Tall Grande Decaf Vanilla Latte--Whip-Whip (whatever that means)...

Nobody is a stranger in Starbucks, and if you are, it is quite likely it’s because you want to be. What I mean is, everyone has their place. Sure your place may be the quiet intellect in the corner, or the shady man who always sits by the sugar and cream table; but in the world of Starbucks that is your place, and having your place is what makes you not a stranger. Some people race in, heals grinding against tile, keys fumbling, eyes have that “ready for coffee” look, and they grumble their usual order as they think to themselves how much better the world would be if every Starbucks had a drive through. Then, of course there are the shady characters. The ones who sit in the side corner and half read half stare at every customer who enters. If you came to Starbucks often you would probably see them everyday, but if you are one of the first type of customers that I described you would most likely be in too much of a hurry to recognize their presence. Then of course you have the Starbucks intellect, possibly the over worked college student, or perhaps the determined writer who sits in a corner with a laptop or book for hours on end. They seem to drink up whatever it is they are working on, then every so often they will peer up with this weary look, gazing off into eons of space or staring in shock out the window as if they had forgotten about the world outside, and then, at last they will resume to their work. You can not forget the children of Starbucks, usually eyeing the most sugar loaded drink on the menu, as they fumble with the 5 dollar bill their mom gave them in the palm of their sticky hand. Or what about the happy couple, or the two chatty girls in the corner, they are the color of Starbucks, the ones that bring any amount of happiness to the place at all, as they seem to not have a deep desire for anything but good friendship and the drink itself.
One thing I notice about Starbucks is that it’s a place where it’s ok to be alone. Being alone is actually the trendy thing. Aback in the corner, always the corner, zeroing in on the object of amusement, and basking in the aloneness of your day, whether it is your choice to be alone or not does not matter.
One must not forget the music of Starbucks, the classy jazz that becomes engrained in your skull when you are sitting there, but later you seem to never remember the jazzy melody.
Starbucks is a place where everyone can feel sophisticated, with the classy music, the dark rich olives, charcoals, and maroons of the walls. Even if you are poorer then dirt, you can sit here for as long as you want, you can have a place, belong to something, or perhaps, belong to nothing—but at Starbucks no one will question it.