Instant coffee karma

Last week I blogged about an incident at Starbucks where a guy I thought was pretty cool turned out to be a complete douchebag when dealing with the servers.

I remarked that you can tell a lot about a person by how they treat workers in the service industry. And because we are known by the company we keep, I made a point to speak with the Starbucks employee before I left.

Fast forward to today. I walk into the Starbucks for my daily dopio and there behind the bar is the intrepid barista from last week. I place the order, pay my two bucks and wait for the dark liquid courage.

When I pick up the demitasse at the counter, it came with a voucher for a free Starbucks beverage of my choice. Those of you who frequent Starbucks know that, depending on what beverage I choose, this voucher could be worth up to $150.

This incident made me think of something my dad used to tell me. My dad is a very wise man, wiser than I could ever hope to be. And he tried to share this wisdom with me and my siblings as we were growing up.

He told us that one of the immutable laws of the universe is that when you do something nice for someone, they feel an obligation to do something nice for you in return.

They may not actually do anything nice. But nonetheless they feel the obligation, however slight. Likewise the converse is true. If you crap on someone, they feel an obligation to crap right back on you.

This is all pretty simple, it's the whole "do unto others" shtick that others have come up with. But it amazes me how easy it is to not be an asshole and the tangible benefits you can get by being decent.

tagged: Starbucks, coffee, dopio, espresso, barrista, karma

U.S. prepares for 'Day Without Immigrants'

Subhead: Illegal immigrants and their allies plan nationwide day of protest to flex economic muscle.

Quote:

"Some will skip work, others will protest at lunch breaks, school walkouts or at rallies after work."

Skipping work and school? If they not careful, these "illegal immigrants and their allies' are going to give Latino people a reputation for being lazy.

Actually, I think both sides in this debate are being unreasonable and all of the attention being paid to the issue will result in bad policy. I hope to expand on this in a future blog post, but I really don't have time to blog right now, since I'm not skipping work today.

tagged: illegal immigration, reform, Hispanic, Latino, policy, culture

KGB Carnival for May 1

Thanks to everyone who submitted a post for this week's Kansas Guild of Bloggers roundup. And a huge thanks to everyone who helped get the word out.

Here are this week's notable Kansas blogs:

• LadyGun examines her feminine side with Tom-boyish Girly-Girl.
  
  
• Beth Donavan at She Who Will Be Obeyed is back after a denial of service attack.
  
  
• JD gives a quick analysis of the Chiefs' draft picks over at Evolution.
  
  
• Joe Miller at Kansas City Soil takes on the Knight Ridder owned Web sites of the KC Star in the first of several posts challenging the local daily to do a better job online.
  
  
• Lyn Perry posts short story The Twin Lights of Life and Liberty at The Clarity of Night.
  
  
• John B. gives another great movie review In which the Meridian, having seen Le Samouraï, contemplates a couple of additions to his wardrobe posted at Blog Meridian.
  
  
• Ariel goes deep and philosophical with Meaning of Today, Purpose of a Life posted at Spiritual Journey - BitterSweetLife.
  
  
• Droo breaks down the Kansas Supreme Court at siege mentality.
  
  
• Eric Gruber at Grubesteak points out that if a job isn't worth doing well, it's not worth doing.

And, this week's Honorary Kansas Blogger...

• Venomous Kate at Electric Venom wonders what can be done about gas prices with Even If, Then What.

Okay, thanks for reading and enjoy. Don't forget to have your pets spayed or neutered, and add yourself to the KGB Frappr Map.

Please submit your post for next week's edition by 3 p.m. on Sunday for your chance to win fabulous prizes.*

tagged: Kansas, blog, blogger, carnival, KGB

*No actual prizes will be awarded, but please submit anyway.

Freindly reminder sponsored by the KGB

Just a friendly reminder to all you bloggers blogging from/in/over/through or about Kansas to submit your post for Monday's Kansas Guild of Bloggers Blog Carnival. Deadline is 3 p.m. Central on Sunday, April 30.

The weekly round-up of Kansas bloggers will be posted here on Monday, so submit your articles/blog posts via the submit link or send me an email via my email address.

And don't forget, one lucky blogger will be named Honorary KGB Blogger of the Week.

Also, here are some other friendly reminders from the KGB:

• Fire isn't a toy, never play with matches
• Not all mushrooms are edible, check with an expert before eating fungus you find on your basement carpet
• Make sure your kids are wearing brightly colored clothing before sending them out to play in the streets
• Never invest venture capital in a limited partnership without first studying a business plan and detailed prospectus with a clear and reasonable ROI projection.

Good luck, and stay safe out there. See you Monday.

tagged: Kansas, blog, blogger, carnival, KGB, advice

Google a clue

I saw this on my Google homepage the other day and thought it was a pretty interesting way to promote the new Da Vinci Code movie (as if it needs more promotion).

The idea is a sort of cyber-scavenger hunt, where Google leads you to an online puzzle, you solve it, then you get access to a website that gives you a clue to get you to the next puzzle.

I've done the first few puzzles, which gave me a chance to use my cipherin' skills. But they really aren't that difficult. And it occurs to me that it makes sense to dumb down the puzzles if you're trying to get as many people as possible to participate. Especially stooopid people like me.

Anyway, just thought I'd pass along this chance to win fabulous prizes and waste loads of time online.

Update: Of course Steve at MicroPersuasion already posted this. Evidently it will only be live for a couple of weeks.

Update 2: If you're having trouble, this guy is blogging hints and answers for each of the puzzles. So far, I've completed the first 11. Like I said, colossal time waster.

tagged: Google, Da Vinci Code, scavenger hunt, contest, puzzle, marketing, promotion

Cold shot

I grabbed a seat in the comfy chair at Starbucks after retrieving my daily double espresso.

There was a big fellow sitting in the neighboring comfy chair listening, I presume, to voicemail message on his mobile phone. When he was finished, he gave a squint-eyed looked at my demitasse.

"What are you drinkin," he asked

"Dopio espresso."

"That's what I thought," he replied. "Don't see many people order that drink. Now you need to drink it like the Italians do, all in one gulp."

That led to a conversation about Italy and our travels there. Turns out the roundish, baldish, oldish guy's parents were from Napoli and he still has a brother living there.

I was enjoying the conversation, reminiscing and comparing travel notes, when the signore gave another squint-eyed look, this time at the young Starbucks employee who was sweeping the floor nearby. The dustpan he was using was making a small but noticeable racket.

"Hey. Excuse me," the Signore said. No response from the sweeping .

"Hey! Buddy! Why don't you go work somewhere else so we can talk here," said the Signore.

The barrista shot him a cold-cup-of-coffee stare, but then tried to laugh off the insult. "I know," he said. "I'll be done in a minute."

"No. Go and finish up somewhere else and then come back" was the reply.

"I'm sorry sir. I'm just doing my job. If I go somewhere else it will just disturb them. I'm working my way through the store."

"But I don't see why you can't give us a minute to finish talking," the Signore said.

"I'm sorry sir. This is my job. You can talk to my manager if you want," said the barrista.

He moved on with his sweeping and was soon in another part of the coffee shop. Signore and I continued to talk for a few more minutes before I finished my dopio and he needed to leave. But I have to admit, my estimation of him had fallen a few notches and the conversation wasn't as enjoyable.

You can really tell a lot about someone by the way they treat people in the service industry.

Before I left, I made sure to go talk to the barrista and slip him an extra buck. Not a ton of money, but then money wasn't the point. I just wanted the guy to know that some of us believe in being decent to each other.

UPDATE: Here's the rest of the story...

tagged: Starbucks, coffee, dopio, espresso, barrista, Italy

Gone fishing

Sunday was such a beautiful day that my supermodel wife and I decided to take our 3-year-old daughter to the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead in Overland Park.

I know Overland Park is a maze of cul-de-sacs and strip malls and some people think it has more McMansions than minorities, but the Deanna Rose Farmstead is a true gem of the metro area.

Every time we go there, I'm amazed that they don't charge admission. So even those local bloggers who continually grouse about how Johnson County is a leech on Jackson County's cultural dollars can't complain about this.

Last Sunday, we took our daughter to the fishing pond at the farm. For a couple of weeks, she has been asking me to take her fishing. The pond at Deanna Rose is so well stocked with little fish, that it takes literally a few seconds to get a bite and only a minute or two to actually hook a fish.

I call it "short attention span fishing," and it's perfect for kids and impatient adults like me.

tagged: Kansas, Overland Park, Johnson County, Jackson County, Deanna Rose, fishing, family

YouTube Tuesday: Titanic Tetris

The janitors in this building have way too much time on their hands, but they also have a flair for good performance art.

This video has been titled "The World's Second Largest Tetris Game." Sorry, I couldn't find a video of the largest.

Actually, I'm pretty sure this was done with Photoshop or some other editing program, but it's still a pretty cool idea.



tagged: YouTube, Tuesday, Tetris, building, pop culture, video

Memo to Johnson County Water District #1

RE: Billing correction

Dear sirs,

This memo is to inform you of a billing error that our accounting department has discovered and the corrective measures our organization has undertaken.

It turns out that our residence is actually not part of Johnson County, or Kansas or even the United States. Our residence is, in fact located in a third-world country with no hot or cold running water.

We haven't yet isolated which third-world country we are part of, but we have ruled out places like Baghdad and Mexico City, as these places both have reliable running water. We are currently working under the assumption that we are part of deepest Africa or perhaps the steppes of Outer Mongolia.

Though we haven't been able to work out the exact details of this strange phenomenon, our current theory is that there is some kind of quantum glitch in the fabric of time-space that has caused our residence to be accessible only via Johnson County roads and highways even though its not located in Johnson County.

We became aware of this issue when we discovered that we had no hot or cold running water, despite paying taxes to Johnson County Water District No. 1. Because of the ongoing nature of this problem, the obvious conclusion is that we are not in Johnson County Water District No. 1.

Because we are not within the service limits of Johnson County Water District No. 1, on a go-forward basis, we will no longer be sending our regular tax payment. I'm sure you understand our position.

If at some point in the future this quantum fluke corrects itself and we begin to receive reliable hot and cold running water service, we will resume tax payments to whichever taxing body is deemed appropriate.

Sincerely,
The Management

tagged: Kansas, Johnson County, water, quantum

Kansas Guild of Bloggers Carnival

Thanks to all who submitted blog articles through the KGB Carnival Submit Link. We'll do it all again next week, so submit your articles/blog posts via the submit link or send me an email via my email address.

Here's this week's round-up.

• John B. riffs on the Smell of the Wild at Blog Meridian.
  
  
• Joshua Rosenau presents Theocracy, naturalism, and preferring what works posted at Thoughts from Kansas.
  
  
• Devang comments on the possible outsourcing of NASCAR at The title conscious blog.
  
  
• John S. Flowers posts his entry to the 98.9 "The Rock" Make-You-Own-Commercial Contest at Lone Ronin.
  
  
• Joshua M. Neff gives a quickie book review at Goblin-Cartoons.
  
  
• At Cup o' Joel, Joel Mathis gives an un-review of United 93, the movie based on the 9/11 attacks.
  
  
• LadyGunn post a reminder to keep you language clean.
  
  And, in its inaugural week, the Honorary Kansas Blogger is (drum roll.....)
  
  
• New Jersey hottie Echele presents Thanks KU posted at The Operating Room.

Well, that's the round-up for this week. Did I miss something? If so, send me a link and I'll add it in. And again, don't forget to submit your posts for next week. You can't win if you don't enter.

Also, don't forget to add your pin to the KGB Frappr Map in the right-hand column. It's fun and easy to do.

Ciao!

PS- Sorry it took so long to post. Blogger has been having server issues again (Grrrr!).

tagged: Kansas, blog, blogger, carnival, KGB