Congestion at the East Hampton Starbucks

It's been five minutes since I entered the East Hampton Starbucks, and I already feel cramped. Unlike in the Bridgehampton store, where you can spread out as much as you please and find our own little nook, you're lucky to find a chair at this store.

As I stood on line to buy my iced tea, I noticed a barista standing at the bar, calling out the drinks that were coming out from the espresso section.

"Iced grande chai latte," he announced as the customer scampered to the bar to pick up her drink. "Here you go, Kate," he said, smiling as he handed her the drink.

As I sat on the windowsill next to the bar, I managed to get a few words out of the teenager at his station. Mike Rawleigh, born and raised in Springs, the neighboring town, has been working at the East Hampton location for two and a half months.

The new barista task, which, he claims, was created just a few weeks ago, "make(s) the drinks come out faster—instead of (the barista making the drinks) have to worry about call(ing) them out correctly."

Rawleigh also commented on the much-needed barrier the new barista duty creates between the customers and the baristas making the drinks.

"If something's wrong with a customer's beverage, they can simply talk to me about it and not distract the bar barista from making other drinks," Rawleigh said.

When asked which shift he prefers, the barista responded, "I like the announcing job. I get to actually interact with the customers," he said.

A group of kids Rawleigh was well-acquainted with swarmed around him and perched besides me at the windowsill.

"See? I even get to see my buddies!" he said, shouting to his coworker, Max Crogan, "Come on, I'm in a dry spot here," commenting on the lack of drinks coming out from the bar.

Oscar Lamont, an Englishman visiting his grandmother's East Hampton home for a week, has been coming to the East Hampton Starbucks for three or four years.

A soon-to-be college student at Edinburgh, Lamont came to the shop today to do some leisure reading. On his list today was a children's book entitled "A Little History of the World."
Lamont told me about the differences between London and New York Starbucks he has noticed during his annual trips to Long Island.

"It's definitely more expensive in London," he said. "Everything's about a dollar more than it is here."

Well, we all know that London has become unaffordable. "Other than that," Lamont said, "they're pretty similar."

When I asked about differences in popularity, Lamont asserted that people are "similarly divided" about the corporate chain.

"Loads of people hate it for its corporate nature in both countries, but everyone seems to still go there," he said.

How true. You speak to nearly all Starbucks customers, and most will say something about how they resent the shop for its monopolistic ways. Yet, they're there—not at Dunkin' Donuts or at their local coffee shop-- buying the non-fat latte!

Despite the growing popularity of Starbucks in Europe, Lamont said that the stores don't get quite as packed with customers as they do here.

"I try to zone out with my headphones and music here," he said, "but it's hard, 'cause, most of the time, people are having very loud conversations.

The proof in the pudding was three jabber-mouthed women sitting diagonally across from me and chatting so obnoxiously loud that every word they uttered resounded in my head and nearly made my ears ring.

Amazing what a difference a larger space makes!

As I was frenetically typing away, a woman with a stroller bumped into the back of my chair. "Oops, sorry," she said, "but could you move your bag so I don't run it over?"

"Sure," I said, thinking, “I guess I had to come to the East Hampton Starbucks to get the true Starbucks experience.”