The Starbucks thing

As someone who has cleaned public bathrooms for a living, I didn't care if you paid for our product or not.

I only cared that you didn't SHIT ON THE FLOOR. DON'T SHIT ON THE FLOOR.

 

I agree with you Poin.

I was in Starbucks a few weeks ago and there was a woman with a laptop who seemed to be helping another woman with a home refinance. Neither had a coffee. If you're going to spend time in the shop and take up a table, at least drop $2 on a house roast.

 

Whenever I use a restroom, I buy something. Its basic human decency; frankly no one owes you anything, Starbucks, McDs, no one. That type of thinking is what cuts at the "greatness of America".

Waiting for a friend? In the context of today's world, seems reasonable so long as you are not disturbing operations or the customers.

But hey, we can all throw out the justification/reasons for the complaint, but the reality is that it was an exclusive white neighborhood, they were black and someone jumped the gun on the basis of race. There's no other reasonable tangible reason for this reaction. Be honest about it.

As a minority, I've gone in places and been treated differently than my caucasian wife, its a fact of life.

 

Do it all the time at Barnes & Nobles. Sometimes I buy things. Sometimes I don't.

 

For the life of me, I don't understand why people think a private business must pay the expense of providing a public restroom when their community government can't be bothered.

Now that's not to say I haven't used my share...I can highly recommend all manner of Marriott first-floor, just behind the receptionist, facilities. Easy parking out front, too.

 

There's also a CVS about halfway through my trip when I drive back home to visit my parents. Great place to stop for a piss. Sometimes I buy and sometimes I don't. I don't hang out there, though.

 

I miss living near a big college campus. I knew where every clean, seldom-used bathroom was located. Seventh floor of the library near the law library was an oasis of quiet and shiny, clean porcelain.

I was like Costanza is that way.

 

Ralph Sampson stops at the Starbucks in my neighborhood sometimes. Both times I've seen him in there he was the only black guy there and he was getting strange looks. But I think it was more because his legs didn't fit under the table.

 

I once wrecked the bathroom of a real-estate office in Maui after badly miscalculating the distance between our condo and the coffee shop, as well as the effect of the humidity on my normal chain of operations.

I sure as hell wasn't about to buy a timeshare out of guilt, though.

 

I've used a lot of places for bathrooms but always bought something even if just a pack of gum or a coffee.

 

When I was in university, my summer job was working in a museum dedicated to a canal. It was the world's most boring place. I was usually the mascot, Boomer the Beaver, but occasionally I had to work in the museum as a guide. Part of that job included making sure the bathrooms had not been destroyed. We didn't have to clean them, but we had to make sure they didn't get hugely fucked up.

One day I go in and am instantly hit with a horrific smell. The bathrooms are not small—several stalls—and the stench fills the room. Almost immediately, I spy, a good six feet from the toilet, a giant shit on the floor. Like, I might medal at the Shit Olympics, but I have never shit anything like this kraken. I'm not sure I could have put it in a shoebox and got the lid on.

Now what? Because we don't clean the bathroom, I don't have any of the usual instruments that would be required in such a situation. But I'm young, and my brain is still quick.

I go back into the museum, into the exhibits. There is a ceremonial shovel there, from when they first broke ground on the canal, 90 years ago. It's gold. I disable the alarm, lift the shovel out of the exhibits, go downstairs, shovel that massive shit into the toilet, flush (twice), go outside, dunk the shovel in said canal to clean it, and put it back in the exhibits.

I miss being a genius.

 

I always rationalize this by thinking about all the times I buy stuff at my local cvs, dunkin donuts, whatever, and don't use the bathroom. So if I gotta go once in a while without buying, I've built up the equity