Who are the people in your (STARBUCKS) neighborhood...

In the everyday preoccupations of people in its ergonomic chairs and tables, people leave its glass doors sometimes quite satisfied but most of the time guilty over the amount they spend in exchange of those creamy calories.

The Disney-inspired, long-haired, voluptuous young princess who may be African, Latino, Asian or Caucasian allows every person to become part of the same social class. From its sophisticated beginnings, it has somehow become a venue where the bourgeoisie and the masses celebrate in the same ambiance.

Starbucks has so far lived up to its reputation as a global, multinational entity. It current motto, "Geography is a Flavour" allows you to visit regions of the world at the tip of your palate. The activities that abound in this lucrative shop manifest the workings of global capitalism. Sit in any of its stores, from the one in Luisita Mall, Pangasinan to the 6750 Makati branch, and these are the regular caffeine consumers present at all times:

THE BOOKWORMS :: Law, Medicine or Nursing students huddled together, economizingly sipping their frappuccinos, to make sure it lasts until the final chapter of their textbooks. There could be loner nerds as well choosing to digest their materials solo flight.

THE SCAMMERS :: Thirty to forty year olds ranging from groups of three to thirteen, talking of some business venture...from pyramid networking, recruitment agents for telemarketing or medical transcriptioning to insurance schemes with a long list of benefits and longer tabs for installment options.

THE WALK-INS :: These are usually Korean teenagers, or just your licensed adolescents, with automobiles on hazard, double parked, stylishly adorned with assymetrical fashion statements, ordering the month's frappe, "venti please"

THE PAIR :: A lady and a gentleman, two men or two women, what have you...taking a breather from where they came from or to wherever they're headed...
THE DRAGONS :: Those finding no discomfort in the open space, puffing their lungs out, as if the air outside can never have too much CO2.

THE KINS :: Either the parents break-in their offsprings to the coffee culture or persistent children coax their folks to buy them the type and size of drink they are unable to purchase with their meager allowances.

THE NOVELISTS :: Those who have all the time and luxury in the world to immerse in the newly awarded pulitzer novel, or Dr. Phil's latest...

THE EXPATS :: From the Europeans to the Africans, they bask in this place where coffee is the universal language.

THE HANG-OVERS :: Only in the morning's wee hours do you find flushed faces with snorting alcohol breaths, trying to keep the urge to blow. People stir clear from them...lest they soon smell bile and blended pulutan.

HAVE ANY MORE TO ADD???

WHO ARE YOU???