There are moments when we barely notice the difference. Commonplace occurrences encircle our day, a conversation with a friend, an annoying email, cleaning the house, weeding the garden, riding my bicycle, go on much like before. If one focuses on what is directly in front, the whole thing disappears for a few minutes. However, for every comforting amnesiac, there are moments of stark recognition beyond empty shelves of toilet paper. Speaking of which, I wonder how many paragraphs into the story of 2020 will pass before the mention of this. Corona virus has a terrible PR firm to have it so firmly tied in everyone’s mind to toilet paper!
I saw this yesterday when I stopped for a coffee at Starbucks. The comfort of a cup of coffee, whether instant at home or from a shop has been a constant as others have been taken away. As I drove up, I was worried for a moment that the shop might be closed, but I saw the lights and people and was instantly reassured that some things remain the same. That was until I opened the door.
Most recent health orders in Orange County have required restaurants to stop table and “eat in” service and continue as carry out and delivery only. While I knew this before I entered, I had to catch my breath to see all of the tables and chairs in the large Starbucks pushed to a pile at the side of the room and nothing but empty space filling up the store. The echoing quiet with only the sounds of machines and subdued baristas (Subdued Baristas would be a great band name…if we are every able to have bands again) was eerie in what is usually the most convivial of places.
I gave my order (small dark roast, in case you are interested), and as I waited, I noticed that the coffee condiments table had also been removed and replaced with a sign that sugar and cream would be available by request. Even this tiny momentary gathering spot is stolen by potential contagion. I have been in empty Starbucks before, but nothing ever felt emptier than this.
I had two thoughts during the moments between my order and my quick retreat, one personal and one more collective. Though I have always considered myself to be an introvert (I can talk to a room of a thousand but don’t make me make conversation at a party) I am very aware that I gain energy by being around people (not talking to them, just sitting in their midst). Most evenings if I have no plans, I head for a restaurant or coffee shop where I can sit by myself and feel the life around me. The empty Starbucks communicated in its silence that this is a pleasure that is taken from me for the foreseeable future.
A broader societal question is what this time will do to our culture. Starbucks, whether you love it or hate it, has clearly created a coffee house culture of public gathering places created less for the service of a meal and more for the actual act of gathering. Coffee is the excuse as often as it is the goal of a trip to SBX (or one of the others), rather it is meeting friends, conducting business, or, like me, feeling life around us in an isolated world. What will take the place of this essential part of our culture during its absence, and more importantly, will we resume old habits after someone blows the “all clear” whistle, or will we be so comfortable in our houses that we permanently trade coffee shop for Keurig (or Nespresso).
I’m sure I will continue to go in to Starbucks for coffee as long as I am able, but the coffee is a little colder.
Take care of each other.