Laptops Cripple Starbucks

I must call the founding fathers of the coffee chain called Starbucks. I want them to shed some light on their business mission statement. Which is? Turn coffee shops into living rooms and the patio. Can they show me numbers, profits derived from customers that don’t buy coffee - the product - but sit there for hours punching laptops?

There is something about laptops in public. They are basically typewriters, casinos or dubious photo galleries at home, depending on what we use them for. There’s a metamorphosis in public, especially in coffee shops. There’s an aura of mystery about that woman or man studiously looking at the screen. I’ve never seen anybody smiling at a laptop and I do scan faces while waiting in line to place my coffee-to-go. Hold it. Make that past tense because Starbucks closed down most coffee shops in this town. I explained why, in previous blogs.

I digress. Where was I? Aaaaha! Laptops in public. They give the impression of importance, of urgency about something that cannot wait until we get home or the office. They also erect a curtain of prison bars around the face. You wouldn’t dare tap the laptop user on the shoulder, if you know him or her. It would be an invasion of privacy.

Where does that leave the space called home, the centre of activity? Going out that door is taking a break, we’ll return home. What is the state of ‘home’ if we live in coffee shops, courtesy of laptops?

Nonqaba waka Msimang

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