Coffee Houses

Coffee houses are all around me, to the left, right, about, turning my head inside out as I determine which is most interesting. Even in ruined New Orleans, what seems to be coming alive most are those coffee houses. I guess it's the same way everywhere in the world. The coffee house is now a part of modern culture, and a good thing, I think. Maybe some of the old watering holes that dispensed more and more alcohol to drunker and drunker alcoholics has been replaced with the fueling of the addicted coffee drinker (or is it the drinker of those iced treats that coffee houses sell so much of?).
Regardless, I patronize coffeehouses and think they are a far more pleasant place than bars. But what is a coffee house used for, beside sipping the libations and meeting others for a quiet time? Is it a study hall for students where rude cell addicts are breaking the rules of the coffeehouse and of civility by loudly and boorishly talking to others on their cell phones?
Or is it that social watering hole where a different kind of rude person is ruining the peace and quiet of the coffee house by spreading our work, or lap tops and pretending to be a junior Donald Trump working on a Master plan. "Look at me," this coffee house interloper is saying. "I am important, so I need an entire table for my work"
Or is it an office extension where networking and conferencing take precedence over silence, loud chatter or civil discourse? Well....Maybe the modern coffeehouse has not decided which of these three rude behaviors it wants to accepts.
Surely all three of the above coffee house rudies get stares and disconsolate looks from those who are at the coffeehouse simple to escape all the rudeness that is inflicted on them by the treacherous three. As a result the coffeehouse is an interesting microcosm of our society, waiting, as society is, for the clientele to decide which roles it wants and which roles are unacceptable. The often crammed coffeehouse is, if nothing else, a very interesting place for a nut like me to make these observations. Sure it is a trivial subject..but..uh..at least I am not ranting about cell phones again.
Now that the Winter Olympics are over, the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing becomes the focus. And the Chine government isn't missing any opportunity to make the games the best ever. Besides the physical preparations, on going for many years, the government in Beijing is preparing the locals in another way- by teaching them to "mind their manners". That's right, the Chinese government has decided the reputation of Beijing as a rather brusque city full of people spitting on the sidewalk, is not the image it wants to show when the world TV crews come to the games. There are even courses that teach citizens "the right way to spit" (One university has seminars on the subject). Haha I am not kidding! "We will work with newspapers, radio stations, TV stations, the Internet and mobile telephone carriers to teach people the right way to spit," said Beijing city official Zhang Huiguang. Zhang is the director of Beijing's Capital Ethical and Cultural Office (Don't ask, I have no idea what that title means).
According to Zhang the three areas of public rudeness that are most targeted for improvement are spitting, lining up properly for buses, and turning off cell phones during meetings. But spitting is the biggest problem that could give Beijing a black eye. Zhang says Beijingers will be told the proper spit technique, which is to spit into a tissue or a bag, and then put it into a dustbin or trash can. To achieve this spitting reform Ms. Zhang has organized an army of volunteers dressed in orange uniforms monogrammed with the character "mucus" on the uniform back. They are roaming Beijing's streets to hand out "spit bags" and issues $6 dollar spit fines for improper spitting.
Well, I don't blame you for wanting to spit in my face for writing about this stupidity, but remember..I am probably not worth wasting the $6 it will cost in fine for doing it.