I don’t like Starbucks coffee, and I generally avoid them for the same reasons I avoid any other big corporation: I’d rather give my money to struggling local merchants who need it a lot more. But I know that in New York City, they do right by the homeless. Free bathroom access, and folks can sit for as long as they want.

And now, I’ve learned a brand new trick that’s even better than all of that.

Go into any Starbucks, anywhere, and ask for a cup of hot water. They’ll give it to you for free. They’ll even ring it up and give you a receipt for it - $0.00!! [I've had mixed luck getting this to work in other places. McDonalds will sometimes give it to you for free, sometimes will charge you $1.62... I guess it depends on how successfully you flirt]

So now, I carry a Ziploc full of tea bags with me, and every time I walk by a Starbucks I say “Can I have a cup of hot water?”

And my life is transformed.

(thanks, Joan!)

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 28th, 2010 at 11:22 am and is filed under Culture as Resistance, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.