The Starbucks Experience

[HQWest]

It is no longer always socially acceptable to hang out and take a smoke break, or to stop by the local bar/hangout on the way home anymore. I figure this is where the coffee break fills in for a lot of people. It also provides a chance to get up and stretch or get out of a cramped or stressful office.

I didn't start drinking coffee at all until I started working a lot of late nights in graduate school. Not that I never worked late in college, just that Diet Coke sufficed previously.

I didn't start drinking coffee regularly until I worked in the SF Bay Area. It was freezing cold all of the time, and we went to work before the sun came up, and frequently walked home through the fog. An afternoon coffee might be the only break that day, and it gave us a chance to take a walk to a local coffee shop. It might be the only time I would see the sun for weeks. This was exacerbated by the fact that I worked with a lot of Germans - who would often INSIST that a coffee break was as important as lunch.

Now that I am back home in the Deep South, Starbucks is on campus. A lot of times it is nice to go there to meet up with a small group of people from various places on campus, or to just get out of the office. ETA - and now I have a gold card....