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Italy's longest-serving barista reflects on six decades behind the counter

reuters.com

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Re: Italy's longest-serving barista reflects on six decades behind the counter

#151

Post by spike021 »

kulahan wrote: post #12
bix6 wrote: post #9

I was thinking about robotic baristas the other day and how you might save on costs but you give up so much; If I’m going out for coffee I prefer places where I know the baristas so I get to feel like a part of my community.

There are a couple stores around me run by small families, and honestly sometimes I feel like I'm halfway to being part of their family when I visit. They recognize me, greet me by name, and start firing up my order right away. Or they ask me how I'm doing and I do the same, but it goes deeper than "good, you?" - I'm learning currently about how one dude is trying a year living together with his ex again. I'm praying…

I've started regularly visiting a couple coffee shops in Tokyo whenever I go there and I'm on first name basis with the owners/managers, whereas if I go to the same shops in the SF Bay Area more regularly it's rare that anyone recognizes me.

I definitely prefer that neighborhood coffee shop feel and at least shops I go to near home don't have that. Even the smaller ones with similar amounts of business and number of employees as the ones in Tokyo.

Re: Italy's longest-serving barista reflects on six decades behind the counter

#153

Post by sph »

UomoNeroNero wrote: post #146
sph wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's dozens of us from that neck of the woods! (I'm 30 km away from Lago Maggiore)

If you ever pass through Liguria, I can even treat you to a coffee. (But nothing more, eh! )

As the stereotype goes, you would probably forget your wallet at home :-)

Re: Italy's longest-serving barista reflects on six decades behind the counter

#154

Post by travisgriggs »

sph wrote: post #102
phorkyas82 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Second that. I see that as a failure of society or democracy as a whole - that we are no longer able to have that broad, public conversation and act accordingly. Why should every "innovation" be shoved down our throats, if we don't want to?

I would place this blame on academia. They're the ones that are supposed to think difficult questions, and drive change. I guess today any serious discussion would just get lost in the ocean that is the Internet. Only echo chambers get reinforced.

Huh. I blame it on the influence of money. Money flows easier when hysteria (really any level of un-rationalized fear) and its peers abound. It is hard to have honest rational objective discussions these days without the influences of earning another buck being just over the cognitive horizon.

Re: Italy's longest-serving barista reflects on six decades behind the counter

#155

Post by martin_a »

kulahan wrote: post #12
bix6 wrote: post #9

I was thinking about robotic baristas the other day and how you might save on costs but you give up so much; If I’m going out for coffee I prefer places where I know the baristas so I get to feel like a part of my community.

There are a couple stores around me run by small families, and honestly sometimes I feel like I'm halfway to being part of their family when I visit. They recognize me, greet me by name, and start firing up my order right away. Or they ask me how I'm doing and I do the same, but it goes deeper than "good, you?" - I'm learning currently about how one dude is trying a year living together with his ex again. I'm praying…

> how one dude is trying a year living together with his ex again

Get us in, how is it going so far? :-D

Re: Italy's longest-serving barista reflects on six decades behind the counter

#156

Post by yks »

almostgotcaught wrote: post #31
amarant wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Russia seems poised to invade Europe in the near future. If they do, and succeed, Rome could become part of the new Soviet Union(which Putin has explicitly said he wants to bring back) Once that happens, it's likely to lead to poverty. At least that's what happened in the last USSR

> Russia seems poised to invade Europe in the near future. If they do, and succeed Is this a joke? There is literally no chance this ever happens.

Why wouldn't it happen? America's new direction is that Europe is the enemy, and massive resources will be poured into propelling the already popular right wing parties, which are Russian puppets, into power. They don't need boots on the ground to conquer the continent, they just need a cynical population that doesn't see the difference between good and bad, just like in the US.

Re: Italy's longest-serving barista reflects on six decades behind the counter

#157

Post by IAmBroom »

spiritplumber wrote: post #78
Copenjin wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that it's a fragile kleptocracy basically reduce to 0 any possibility of a normal future. Puppet state at best, if someone is willing to take them. I expect they already planned what to do with the returning soldiers, not that they will like it or accept gracefully what's in store for them.

China will buy Siberia. No shots fired.

Or simply take it over. No shots fired.

Re: Italy's longest-serving barista reflects on six decades behind the counter

#158

Post by yks »

forinti wrote: post #104
amarant wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Russia seems poised to invade Europe in the near future. If they do, and succeed, Rome could become part of the new Soviet Union(which Putin has explicitly said he wants to bring back) Once that happens, it's likely to lead to poverty. At least that's what happened in the last USSR

Let's entertain that idea. Suppose they did invade most of Europe. How would they keep everyone under control? You won't find that many people eager to participate in satellite regimes or new social experiments, like you had in post-WWII. I don't think Russia will even consider invading western Ukraine. They'll keep the Russian speaking part which they can easily govern.

> How would they keep everyone under control? You won't find that many people eager to participate in satellite regimes or new social experiments, like you had in post-WWII.

Through cynicism and propaganda, just like they've been doing at home, and the same way it works in the US now. Everyone can see the corruption and depravity of the current regime, it might as well be a Russian satellite (many people would claim it already is), and yet we all collectively do nothing about it.

Re: Italy's longest-serving barista reflects on six decades behind the counter

#159

Post by phantasmish »

lqet wrote: post #59
isoprophlex wrote: post #50

> I’ve seen generations grow up. Some grandparents come in with their grandkids and say, “Anna, remember the jukebox?” > Today, however, young people no longer come to the bar. They came when we had the dance floor and the music. Today, they like to spend time with the smartphone; they even take it to bed when they go to sleep. What are we losing, what are we taking away from life, now that we ourselves have become a…

> Today, [young people] like to spend time with the smartphone; they even take it to bed when they go to sleep. Recently my parents (in their mid-60ies) were visiting us. At some point I realized that both of them had been quietly sitting at our dinner table for over on hour, eyes glued on their smartphones. They are massively addicted. I have noticed that they get nervous as soon as the smartphone is out of reach, o…

My in-laws are like that.

My parents were like that, in a different way. They couldn’t sit in a room without a tv on, even if they had visitors and everyone was talking and not paying attention to the TV. Living room TV was on at least 16 hours a day, just about every day, I bet. So weird. Also had TVs in every bedroom, including rarely-used spare bedrooms. Like they had six TVs in their house at peak. WTF.

(Actually, my in-laws also do the TV thing, or else a laptop playing YouTube trash… plus phones)

Re: Italy's longest-serving barista reflects on six decades behind the counter

#160

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

oersted wrote: post #11
bix6 wrote: post #9

I was thinking about robotic baristas the other day and how you might save on costs but you give up so much; If I’m going out for coffee I prefer places where I know the baristas so I get to feel like a part of my community.

> robotic baristas Coffee vending machines? That’s what’s inside the box, it’s nothing new really… There are very high quality ones too. It’s not a particularly skilled job for a human to do, besides the customer service aspect of course, perhaps I am ignorant in that regard. Indeed, coming from Spain, I don’t really see the lady as a barista, she is the classic bartender that listens to you and knows everybody. Exce…

> Coffee vending machines? That’s what’s inside the box, it’s nothing new really… There are very high quality ones too.

I have yet to see a high-quality one.

I've been at two offices that have automated espresso machines. They'll make something that's labeled as a "Latte", but it's just coffee with powdered milk.

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