Out of Coffee

Well, there were, at one point, four coffee shops in our downtown area, which is two too many. You should have two within walking distance, really. One for getting coffee, and the other for when you get pissed off at some laptop jerkoff chatting it up on his cellphone about how Starbucks is better or whatever in the first coffee shop.

Unfortunately, now there's one. The worst one, I might add. Mainly because the idiot that owns the place is arrogant as hell and rude to anyone under the age of 40. I'm 30, so I'm no kid, but when I go in this place she starts lecturing me about 'your music', which only baffles me. She somehow believes any person younger than she is a spokesperson for EVERYONE younger than she is. It's agitating and she makes shitty coffee anyway.

There were three others. One was immensely successful, but the owners of the property kicked the business out and opened their own coffee shop. They retired a year later leaving 3 coffee shops in town. One decided to relocate to southern California. So that left 2. Then, the one that was kicked out, and which relocated nearby, closed down to become a christian book store instead. This pisses me off. They had the best coffee in town and were the only thing between me and that other shitty, judgemental coffee shop. It seems so dim to take an exceptionally successful coffee shop (busy busy busy and making a ton of cash), and take it down so you can instead use the space to sell books barely sold at the other christian bookstores. There is no demand.

Note to local Christians: Order your books online. We've already got 2 christian bookstores in our town. We don't need a third one. They all sell the same list of books anyway. The sad thing is that, for the now 3 christian bookstores in my town, there are only 2 normal bookstores. One carries used books only. One carries new books only. None have poetry, which is why I have to travel to get new books, or order online.

What possible need could there be to open a shop that sells christian books in a town that is already saturated with them? I've seen four others open and shut down as well. They don't do well. Why? Again: They sell the same lists of books. I don't see why there should be an entire store dedicated to books on or dealing with Christianity, in the first place. Isn't there supposed to be the one book? I know more fat people than christians, why aren't there 3 fat bookstores, or better, diet bookstores? I know more minimum-wage making individuals than christians. Why not a poor bookstore, you know, where poor people can get new books that aren't $30 bucks a pop. In a large area, where there are more people, these ideas aren't so original. They've been done. The thing is that I live in a tiny town. A population of which is somewhere around 15,000 people. Why we have 15 churches and 3 christian bookstores is beyond me. I suppose there are enough christians wanting to purchase christian books to make a christian bookstore enough christian money to stay open, and I guess they need special books because normal books aren't always about their views. Maybe that's an idea someone could invest some money in: Rewriting classics and modern books to fit various religious themes. You know, at the end of Harry Potter IV, instead of the usual, until-next-book closing, he instead climbs a mosque. Or at the end of 'The Shining', the survivors sit down and make a prayer-quilt and talk about Jesus. Or at the end of 'Lord of the Flies', the rescue team makes the surviving children talk about Bahai.

I'm just aggravated. I'll be making my own coffee now.

Some photos of the road to my grandmother's house...

In the house, near the kitchen...

This post is a temporary housing of my grandmother's home, which was recently flooded and made unlivable...

Floodwater

This post is a temporary housing for images of my grandmother's home, which was flooded after Christmas.