Camping Out in Starbucks

In the unlikely setting of Fox Business, an article discusses "Starbucks Etiquette." I don't think the piece was a well-written one. However, the topic was a clever choice and does touch on a phenomenon obviously apparent to anyone walking into a Starbucks.

The article notes that some people make plans to stay for hours at a Starbucks. Some of them use the coffee shop as a sort of mobile office. Some have nowhere else to go. Others really do patronize Starbucks for the coffee. What do you do?

I've done my share of hanging out in a Starbucks. I meet people there, particularly in New York. Few friends and acquaintances can afford the disturbingly high price of a more refined New York cup of coffee. Diners, once a City mainstay, are vanishing faster than gas stations in the suburbs. That eliminates venues for a cheap cup of coffee and the implicit compact that one can linger at diner counter seating. Given the dreadful economic realities of life in Gotham (and elsewhere in the United States), where else can I indulge in my version of cafe society?

I hold to a theory that most adults go to Starbucks because they grew up going to McDonald's. They're used to the experience and truly only feel comfortable in a contemporary environment similar to the one in which they were socialized. Is that why someone would pay five dollars for a custom-made latte?

For the record, I'm not writing this at a Starbucks. I'm not writing it in a McDonald's, either. But I'm comfortable where I am now -- in bed.