There is a starbucks across the street from my job. A lot of times when I am early I just sit outside and hang out. Since I make my coffee at work I just sit there and listen to my IPOD.

I do not wear fancy clothes. My bike is old. I have not shaven in two weeks.

This morning I was just kind of standing right outside the door I think I was getting ready to sit down at an outside table. I am hot and sweaty so I don't want to go sit inside and listen to their (horrible corporate mass produced crap they are trying to sell me.) Anyway...This lady asks me "Did you get a coffee?" and I say excuse me? She repeats it and then I let her know that I had coffee at work waiting for me. I just thought it was funny.

As an after though I should have taken her up on it and ordered a venti frap! Or maybe she would have just handed me money!


A couple weeks ago one of the employees saw me sitting outside and gave me some tea and said I could go inside and get a free cup of hot water!

What is the saying? "Don't judge a book by it's cover"

I guess I should shave? he he he

You hang out at a restaurant without buying anything?

I don't find that the slightest bit amusing. Kudos to the employees for trying to help someone out who appears down on her/his luck. Shame on you for taking them up on it.

Yeah I usually just sit outside for a few minutes and chill out. Sometimes if it's real cold or rainy I will go inside. Hell, I've given that company enough of my money.

Would I hang out in a restaurant with out buying anything? Sure.

What are you talking about? I talk to that lady all the time. I told her that I have coffee at work and she still wanted to give me the tea.

Lighten up. Don't take life so seriously.

How about telling the whole story then? I mean if you talk to this lady all the time, she obviously knows you work etc and I highly doubt considers you homeless. Or maybe it was easier to be misleading to get a reaction.

-D

Shaving may help Okay from a restaurant worker's point of view, and someone who worked in a coffee shop for 6 months, please don't just go and use the space if you don't buy anything. Now I will say beforehand that the prospect of you sitting at starbucks and not buying anything isn't going to kill the company.

Anyway if you go to a restaurant of any type and just use their space, be it a booth or table inside, or a chair/table outside that is space that a paying customer can no longer use...and if all the other spaces are being taken up by either paying or non paying customers then the paying customer has no where to go...no where to go now means no coming back later. Now you have possibly lost the restaurant money, and potential customers. It is a proven fact that one disgruntled customer will tell 10 people of their problem with the restaurant...be it sooner or later...then those ten people will each tell 5 people, who will each tell 5 people and so on.

Now I realize this is an extreme situation, but really even if you only buy something for 99 cents please buy something when you use a restaurants space.

The lady who offered me coffee I have never seen. The employee who gave me tea knows me. Never mind.

Everyone's sense of humor is different I guess.

Assuming someone is down on their luck because they don't wear new clothes from Macy's and drive a car could be offensive. But I find it humorous instead. I don't take life seriously. I just read a story today about a woman cyclist who was killed by a driver. Life is too short.

Thanks for the heads up.

No Problem.

I agree with you, life is WAY too short to waste spending time worrying about everything, or not having a sense of humor. I actually laughed when I read the story...

I actually have people all the time ask me if I'd rather take a ride from them than ride my bike home, or at walmart the other day while I was locking my bike up they asked me if I had a place to go that evening. I think he was a preacher (because of the way he was dressed), but I mean just because I ride a bike in the winter when it is cold doesn't mean I need a place to stay...I laughed and told him that I had a place to stay, then when he asked why I would want to ride my bike in the cold, at which I replied....why wouldn't I? Then he laughed, shook my hand and walked away.

The people I work with honestly do not believe that I ride to work everyday just because I love it. They think I am hurting for money and have to much pride to accept a ride home when it is raining. Either that or they really do think I am a little crazy.

My ride to work and my ride home is my therapy.

A couple of weeks ago, I took my hybrid bike grocery shopping. As I was loading the groceries into the bike, an older woman approached me and said "God Bless you, and Merry Christmas". I don't know if she thought I was homeless, or just thought it was neat I was riding a bike.

A few hours ago, on my commute home from work, I had to stop for fast food (I hadn't eaten lunch and was weak). While I ate outside next to my bike, a guy came up and started talking to me. After I answered a few of his questions about riding to work, he then asked "Why can't you drive?". I guess he thought I had gotten a DUI or something. I did explain, that I sometimes do drive.

Oh well. It's all kind of amusing.

I agree.

And all though many people associate riding a bike for necessity and not recreation as a lower class activity I think that mind set will start to change. Obviously in the cities that is old news but in urban areas like where I live people can not grasp the concept of someone choosing a bike to run an errand or get to work over a car.

People at my work say "Hey you want a ride?" and I say "No thanks I have three cars, I just like to ride my bike".

I get asked almost everyday if I want a ride home. I really do love riding my bike.

I've had a similar experience while touring. Commuting, I think people just assume I've had one too many DUIs.

Nope bikes are to nice and I always wear a helmet ! Whens the last time you saw a homeless person with a helmet ?

I wasn't wearing my helmet it was hanging on my handlebars.

I ended up once making an unplanned trip via greyhound to an end-of-the-line microscopic town in western Canada. I arranged for a ride from the bus station, but the bus was scheduled to arrive in town around 4:30AM or some such, and my ride not until 10:00AM. I assumed I could wait it out in the bus station lobby for a few hours.

Imagine my surprise when I arrived at the "bus station" to discover it was a bench in front of a gas station. That's it! No other building within sight whatsoever. Just a gas station on the side of the highway.

Luckily I had thrown into my bag an emergency sleeping bag (It was 15 or 20 below zero in winter), so I crawled into it on the bench, and went to sleep.

A little before 9:00 a lady arrived to open the station, and quickly locked the door behind her. I assumed she'd open the place at 9:00 and I'd be able to buy a cup of coffee (which was very needed after a few hours on the bench in the cold).

Instead the minutes tick by, and eventually a man pulls up in a truck. He walks over to me, and in a friendly tone asked why I was sleeping on the bench. (He was not rude). After telling my story (which was that I was on my way to drive a family member and her car back after an accident), he and the lady invited me in for a warm-up and a coffee.

I don't hold anything against the female employee, she was taking appropriate safety precautions, but in this case, I was mistaken for homeless, or worse.

Boy that hot coffee was good. (and the heated building not too bad either).

Whether homeless or not, you sure act like a bum!

Your description of your pride in others' reactions to your slovenly appearance and freeloading behavior at the coffee shop indicates that you should ride some more for additional therapy.

I get the same response from people when they see me on my bike. They always assume I'm a drunk that had his license taken away. They are ignorant.

You know, if you shave, you'll be able to ride faster.

There is never enough therapy.

Geez you guys are harsh...

That is true and it has actually crossed my mind. I just like the way my beard is protecting my skin from the elements. Plus I'm still getting over my eight years in the military and it's so nice to not have to shave.

He wasn't talking about your face.