I went to Starbucks and all I got was this expensive buzz

Each day at 1 p.m. I face a crisis. Where oh where shall I spend my lunch hour? (Yes, I confront larger questions in my life but those aren’t fun to blog about.)

I hear tell of a company cafeteria on some other floor, but that sounds too akin to my college dining common, which reminds me how much flat Sprite and soggy pizza I consumed in 1997. Or I could eat at my desk like my cubemate, who uses the time to catch up on TMZ and Facebook. But for me the point of lunch hour is to get out from under fluorescent lights and away from the lovely people with whom I work.

So, outside I go. And this is fine during the summer months when a plethora of outdoor benches are open to me, with varying levels of panhandlyness. But during the long, long cold time, the choices get slim. I usually bring my own food, so I just need a place to sit and read. Necessary: warm and relatively clean; desired: quiet and cheap, or free if I can swing it.

Dunkin’ Donuts is good because they don’t notice if you sneak in and sit without buying anything, as long as you don’t fall asleep. But they blast an adult contemporary radio station, and Duncan Sheik tends to distract. Our local buffet bar/delis are possible, but so is the chance of running into work people there. Plus they reek of mac n’ cheese and sushi—not an appetizing combo.

Which brings me to today, when the chill chased me into one of two new Starbucks locations in the neighborhood. Plusses: clean and quiet (playing soft music, objectionable only for being so unobjectionable). Minus: I had to buy something. I’ve been off coffee for a couple years and perhaps I forgot how much the stuff costs. But seriously, folks, $3.47 for a cappuccino! A “tall” cappuccino, which means one shot of espresso and lots of cheap milk foam. (Of course I evidenced my lengthy absence from the chain by asking for a “small” cappuccino. Silly me.)

I sat and woefully considered the state of my pocketbook, with a crisp $5 bill now reduced to measly change and this steaming cup of not-really-needed caffeine in front of me. How do people go there every day? And how does Starbucks get away with charging so much? I started to resent every customer who came in, those who could afford to bleed out cash in exchange for burnt-tasting coffee and cookie-cutter ambiance. $3.47 for one beverage!

And then I remembered I’ve been known to spend $14 on a martini. End of judgment for the day.

Lunchtime atop a Skyscraper by Charles C. Ebbets
Starbucks cup by OpenAperture on Flickr