Many indie coffee cafes now restrict, or ban outright, the use of e-reading devices

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

You obviously haven't tried the McGriddle breakfast sandwiches ... yum, yum, yum!

They aren't good food, but they ARE good! Who would have thought FAKE pancakes and fake cheese surrounding rubbery eggs and mystery sausage could make the angels sing?!? The secret to fine dining at MickeyD's is having the proper headspace. If I weren't on a diet. . .

And the Coffee IS good, no matter how you slice it, and sometimes you DO have to slice it. But that's the ambience you'd pay extra for in a lesser restaurant.

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

Boy did you guys miss the point.

Darted iPad artokerekt

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

They aren't good food, but they ARE good! Who would have thought FAKE pancakes and fake cheese surrounding rubbery eggs and mystery sausage could make the angels sing?!? The secret to fine dining at MickeyD's is having the proper headspace. If I weren't on a diet. . .

And the Coffee IS good, no matter how you slice it, and sometimes you DO have to slice it. But that's the ambience you'd pay extra for in a lesser restaurant.

My friend, you are a poet!

PS: And they will add bacon to it.

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

I love Taco Bell! Of course it doesn't taste like the food in my face local Mexican restaurant, but it isnt supposed to. It tastes like Taco Bell. Five ingredients rearranged twenty different ways on tortillas. It even has lettuce and tomatoes for those who misunderstand the concept of fast food.

BEST: Nacho cheese chalupa. Meat and melted cheese food product in a hot greasy crispy thick flatbread. OMG!

Muh, Muh, Muh, Mai Chalupa! What's REALLY great in the smaller towns of the Midwestern US, you can find roadside restaurants that are half Taco Bell and half Long John Silver's. Sometimes they'll double team with KFC! That's the BEST! A chalupa, a plank-o-fish, and a DIET Pepsi! (Coffee would just be wrong, possibly immoral)

[RockdaMan]

This thread has taken a really disturbing turn.

[DixieGal]

The Knack! One of very few things I can play on a piano while drunk!

Sort of a redneck food court / gas station / truck stop / hunting license shop with a place to eat overlooking the parking lot? Yes!

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

This thread has taken a really disturbing turn.

It took that disturbing turn and fell down an elevator shaft.

[jhempel24]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

They aren't good food, but they ARE good! Who would have thought FAKE pancakes and fake cheese surrounding rubbery eggs and mystery sausage could make the angels sing?!? The secret to fine dining at MickeyD's is having the proper headspace. If I weren't on a diet. . .

And the Coffee IS good, no matter how you slice it, and sometimes you DO have to slice it. But that's the ambience you'd pay extra for in a lesser restaurant.

LOL well said....it's not good food....but it's GOOD!! LOL.

[SeaBookGuy]

So ... you're supposed to:

a) talk with another person

b) have a newspaper or print book

c) stare into space

[queentess]

Originally Posted by jerrywojo

Sorry you've had bad experiences in coffee shops.

However my xp has been the exact opposite. I find most if not all the coffee shops I go to have a extremely relaxed atmosphere. Customers are just sitting there drinking coffee,talking,reading or surfing . I never had the impression they were smarter than me. And could care less actually.

Fast food places in my area, (Chicago) like McD's, Dunkin Donuts are rife with homeless, and other strange and odd characters. For me this is scary. So I stay away.

BTW a long time ago I bought a coffee at Dunkin Donuts and it had a lump of something floating around in it. So its a quality issue as well.

As in all things, the nice spots will vary depending on your location. Around me the McDo and one Panera is nice, the other Panera and all 3 Starbucks are dirty or too busy. Growing up in an area that had no Paneras or Starbucks, this is quite the odd sentence to write...

I don't drink coffee, but I try to give some of my lunch business to Panera because the staff is incredibly nice. About 2 years ago there was a city-wide black out for several days in the middle of winter and I had to turn in some homework via email. The very nice staff at Panera let all us neighborhood folk stay as late as we needed to in order to 1. get work done on our laptops with wifi access and 2. be in a place with light and heat. They were very accommodating.

[snipenekkid]

you guys better behave or I am gonna tell Jamie Oliver on all of you!!

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

This thread has taken a really disturbing turn.

Originally Posted by DixieGal

It took that disturbing turn and fell down an elevator shaft.

Then the elevator fell on it. Yeah, sometimes hanging out on MR is like being in a verbal Bugs Bunny cartoon.

[snipenekkid]

on the spirit of the thread I just finished breakfast - oatmeal with raisins and cin-am-o-min, I know BFD, but dessert was couple cold hot dogs with sauerkraut wrapped in corn tortillas then dipped in a twisted version of thousand island dressing with salsa added.

Nice mug of left over iced cold Turkish coffee with unsweetened plain soy milk then sweetened with stevia (a guy has to keep up his girlish figure after all)

[elcreative]

Sorry, no telescopes either unless you purchase an extra cup of coffee... pays for the space it occupies

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

So ... you're supposed to:
...
c) stare into space

[jshzh]

And the Mac store has that air too, more so than any place I've ever been....if you don't buy a mac then you are not as good as the rest of us.

I totally agree with you.

Indie coffee shops are not about drinking coffee,
Mac computers are not about working on a computer,
Iphones are not about making phone calls,
Facebook is not about connecting with friends!

They are identity-markers for a group of people of certain age, class...The whole point is to create the feeling of being different, important, and sought after. A student said in my tutorial discussion that he would like to bring a date to Starbucks (maybe not really indie) because the environment made him feel "intellectual". It is not a surprise you see so many young or want-to-be young Mac computer users in Starbucks, especially sitting next to the window. It is a show of a "special" lifestyle, unfortunately a lifestyle created and sold by the industries.

Of course there are people who do work in coffee shops with no intention to be a spectacle. (I believe everyone in this forum belongs to this category!) Of course every product we buy is an expression of who we are or want to be. I just feel the fever for the overpriced Apple goes too far to look smart. If I want to know a person, I see what phone and computer he/she uses and which coffee shop he goes, and if he log on facebook ten times a day. I know it is stereotyping but I can't help :-))

Is an E-book reader about reading? I don't know. I mostly read at home, never in a coffee shop. If not for the handy dictionaries, I would rather read a paper book in the subway. It is just me. I don't want people pay attention to my gadget and think I am reading a best-seller. There is nothing wrong with best-sellers. Another self-image issue.