Mastodawn

robigan Aug 29, 2024

I have just read this sentence: "Usually I pick up Starbucks for my morning coffee because it's closer than my local coffee shop and I don't have to put on real clothes to drive through it..."

And I'm just. Staring into the distance in European. You DRIVE to get COFFEE before putting on your CLOTHES? You can't be bothered to put on clothes because you haven't had your morning coffee but you will DRIVE to a fully another location that isn't YOUR FUCKING HOUSE to get it??? You will operate. The machinery! On the roads, that you share with other people! To drive to a location?? When you could just make it at home??

I try not to judge but, dear reader, I am fucking judging 😶

Sini Tuulia Aug 28, 2024

And it was a comment on a post about Starbucks being terrible, their CEO being terrible, and them doing terrible union busting! And this... This is what someone chose to write as a JUSTIFICATION to get Starbucks even though they thought they probably shouldn't?

I am... Collapsing into a black hole. Just. Fuck.

Sini Tuulia Nov 14

Someone boosted this old Starbucks post that generally *checks notes* a lot of people agreed with and which angered like three people who got extremely defensive about it and made it my problem specifically.

And guess what, Starbucks is doing anti-union things again so I guess it's perennial! Fuck Starbucks, support unions, do not operate the machinery if you can't be bothered to dress up properly yet, coffee can be made at home!

@sinituulia I don’t know if it was fake or not, but I remember seeing a video of an American showing what they discovered in Europe: a Moka pot. The simplest way to make coffee and they didn’t know about it, they were absolutely amazed by it. I just… I don’t understand.

Sini Tuulia Nov 14

@jhbabon If I didn't have friends living in the US, day by day I'd be more and more convinced that it's some kind of elaborate prank.

@sinituulia @jhbabon I live here and I’ve begun to think that.

@jhbabon @sinituulia The resemblance to a percolator probably is its biggest drawback as a product here, because there is still a lot of hate for percolator coffee.

Jo - pièce de résistance Nov 14

@sinituulia I’ve been making pour over coffee with a cheap melita filter cone and filters - ever since I got attacked at a Tim Hortons by a non masker annoyed at my precautions during lockdown. I’ve saved so much money.
I found a coffee I like and am happy I made the switch. I had never made coffee before. I always bought it. It took a minute to find a way to make it so I liked it, but I got there! I was motivated.

Sini Tuulia Nov 14

@JoBlakely Finnish people consume ludicrous amounts of coffee per capita, might be most in Europe or something, and while having and serving coffee is the absolute most basic level of hospitality... There doesn't really exist the concept of a "coffee run" where you'd go somewhere to get it and come back. 😄 If you go for coffee, you're going into a cafe or cafeteria, to sit down and have it there!

If you're working you might go to the break room to get a cup and bring it back to your work station, but this is work obsessed or distressed student behaviour, not coffee drinking.

Gabriel N Nov 14

@sinituulia @JoBlakely it does make you question the coffee culture of the place.

If I’m going out for coffee, it will be to sit down with a proper porcelain cup, taking my time and enjoying it. I may be alone or with someone else, and it is special.

If I’m out and harried, but need a boost, I buy one of these cups from a machine. I don’t consider it “real coffee” and don’t expect anything from it.

Starbucks stopped serving good coffee a long time ago. It is closer to Dunkin’

Sini Tuulia Nov 14

@wtrmt @JoBlakely We do have coffee machines pretty much everywhere, and you can buy kiosk or convenience store coffee from pretty much anywhere... It'll be a tar-like substance being kept hot for hours on end next to the till, come in a paper cup and most likely be terrible, but won't cost a lot and it is what it is, a last resort if you're in a hurry, or something nice and hot when you're freezing into a block of ice on a bus stop.

But if there's a choice, you'll sit down in a nice cafe or outside the nice cafe.

Jo - pièce de résistance Nov 14

@sinituulia @wtrmt

In North America they don’t really promote a cafe culture, there aren’t many sidewalks you’d want to sit out in, nor do they make room for them. There is no table service either unlike in Europe. It’s not the same experience on offer.

Coffee was one of the few things I didn’t make at home & picked up on the way to work, so I could get a bit more sleep. I think a lot of people are similar.

Sini Tuulia Nov 14

@JoBlakely No table service here, either. 😄 Line up on the till, give them your order (or pour yourself from the carafes of coffee, hot water and tea they've already got there), wait a little bit and go sit down wherever you like for as long as you like. You'll get some evil eye if you sit longer than two hours, but that's fine if you don't feel like buying anything more. Same procedure in the most bougie of places with the finest speciality coffees and little decrepit roadside stops with one singular table and two rickety chairs and coffee probably older than the owner selling it.

I just have instant coffee if I'm too tired to have anything nicer, it takes multiple seconds to put into a mug, it cooling down is much more time than making it.

cognitively accessible math Nov 14

@sinituulia seriously. Don't operate that car if you can't think yet. Now, once you've had that cuppa --> Make a plan!!! Get a half gallon of iced coffee at the store.PUt it in the fridge. It's even closer than Starbucks.

secretsloth Nov 14

@sinituulia ok I missed the top post and I'm judging too. My hubby was stuck working for them because of higher pay/better insurance than other similar jobs since I can't work and need the healthcare, and they just kept squeezing him harder and harder and harder. Luckily he's back at school now but Starbucks deserves all the hate it gets and more, go to local coffee shops instead AT THE VERY LEAST oh my god, what absolute nonsense. These are human beings they're chewing up with their breakfast.

Sini Tuulia Nov 14

@secretsloth There's a huge amount of people working there because it's everywhere, the least they could fucking do is pay everyone a reasonable wage and have them work only reasonable hours!

secretsloth Nov 14

@sinituulia yeah. They've reduced the total number of allowed staff instead, making it nearly impossible to get someone to pick up shifts (this is a big reason people end up working too many hours,) meanwhile hubby was being paid only as much as the lowest 20% of managers, while his store was making as much revenue as the top 25% of stores, and he was there pretty much every day due to folks just not showing up (one person had 6 grandmas die, it was that bad).

bewilderbeast23 Nov 15

@sinituulia @secretsloth Starbucks doesn't give a shit about its workers, and NOR DO STARBUCKS CUSTOMERS.

Amethyst 🌸Nov 14

@sinituulia but isn’t making coffee operating machinery? 😵‍💫😹

Elena ``of Valhalla''Nov 14

@amethyst @sinituulia usually the failure modes of the machines used to make coffee don't have dead people as a consequence

(it's not impossible, just harder than with a car)

@sinituulia
Have you even tried the Apple Crisp Oat Milk Macchiato from Starbucks? Best seasonal drink they have!

Sini Tuulia Nov 14

@bryan I have not and probably never will, it's a horrible company run by even more horrible people, exploiting an already strained service industry workforce just trying to survive, and doing its very best to be the last chain standing so it's also the only place to work... That's not even touching on the real estate shenanigans, tax evasion, CEO private jets or impact of single use packaging on the whole global trash and oil dependency situation.

We do also have more local chains here, and since they operate and are somewhat owned here, they actually have to follow workers' rights laws and pay tax, which is nice if I want to pay a lot more for a beverage when I'm out and about and can't make it at home. Or buy from the grocery store, if I really wanted to, there's a pretty big selection of coffee drinks there.

If you were making some kind of joke I didn't get, sorry, but that's an absolute nope from me, I don't care what it tastes like

@sinituulia
I was posting an absurdity of igoring all the problems for a sugary drink.

My other idea was “of course we drive to Starbucks when half asleep - we just use FSD in our Cybertrucks”!

Sini Tuulia Nov 14

@bryan Ah, yes. Sarcasm and parody are trivially easy to mix up with absolute honesty in this day and age, sorry

Mre. Dartigen [maker mode]Nov 14

@sinituulia I always laugh to myself when I remember that Starbucks is barely hanging on over here (I think there's one location in Melbourne?) because we were so thoroughly spoiled by migrants from Italy, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, and a few other places, that they just could not get away with serving their terrible attempts at coffee. McDonald's coffee was still better. (Australia also had a significant hand in the whole McCafe existence thing apparently. It is generally expected that anywhere that serves food will also serve coffee, except maybe a pub. Most of those serve proper coffee now though, with a fancy machine and steamed milk and everything.)

On the other hand, for years I refuse to own any form of coffee maker, because the last time I did that I ended up with a 6 cup a day habit within a week, and then had to go cold turkey when it broke. (Had my GP very worried too, I almost got referred to a cardiologist.) And I am in the unlucky cohort that gets extremely nasty headaches from caffeine withdrawal. Having to actually go somewhere to get coffee meant I usually wouldn't, or would limit my time and spending to just one, so I couldn't develop that level of caffeine habit again. (Nowadays my stomach objects quite severely to coffee in all forms, so I don't have to do that any more.)

So I can understand someone trying to limit their caffeine intake making a conscious decision to not have any way to make coffee at home... but usually someone who's doing that will flat-out say 'I have a problem so I create barriers to obtaining coffee on purpose and that way my problem can't get any worse'.

❄️SnowyIn🇨🇦❄️Nov 15

@sinituulia
Yes, This!!⬆️
All the excuses I hear are annoying as all get out.
"Coffee isn't available at home" That is a choice!
"It's too difficult to make coffee"
It takes no effort to boil water, spoon coffee into a French Press, go brush one's teeth, pour coffee.
That takes a lot less effort than getting into a vehicle, driving bleary-eyed several miles down a road while negotiating traffic.
And can we talk aobout the emissions and energy wasted just to purchase a cup of coffee?
As far as I'm concerned anyone who does this has a inflated sense of entitlement, does not care the tiniest bit about the environment, and noting your mention of lack of street clothing, it is laziness.

ʙᴇɴ ᴄᴏᴛᴛᴇяɪʟʟ Aug 28, 2024

@sinituulia This is nuts. Starbucks new boss under fire for 1,000-mile commute https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y3e0ljnllo

Starbucks new boss under fire for 1,000-mile commute

Job offer which allows new boss to commute to and from work on corporate jet sparked criticism.

Sini Tuulia Aug 28, 2024

@BenCotterill Yup! Absolute trash! Just work from home or move for fuck's sake, random CEO man!

econads Aug 28, 2024

@sinituulia @BenCotterill
I think it's one of those "because I can" status symbol things

2xfo Aug 28, 2024

@econads @sinituulia @BenCotterill
Comes with a quarter billion dollars in free personal use every year too, so, yeah i think you're right that it's a status symbol thing. (I'm sure the board will approve most things as business related anyway. "Going to that fancy thing with that expensive person? Thank you for your service to the company, sir!")

robcornelius Aug 31, 2024

@RnDanger @econads @sinituulia @BenCotterill

I learned of the perfect description of this sort of behaviour, "contemptuous consumption". Basically doing something really expensive and really dumb, and fuck the rest of you. See also wankpanzer.

Tuchowski Nov 15

@RnDanger Results in 50% less taxes?
@econads @sinituulia @BenCotterill

Tuchowski Nov 15

@RnDanger Well, those people don't pay taxes anyway... 😤
@econads @sinituulia @BenCotterill

@sinituulia @BenCotterill yes, but he doesn't need to get completely dressed to get on the plane and can drink his coffee during the flight

derHinek Aug 29, 2024

@BenCotterill @sinituulia Yes, but does he get on the plane before or after he puts his clothes on?

Ray Jepson Aug 29, 2024

@BenCotterill @sinituulia the straws are paper though.

Ray Jepson Aug 29, 2024

@BenCotterill @sinituulia also, ironic that there are 30 million are Americans (my estimate) who would be exstatic to move to Seattle. There are thousands moving there to be homeless!

This guy is like, "nope".

LukefromDC Sep 1, 2024

@BenCotterill @sinituulia Ultimate gas-guzzler.

Elon Musk's private jet gets about 1mpg, while a fully loaded commercial airliner can get 40 passenger miles per gallon or more. Wonder what this guy's jet gets, bet it's not a tiny single-seater he flies himself.

Let's compare this to ground travel

A big SUV with four people in it pulling 17 mpg at 70 mph on the highway is 68 per passenger MPG with a lot of gear space, fully loaded at 7 people this rises to 119 per person mpg. A 50 mpg Geo Metro (these are a cult car now) driven solo is 50mpg, beating commercial air travel by 20%. Fully loaded w four people it gets 200 per person MPG, which is moped country. A typical 30 mpg small car on a solo commute is defeated by all of these save the private jet, which uses 30 times as much fuel.

ink and yarn Aug 28, 2024

@sinituulia Can I sit with you in the judgey chairs? Because I am judging, too.

I don't have to put on real clothes to get my coffee either, because my coffee comes from my kitchen. I bought a nice coffeemaker with a timer function. I set up the coffee in the evening, when I'm awake and functional... and when I get up in the morning, there it is! freshly brewed coffee.

ajft [SEC=continvoucly morged]Aug 28, 2024

@emery @sinituulia I too can make coffee in the nude, however, i prefer to dress first lest I spill hot beverage upon parts of me not equipped to handle it

the implement of choice is one of Bialetti's finest, a birthday gift from an ex. sometime last century

https://flic.kr/p/2q7v2yv

But driving, merely to get coffee, inconceivable

2024-02-19T18.43.10_samsung

Flickr

Sini Tuulia Aug 28, 2024

@emery That is the life. I've been thinking about getting a coffee maker with a timer, but wouldn't really have a place to put it, so I live with tolerable and exceptionally easy organic instant coffee. It's not the best taste, but it's alright. If I want to make actual coffee, there's always the French press, but it's annoying to clean so I usually don't...

Have you seen the ridiculous (in a good way) James Hoffman video about the bougie coffee maker marketed to do that exact same thing, but with a +200€ extra price tag for the bougieness? I love the video!

ink and yarn Aug 28, 2024

@sinituulia I haven't seen that video - it sounds amusing!

Before I had a real coffeepot and/or a need for more than one cup of coffee at a time, I used a re-usable steeping thingie. It takes up next to no space and makes perfect single cups (once you figure out exactly how much coffee to put in and how long to let it steep for your taste). Bonus: it also works for tea.

It is this thing - https://primulaproducts.com/products/coffee-brew-buddy

Coffee Brew Buddy, Portable Pour Over, Easy To Use - Primula

Sini Tuulia Aug 28, 2024

@emery Ah yes, a fine small sieve. 😄 I feel like a lot of marketing budget has gone onto making this slightly more convenient and slightly better result product sell for a lot more than, you know. A small steel sieve that you buy once, and if you don't let it rust, lasts for some 30 years!

The video, though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UALN1ZoN6bA

The Barisieur - Do You Need A Fancy Bedside Coffee Maker?

YouTube

ink and yarn Aug 28, 2024

@sinituulia But the steel one doesn't fold flat! and it is less fine than the mesh bag, so harder to wash. (And I bought it for less than $5, so... there's that, too.)

Hm, maybe I need a fancy bedside coffeemaker alarm clock! :)

AllyPally Nov 14

@emery @sinituulia Or maybe use a kettle and a filter cone. You can get collapsible cones. And a filter paper so you just pick up the whole thing and put it in the recycling. Brilliant for camping, works fine at home.

ink and yarn Nov 15

@allypally @sinituulia 1. The kettle doesn't have a timer, so is not suitable for my coffee-making purposes. 2. The coffeepot I have doesn't use paper filters; it has a reusable metal filter. 3. I can't put coffee grounds in the recycling here.

Sini Tuulia Nov 15

@emery @allypally ...what on earth kind of recycling doesn't accept coffee grounds?? It's just plant bits, it's compost!

Elena ``of Valhalla''Nov 15

@sinituulia @emery @allypally I think they are quite rich in fats and acidic, and either thing may cause issues with the resulting compost

but they also accept them where I live, so I guess that there is a solution

Sini Tuulia Nov 15

@valhalla @emery I think it's a problem more if there's tonnes of the stuff, like in cafes that produce large quantities every day, while in households it gets mixed in with everything else. The municipal composting facilities here tend to be pretty industrial and hardcore, so presumably they can handle a lot of things since this is the first time I've heard about coffee grounds being a problem!

ink and yarn Nov 15

@sinituulia @valhalla Our recycling collection accepts glass, paper, and plastics; we don't do compost where I live.

(Which doesn't make it any less weird for someone to respond to a post from August of 2024 to tell me that I could be making coffee differently.)

Sini Tuulia Nov 15

@emery It's a very special genre of good-natured but unwelcome reply! "Here's how I, a person who knows nothing about you or your situation, think you could do this thing better, based on my experience in my own situation" 😆 Like, sure. Sure, maybe, but please don't, I don't want to get into a three paragraph explanation of how and why things are the way they are here where I'm sitting!

cwicseolfor (has moved!)Aug 28, 2024

@sinituulia @emery (I usually don't talk *products*, mostly anti-consumption, but they can pry my aeropress from my cold dead fingers, because it's essentially a french press if it were ridiculously easy to clean. Takes 20 seconds: unscrew filter lid, rinse filter to reuse (optional, imo very recommended), depress plunger to pop grounds into compost, rinse plunger head, pull plunger from chamber, lay on drying rack. 3min from hot water to coffee & clean kitchen.

Brew is competition-grade.)

Gavin Aug 28, 2024

@sinituulia I continue to be freaked out how accurate Wall-E's prediction of the future was.

Evan Aug 28, 2024

@sinituulia No, judge away. That’s a terrible mindset to have around either driving safely, or consumer ethics.

PhDog 🇮🇪Aug 28, 2024

When I say i wish I lived in a civilized country, I am in no way joking.

Onéira Aug 29, 2024

@sinituulia seeing the price of a Starbucks, people have too much money... Unless there's some places where Starbucks and gas are cheap...

Morgan Aldridge Aug 30, 2024

@sinituulia Yup, _everything_ is car oriented here. It's utter insanity and to the detriment of everything that could be good. And I'm a _car person_! (That said, I like to _drive_, which is also negated by having everything be car centric.)

Harry W.Aug 28, 2024

@sinituulia well that's rather terrifying.
The view that driving a car is easier than getting dressed is... Concerning 😅

Sini Tuulia Aug 28, 2024

@hazz223 I am deeply discombobulated by the whole thing! Concerning is putting it mildly!

mirabilos Aug 28, 2024

@hazz223 @sinituulia it’s mind-boggling. Does not compute. Americans are really really out of this world.

bewilderbeast23 Nov 15

@mirabilos @hazz223 @sinituulia This is Collapse of the Empire shit. That fuckin ANYONE could think this is anything REMOTELY normal.