late to storytime, really late, like twenty minutes into a thirty minute program, you should sit in the back. You should not squeeze into the space previously occupied by my diaper bag just so that you can sit by your friend. Your friend who, as it happens, was here on time also. You should not also make jokes about blocking my view. No, I’m not particularly invested in the Roly, Roly, Poly song, but that’s beside the point.*
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You shouldn’t park your car like a jerk. I shouldn’t have to climb into the driver seat of my car from the passenger side because you parked in a space that you didn’t fit it. It’s not acceptable to assume that because the person next to you parked like a jerk, that you should too. Don’t compound the problem. Also, if I arrive at my car first, I have first dibs on loading my things and my child into the car. I’ll be quick and efficient, and I’ll probably shoot you unnecessary apologetic looks while I’m rushing, but it’s still my turn. You shouldn’t ask me to HOLD YOUR STROLLER WITH THE BABY STILL IN IT, while you load up the rest of your children and back your car out of the space that you parked, JERKILY, in, while I wait.
*This rant was actually inspired by someone on Twitter would I would love to quote, but her account is private, so I won’t. Her comment was about scooting over to accommodate late-comers to movie theaters. Which, as you might guess, I’m also against.
Ugh, yesterday someone parked WAY over the line right up next to our car and we had to back out before putting the car seat in. We were pretty ticked.
ReplyDeleteYep, yep, yep.
ReplyDeleteAlso, and maybe this seems bad from the outset, but I really don't appreciate the glares just because I brought my kid to a winery. It's daylight, we're sitting at a table OUTSIDE (not in a bar-type setting), and she hasn't made a peep. If she starts to make a ruckus, we'll leave, but until then, she's a HUMAN BEING who's allowed to sit on my lap and people-watch while I drink my bubbly.
(I think bringing babies to bars/drinking establishments is a point of contention among some people, but given the right circumstances, I am ALL FOR IT.)
And for what it's worth, the people who work at our favorite champagnery are baby friendly (baby CRAZY, in fact) and the woman who worked there even offered to heat up LG's bottle for me. Isn't that the best?
A freaking men on the Starbucks rant.
ReplyDeletePeople parking like jerks makes me crazy mad!! I can't believe how many people do it too. I have to admit though, that if someone does it, and they only way I can fit there without having to park a mile away is to do it as well right next to them, then I am guilty of it. Oops.
ReplyDeleteThe way I see it...if you park like a douche and I have to open/bang my driver's side door into your car in order to get in my car?--that's on you.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if you drive like a douche?--the way I see it, I get to use my horn to alert you to this fact.