TheBanyanTree: It's obviously Monday morning

[Monique Young]

Meetings in Starbucks, or any other trendy coffee joint, are the worst. It's
fine when you're meeting someone you know, someone you've met before. It's
when you're meeting a stranger that the problems begin.

You enter warily. Is the person there? Will you recognize them? Will they
recognize you? Should you approach every person who appears to be alone,
unless you're meeting a group of people, which is a whole nuther can of
worms.

You enter. You look around. Seeing no one who appears to fit the description
you've been provided, you order your beverage of choice. (This in itself can
be a huge challenge, given the variety of options. Starbucks has decided to
put up instructions on how it's done. I generally just stick to a tall hot
chocolate, tall being the smallest size, strangely enough.)

While waiting for the beverage of your choice you keep glancing around.
Perhaps you've missed the person you're to meet. Perhaps she's at one of the
tables against the wall? No . . . the one vaguely likely prospect is joined
by another. Another prospect does not seem even vaguely likely.

You take your beverage and sit at a table and wait.

And wait. You sip and you watch the door as inconspicuously as possible you
don't want to stare; that would be rude.

And you wait. Prospects enter, but they come in groups, or they enter and
head for other groups, or they are obviously there only for the beverage of
their choice.

And you wait.

Eventually, you begin to feel rather foolish, or you do if you're me. You
wonder if you got the message right. Are you at the right Starbucks? Right
day? Right time? What is the problem? Being me, I assume the problem lies
with me. It always does, no matter the truth of the situation.

It was difficult enough to get to the Starbucks; the mall is undergoing some
sort of renovation process having to do with demolition and rebuilding, and
the entrance you first tried is blocked off. There is no access from the
area of the parking lot you've parked in, so had to get back into your
vehicle (after discovering the lack of access in the rain), then drive
around to the other side. Has the delay made me too late? Did she leave in
disgust before I even arrived?

And so you wait. You give the benefit of the doubt and you wait. Still no
likely prospects.

Eventually, weary of waiting, you remove a yellow legal pad from your bag
and you begin writing, first making notes to yourself of things that must be
done, then you begin writing of the frustration you experience when
attempting to meet someone at Starbucks.

And this is not the first time, nor will it be the last. After all, if
today's prospect has not turned up, chances are the two of you will try
again . . . and the cycle will repeat itself. At the least, it will happen
with others you will arrange to meet in the future, business meetings being
much of this nature when works out of their home.

While you wait you think of the work you should be doing while you wait, but
you continue to write, giving the benefit of the doubt to the bitter end.

It is Monday morning, and before you know it, an hour of time that could
have been used at the office has been spent at Starbucks, and you're still
writing useless ramblings (such as this), and you decide you have waited
long enough. So you pack up your yellow pad, you finish your hot chocolate,
which is no longer hot, and you leave so you can return to the real work
that awaits you at the office.

Excuse me, but I must be running off now . . .


Monique