Oh, but the Starbucks at Gloucester Road Tube Station just turns this on its head.  Three women running the place basically wanted you to get your coffee and get out.  I wanted to order some cookies for my daughter but she just moved on to the next customer. Everything was so abrupt, which was odd because it took forever to get my coffee.

When my wife took the empty half-and-half jar and put it on the counter, they just ignored it.  Didn’t even look at it.  When I put it closer to her she looked at me like I had landed a house on her sister.

We finally got the cream. No wonder the Espresso Bar next door was packed.

Redemption came a few days later at the Starbucks near Green Park Station.  Ah.  Just like home — a relaxing quick bite before the Trooping of the colors.

But of course, there’s a catch.  Pay in cash, because many of the booths are also “Foreign Currency” exchangers, and they put a double-whammy on you by selling you the tickets and then tacking on a currency exchange fee of more than 10%.  Buyer beware.  I wouldn’t go to a ticket booth with a Foreign Currency Exchange loudly advertised again.  It happens so fast that you don’t realize what’s going on until about halfway through the show.  So you’ve been warned.

Also beware of just putting money down on counters at food kiosks — I ended up paying £2 for a £1.29 water simply because I put the change on the counter to count it — the guy just started grabbing coins before I had a chance to get “situated”.  Very annoying but not worth making a public scene over a dollar’s difference in cost.  He knew it as well as I did.  I’ll let his Karma catch up with him.

Passenger Etiquette

Passenger Etiquette is how you treat the people around you, how you allow for “personal space” and live within a “do unto others” envelop of manners. I often see persons that get on planes that do things that portray them in a light in a range from uncaring up to and including total douche-baggery.

The following are a few points to contemplate before you step on another crowded plane; they allow for others to enjoy a flight as much as humanly possible, which is often at the very edge of human endurance anyway:

1. Check your bags if they are too big — Please. The compartments are only so big, and everyone needs to put something in them. If you put your foot-locker and over-sized backpack in there, what happens to others’ stuff? Airlines are putting video equipment under the seats now, and there’s not a dimes worth of room there. I check all my bags save my laptop pack — and have NEVER lost bags in millions of miles of flying, and frankly, the extra 15 minutes I spend picking up my luggage at the terminal downstairs allow me to make calls and get my schedule in order.
2. Don’t clog the aisles when getting on the plane — If you stand in the aisles while everyone is trying to get on, blocking everyone else, you’re a hoser. While you’re waiting to get on the plane, take a second to figure out how everything gets stowed. If you have observed item #1 above, this shouldn’t be a big deal. You can also get back up after everyone is on the plane and adjust your stuff before the attendants go up and down the plane checking things. Attendants are especially cranky about this rule, and if you really act like an idiot, you should expect some retaliation since attendants only get paid when the plane is moving.
3. Just because the seat reclines fully doesn’t mean you should do it – on really crowded flights you’re going to have people seated behind you. While the seats on a plane may recline a great deal, they drastically limit the space a person has behind you, to the point that if they can’t recline their seats, they are doomed to hours of staring at the top of your head. I personally will not recline my seat more than an inch or two if there are people behind me, and I will leave it straight up and and down if there are elderly persons or kids because they or their parents need the space. If you are in front of me and recline the seat all the way back, I will ask you politely once to move it once, then hip check you like Wayne Gretzky as I get up every 15 minutes after this.
4. When bringing food on a plane, try to keep the smells to a minimum — Airline food sucks at best, and is completely absent at worst. It’s definitely a treat to bring your own food on the plane and eat something decent instead of the crackers and stale peanuts; I get that. But for all that is holy, please don’t bring food that contains heavy smells like garlic, wine sauces, liverwurst, sardines, etc. ’nuff said. You do this, you are a douchebag.
5. Don’t try to make life-long friends with your row-mates – I’ve struck up some great conversations on planes, but you need to do this with restraint; If you feel like talking, say hi and test the waters. If there is a curt reply, you should expect to have a nice quiet flight and do your part. At some point it in the flight your row-mate may say something conversational to you, and well, if that happens you might just have a nice chat. Be sensitive and figure this out.
6. Keep your eyes off my screen! – Frankly, I don’t care if you look at my screen or not, but some persons get really whacked out when other passengers begin reading their email. A casual glance is unavoidable, but if you’re going to rubberneck you should expect someone to call you on it.
7. Be nice to people with kids on airplanes – If you get stuck next to or in the vicinity of, a screaming kid on a plane, sack up and put up with it! As a dad I can guarantee that no matter how cranky, pissed or insane you feel, the emotions going through the parent(s) at that point are at least ten times worse. They KNOW that everyone on the plane wants them to have an immediate and violent death. They KNOW that the other people on the plane have paid good money to be there in peace. They KNOW that young kids usually put up a fuss on planes and “what were they thinking?”… You should KNOW that if those parents could do things any different they probably would have. Parents are not idiots and almost every one of them that I know loathe getting on a plane with a cranky kid and avoid it at all costs.
8. When getting off the plane, take it easy — Everyone will be allowed to get off the plane. There is no reason to push your way forward and bully everyone because whatever you’re doing is more important than anyone else. There’s people on the plane going to funerals, vacation, interviews and business deals. What’s important to them is just as important to you. Relax — if you’ve checked your bags, you can relax and just get to the carousel at your own pace.
9. Medicate – If you are sick, for all that is good and holy medicate yourself. Bring tissues. Don’t make everyone sick around you.

I’m sure there’s more, and I would look forward to any and all comments! A guideline I use is to be sensitive to those around you. Keep a small “footprint”, remain patient and courteous, and if you have a screaming kid near you, lighten up and offer some help if you can.