Sometimes You Just Need a Good Cup of Joe

The other day I heard about a guy who lived above a Starbucks in New York City protesting it's closure. As part of a plan to close 600 stores nation-wide, they're closing a total of 10 stores in the whole sprawling city of New York -- leaving 225 apparently. I hope someone can find this guy a cup of coffee. You see, I'm not a coffee drinker, so I don't really understand the insanity that the specter of Starbucks deprivation can bring on. In fact, I'm fairly oblivious to Starbucks mania ... until this morning.

Now, Atlanta has a lot of things going for it. A top notch public transportation system is not one of them, but I still ride the bus to work. My job gives me a free bus pass in exchange for not driving to campus, so the price is right. Generally, my morning bus ride is uneventful -- assuming the bus comes. (Yesterday, it failed to show up.) This morning it arrived just when I expected it and all was well ... I thought. As we pulled up to a little strip of stores, the bus driver slowed down about a hundred feet short of the bus stop, let a passenger out and then left the bus herself and went into Starbucks. I sat there for a minute waiting for her to run back into her idling bus, but she didn't. "Did the busdriver just walk out of her bus, leaving it running and walk into a coffee shop?" I asked myself. I stepped out of the bus deciding to walk the rest of the way to work. As I crossed the street, I turned back to look at the bus. Still driver-less, a long line of traffic had begun to appear behind the bus. I really hope that she suddenly had a emergency and had to run into the bathroom. More importantly, I hope an impatient passenger does not decide to take the bus for a joyride. I would really be horrified if I walked into that Starbucks and found the busdriver enjoying a nonfat latte and a scone -- that has a horrible impact on "on-time performance." Of course, I may have a clue now why the bus didn't arrive at all yesterday morning.