Cassandra Goes to Starbucks

We were goofing off about my super good friend Cassandra  (@CDioneJones) going to Starbucks to work and this is how I think it goes. This is fiction-ish.  Fictiony? 

Determined not to miss another deadline due to spotty internet connection and general procrastinations, Cassandra decided to head to Starbucks to work.  For whatever reason, nothing made her want to reorganize her living room like a report due date.  Surely Starbucks was the place to get things handled.  Although from her calculations it took an extra four hours, just being motiviated by watching other people study or meet up or whatever they went to Starbucks to do was motivation enough.  And when she needed inspiration or some sort of pick me up there was a never ending supply of caffeine at her disposal.  Plus, there was bound to be at least a few pieces of eye candy in the place.

Grabbing her her iPhone, earbuds, laptop, and appropriate chargers, she loaded up her messenger bag and made the short trip to the Bux.  Although it was 8pm on a Wednesday night, the parking lot was incredibly full.  Like it was a club.  Like they were giving away free coffee.  Like nobody wanted to get her report turned in a timely fashion.  This just confirmed all her suspicions that the world was in fact, against her.  There would be time to fix that later. For now, she must work.

Upon opening the door she was slightly disappointed to find that there was no free coffee.  There were no free anything.  Just a sea of loud, highly caffeinated patrons taking up space she needed to set up and work.   Clearly her first objective would be to secure a table.

After casing the joint she was left with two options; to balance everything in the comfy, oversized lounge chair, or squeeze into a table chock full of medical students.  Normally in these circumstances, she would just wait it out.  Pick a spot outside maybe and just wait until a space she wanted became available.  But these were desperate times and they called for desperate measures.

She spotted a table with empty cups and scattered crumbs of a finished coffee cake, but the two girls sitting there were running their mouths incessantly.  One had her keys in her hand signaling that at any moment they would be wrapping up this conversation and leaving the premises.  Cassandra weaved her way around book bags and power cords to hover over the table.  She would occasionally shoot them the evil eye or give an exasperated sigh to let them know they were taking up valuable real estate.  She shuffled her shoes and would move her bag from shoulder to shoulder even though it wasn’t that much of a burden.

Then she spotted a couple girls eyeing her table.  They didn’t have a laptop or book or anything seemingly productive in their possession.  Yet the way they assumed her hovering stance, it appeared they thought they would be the ones to get the spot.

The patrons started to sense the sharks circling and moved before there were any causalities.  Cassandra slipped in as soon as one girl got up from the chair and grinned at her competitors.  The muttered something incomprehensible and looked for seating elsewhere.  Cassandra took this moment to revile in her victory and considered what drink she would have for the evening.  Clearly marking her territory, she scattered books and even left her phone on the table to ward off any table claimers.  Dammit she had work to do!

Cassandra was barely able to order her venti mocha extra hot with an extra shot of espresso (hey, it was a long road ahead) without turning back every few seconds to make sure her things hadn’t been moved.  After burning her tongue on the steamy beverage, she decided to open her laptop and get to work.

She glanced at the clock.  9pm.  This report was due in 11 hours.  She literally waited until the 11^th hour to get it accomplished but she was determined to do it.  She pulled out the notes.  Weeks of research and rough drafts and bits of data and interviews.  All her work on this table.  She needed to organize, edit, and send off something that would make or break her career.  It would be her greatest triumph or hardest defeat.

She opened her laptop and saw the battery indicators blinking at her.  Panic overtook her body.  She wasn’t sitting next to a coveted outlet.  Those witches that were trying to stalk her table were.  The laughing med students were.  Even the big comfy chair that didn’t have enough space for her to put all her papers was next to an outlet.  This Starbucks was mocking her.  Begging her to fail.  The coffee was astronomically hot, the table was uneven, there was no outlet, and they were playing Phil Collins on the speakers.  Not that she disliked Phil Collins, because who could, but that was just not motivating her to do work.  And now she had an outlet to find.

Disregarding the sideways glances she was getting from the other people, she grabbed the plug and got on her hands and knees and set out for a plug.  She found one that was 6 inches too far away.  No problems, just move the table a few inches without spilling over the coffee or disorganizing her papers.  She figured the best way to accomplish this was with her eyes closed, and she could swear the room went quiet as the table squeakily made her way across the floor.  Suddenly the noise started back up again and she was at the desired location.

The laptop gleamed with newfound energy and she opened up the web browser.  Time to check in on Facebook.

An hour later she decided it was actually time to get started on what she came here for.  Coffee half gone and freezing it was no good to her and was taking up valuable space on the table.  She stretched, cracked her knuckles and logged into Outlook to send one simple email.

“Now what was this report supposed to be on”.

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