I don't like Bridgehead. I really don't. I know that everything
good and right within me tells me that I should go there but
I continually have layers of bad experiences when I buy
coffee there. My wife loves it (and it's not like I hate the mission
that they have as I'm speaking about one store in particular)
but as much as I can help it, I will no longer go to Bridgehead.
Here are a few key contributors to my dilemma:
1. The smell - there is something about the aroma of the
store that is unlike any other coffee shop that I enter and it
almost makes me vomitous. It's like a deep, penetrating
scent that smells like espresso that was shat out of an old
man.
2. The service - Sure - okay. The staff are friendly but
they don't care about 'doing business' (which is part of their
main manifesto) so they end up hiring hip, non-chalant
types who call you 'bud' instead of 'sir'. (Please don't call
me 'bud'! I don't know you!) The lack of
business etiquette also allows them to take their time
getting orders ready (like today when pouring 4 coffees
out of giant vats for the customer ahead of me took 7
minutes. I'm not kidding) and to sort of stare at you
when you ask a question (like today when I asked for
more cream because the dispenser wasn't working but
as I fixed it on my own, and said 'I think it's working now',
the young girl behind the counter said 'Oh! Okay!' and
smiled. It might have been ideal for her to come and
check the dispenser so as to not have to deal with that
every time someone pours cream - just a thought.)
3. The Coffee Temperature - Their coffee goes colder
quicker than any other coffee I drink. I don't know what
it is that they do to the water or the beans but for a
place that claims to be 'all about renewable resources',
I don't how renewable it is to have customers dumping
out half of every coffee because it goes luke too fast.
4. The fog - I have been to many different types of coffee
joints. I have a friend that works at Starbucks, another
friend who works at Second Cup and another friend
who worked at Planet Coffee in The Market. At none
of these places have my glasses ever steamed up so much
and so quickly than they have at any given Bridgehead.
Granted - any place with steam machines on a cold day
will give a bit of lens-fog but at Bridgehead, it's like an
instant cloud that covers my lenses. This wouldn't be
that bad but they have new coffee names every damn
day and I only like certain ones...so how the HELL am
I supposed to see what I'm ordering?
Anyways. Enough about Bridgehead. I'm done. Sure -
I'll get the odd Hazelnut Latte for Sarah at the one near
my house but my main pet peeve is this:
Everyone in Ottawa raves about it so why would
they ever change or listen to my concerns?
There are a million other places I can go. So I will.
I was also thinking about laughter today. I used to
think that only laughter about certain issues was a good
thing...but really, when your body laughs, endorphins
are released into your bloodstream and there is so
much natural good happening in your body. Even if
one's sense of humour is super-warped and twisted -
is it really bad to laugh? It's a natural response. It's
not like you can help it. Sometimes, it sneaks up on
you and what is funny or chuckle-able to you is totally
serious to someone else. It's almost a higher power.
When people laugh (and I mean really laugh), every
wall comes down and they are exposed to the enth
degree. There is an uncontrollable force being emitted
from their bodies that shows the utter enjoyment of
a moment.
I think any type of laughter is a holy thing and that
we need to seek things out that will make us laugh.
