Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

An ode to that “coffee friend”

tiramisu.bearblog.dev

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 264 posts

Re: An ode to that “coffee friend”

#161

Post by kubanczyk »

foobarbecue wrote: post #108
computator wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But then many people would first buy the gift card to get the 5% or whatever discount, then buy the item they were going to buy anyway. Now that I think about it, I think a gift card has to be priced at exactly a 1:1 price. (You can't price it higher because people will find that to be outrageous.)

Ah, good point. Maybe add a minimum delay? Then you're loaning money and getting interest...

> add a minimum delay

Do not enter a commercial transaction that doesn't benefit you?

Re: An ode to that “coffee friend”

#162

Post by dagw »

nxmnxm99 wrote: post #100
koonsolo wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This "too cool for stuff" sounds like US culture. I never experienced that kind of thing in EU. We each had our own friend groups, and didn't really care what the other groups were into. I once heard an artist say (can't remember which one), that they loved playing in Europe, since everyone at a festival is there to have fun. While in US, everyone is there to look cool.

It's a nice sentiment but really isn't accurate.... unless you're suggesting nerds don't get bullied in Europe

nerds don't get bullied in Europe

While some 'nerds' certainly did (and do) get bullied, in my experience they where just as likely to get bullied by other 'nerds' as they where to get bullied by 'jocks'. You didn't get bullied because you played D&D or Warhammer or where good at math, you got bullied because you where weird and anti-social and unable to successfully navigate the unwritten social norms expected of you. Lots of people got straight A's in math and science and played Warhammer and had no problem with bullying.

Re: An ode to that “coffee friend”

#163

Post by [deleted] »

wfleming wrote: post #39

As somebody who has been “that coffee friend” and received far too many coffee-related gifts for years (including many pounds of stale, burnt beans), I wish people wouldn’t do this. If I’m super into topic X and you’re not, there’s a good chance whatever you get will either not be of interest (e.g. bad beans) or just redundant (I can only use so many mugs or grinders). Obviously the thought is always appreciated, and…

[deleted]

Re: An ode to that “coffee friend”

#164

Post by Rebelgecko »

The_Colonel wrote: post #137
abricq wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish this was true but unfortunately, I must disagree with saying that it is different in Europe. In France, 10 years ago, high-school was a constant lookout for who's the 'popular' kids (literally called like that). And reversely, nerds kid would often be made fun of, or socially excluded from breaks / activities. However, i have talked about this before with my wife who's from Italy and said that she never experi…

It's a pointless effort to box the whole Europe into one stereotype, it's too diverse for that. From my POV, the school social structure in USA seems very "schematic". Like there are popular kids and they look like this and have these attitudes, then there are geeks who are socially awkward and physically weak, then there are jocks etc. My experience from growing up in Czechia was way more "random". There are kids wh…

I saw that in movies but not in real life going to HS in the US. People had friend groups but it wasn't uber-insular. The star quarterback can't really call you out for being a nerd when you're in the same calculus class

Re: An ode to that “coffee friend”

#165

Post by Gordonjcp »

koonsolo wrote: post #98
fishtoaster wrote: post #47

I thing I decided late in life is that being really into things is cool. Something I'm rather sad about is that highschool kinda beat that attitude out of me. I was a classic nerd, including all the bad attributes that label comes with, but also one really good one: I was really into a number of things. But I learned from hard experience that being super into stuff was lame - being disinterested and too cool for stuf…

This "too cool for stuff" sounds like US culture. I never experienced that kind of thing in EU. We each had our own friend groups, and didn't really care what the other groups were into. I once heard an artist say (can't remember which one), that they loved playing in Europe, since everyone at a festival is there to have fun. While in US, everyone is there to look cool.

I went to Infest (an industrial music festival) in Bradford quite a lot (sadly it looks like Bradford Uni are not doing events any more, so there might not be another one unless they find a venue :-/ ). It was more like an industrial music *conference* than a festival - you'd be hard-pressed to throw a tennis ball anywhere in the venue without hitting some highly-regarded musician. Like, you watch a big-name band on stage, and then ten minutes later you're standing at the bar with them comparing curry houses (and Bradford has a lot of those). There's a Green Room, sure, but the interesting people are out front watching bands.

I don't think you get that anywhere else.

Re: An ode to that “coffee friend”

#166

Post by genocidicbunny »

wfleming wrote: post #39

As somebody who has been “that coffee friend” and received far too many coffee-related gifts for years (including many pounds of stale, burnt beans), I wish people wouldn’t do this. If I’m super into topic X and you’re not, there’s a good chance whatever you get will either not be of interest (e.g. bad beans) or just redundant (I can only use so many mugs or grinders). Obviously the thought is always appreciated, and…

This is one of those topics that makes me happy that I enjoy LEGO even as an adult, because it's one of those few gift themes that's hard to screw up. Even if its a set I already have, or one I wasn't really interested in, it's hard to say no to having more LEGO.

Re: An ode to that “coffee friend”

#167

Post by mantas »

pcl wrote: post #159
The_Colonel wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Europe is actually 750 million. EU != Europe (EU had ~500 million before brexit)

Yes, and if you include the Russian bits the size comparison changes considerably. In my experience, when non-Europeans say “Europe” they mean something like “the union of the EU and the EEA and the UK”. They probably exclude Russia and a few of the Russian-adjacent states, and if they think of Iceland, they include the part on the North American plate as well as the Eurasian plate.

More like France + Germany and maybe UK.

Re: An ode to that “coffee friend”

#168

Post by [deleted] »

wfleming wrote: post #39

As somebody who has been “that coffee friend” and received far too many coffee-related gifts for years (including many pounds of stale, burnt beans), I wish people wouldn’t do this. If I’m super into topic X and you’re not, there’s a good chance whatever you get will either not be of interest (e.g. bad beans) or just redundant (I can only use so many mugs or grinders). Obviously the thought is always appreciated, and…

[deleted]

Re: An ode to that “coffee friend”

#169

Post by fsckboy »

bythreads wrote: post #143
abricq wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish this was true but unfortunately, I must disagree with saying that it is different in Europe. In France, 10 years ago, high-school was a constant lookout for who's the 'popular' kids (literally called like that). And reversely, nerds kid would often be made fun of, or socially excluded from breaks / activities. However, i have talked about this before with my wife who's from Italy and said that she never experi…

So controversial anecdote: I was an exchange student in france (from denmark) for a few months - when i was around 14. And i was shocked to my core when i saw how teachers and the schoolsystem was put together. There was a boy in my class that had difficulties at home and struggled in school (daydreaming instead of focusing etc) and i clearly remember this scene where the teacher mocked him infront of the class sayin…

btw "cue the other kids laughing", rather than queue. In stage acting a cue is a signal to synchronize things like a new player entering the stage.

Re: An ode to that “coffee friend”

#170

Post by KoftaBob »

koonsolo wrote: post #98
fishtoaster wrote: post #47

I thing I decided late in life is that being really into things is cool. Something I'm rather sad about is that highschool kinda beat that attitude out of me. I was a classic nerd, including all the bad attributes that label comes with, but also one really good one: I was really into a number of things. But I learned from hard experience that being super into stuff was lame - being disinterested and too cool for stuf…

This "too cool for stuff" sounds like US culture. I never experienced that kind of thing in EU. We each had our own friend groups, and didn't really care what the other groups were into. I once heard an artist say (can't remember which one), that they loved playing in Europe, since everyone at a festival is there to have fun. While in US, everyone is there to look cool.

It's a human nature thing, the US did not invent the concept of bullying or being made to feel judged for being different.

You just happened to grow up around good people, but not everyone is as lucky unfortunately.

Post reply on HN