How Starbucks Makes You Feel Human Again

A fellow unemployed friend invited me to join her at Starbucks today. Normally, I don't really like leaving my house -- I have everything I need to effectively jobsearch right at home. Nevertheless, she had touted how much more productive she had been the previous day at another Starbucks, so I thought I'd take her up on her offer.

Five hours later, I'm not convinced that it's a more productive setting; but, it defintitely served a purpose. True, I got much less done than I would've done at home; but - being out of the house; talking, laughing -- it makes you feel human again.

I'm a creature of routine. When I have structure, I can be singularly focused, and I can produce an amazing amount of work. Still, breaking routine can be quite useful, as I found today.

Yes, there were some speedbumps -- my friend, significantly smaller than I, found nothing wrong with choosing the 'comfy chairs' with no table; so, for the first hour, I sat there, with horrific glare on the laptop screen from the beating sun (which also made it nearly unbearably hot), while I precariously tried to balance the laptop ON my laptop. After an hour, I realized it made sense to turn the chairs around, which helped with the glare, but not the heat nor the uncomfortable seating arrangement.

Finally, the people behind us at the table got up and left (the same table we could've had when we first got there), and then, I felt productive. Sitting upright, at a table, actually DOING work; wow -- what a change! I haven't felt that way in months (even when I'm uber-productive at home, I'm still conscious of the fact that I'm on a couch; not in a quasi-business setting).

In the end, I had a good day.

As an aside, I will need to tech-protect my various devices. My friend, apparently, radiates anti-technology mojo. The first time she came to my house, my router mysteriously stopped working; and today, my cellphone became completely non-responsive while I was there (and, miraculously started working again, once I got home). If it happens a third time, I think I'm going to stop looking for a job, and the two of us will just market her mutant-like powers.