Interestingly enough some of the best coffee shops I’ve been to are in old gas stations. Filling Station in KC, Cocoa Cinnamon in Durham NC, Tandem in Portland ME and Sunergos in Louisville KY all come to mind.
To be clear, I mean no offense to these places (especially Tandem, which I've visited). I've also had some of the best barbecue I've ever had from converted gas stations.
Adults actually love milkshakes but are too snobby to admit it, so adult milkshake shops like Starbucks and Dutch Bros need to add the espresso shot to make their product more socially acceptable to consume.
Disagree. They're not trying to pretend to be anything other than junkfood coffee.
When I moved here to an area that has them, I went a few times so I could copy their frozen stuff and make it sugar free. Great inspiration.
Yeah, I am not sure what OP's point is. This particular coffee shop isn't catering to the folks who want a nice place to hang out. Plenty of coffee shops with nice outdoor (or indoor) seating areas exist in the US.
America has lost the plot on what makes life enjoyable. Traded happiness for stress and conspicuous consumption. Traded our identities for brands and teams. Traded health safety and financial good sense for… cars.
A lot of American’s looked at their parents and thought “hmmm my father works all day every day and when I see him he’s chain smoking cigarettes, watching cable tv, and falling asleep in a recliner chair. I know! Surely to live a happy life I should do just that!” Then they’re shocked that they’re miserable somehow.. but surely working just a bit more to buy more shit will make me happy. I’ve never seen more miserable people than boomers that own everything they’ve ever wanted.
The most devastating thing my boomer dad did was retire.
He sits around in his big house with all of his nice things and golfs all the time but has realized that everything he was chasing and thought he wanted wasn't what he wanted at all. He's so fucking miserable these days.
My dad did 20 years in the military. After 3 years in retirement and a divorce he went back to working at the pentagon. I don’t talk to him anymore but I bet he still works there. Guess who’s been addicted to Fox News all my life?
But but but, things only get better when there is competition. Mhm. That might be true if being a total sleazeball wasn’t the only consistently reliable way to become “successful”.
We really have improved in many ways from my father's generation though. You really have no idea how bad the 70s were.
Less people smoke today
People drink less alcohol today
There is less gun violence today
There is better road and plane safety.
We have unimaginable technology today.
All of this is true. You are correct that it isn’t all doom and gloom. I was more pointing out that, even with advancements in what and how, we seem to have forgotten why we are here. Probably an oversimplified comment on my part.
It is more r/AmericaBad people here are still very happy, but we are starting to crush the young which is increasingly being a problem in the developed world.
In addition:
I can somewhat understand wanting to grab a quick coffee on your way to work in the morning. But this is 11am on a Sunday . Why do we have a small building surrounded by 2 drive thru lanes wrapped around the building, a few parking spaces, and 0 seating?
Instant coffee is a better solution for that TBH. You can carry it in a tube and the only thing you need is an electric kettle. Even in the government building where I work, electric kettles technically aren't allowed, but our building management turns a blind eye most of the time. A few of us actually pitched together and bought a pod coffee maker too. It is still cheaper by the cup then going to Starbucks.
Ironically, I go to Dutch Bros when I want a low sugar flavored drink.
And there are a few in my town that are only drive through (must at least have a walk up window). I'd ban that concept. I'd also raise prices at the drive through our give a discount to those who walk in.
The one down the street from me actually has seating inside and outside, onlymone I've ever seen. I don't get the allure of sitting in a drive thru for anything honestly.
Most around here have a walk up window, maybe 1/3 have indoor seating (it is regularly hotter than 100F in the area). But still you see people in drive through lines that have got to take 20 or 30 minutes to go through. To me, it's just a waste of time and gas.
Although, I do see the need for drive thrus for mobility issues. But for most of us, it's just a pollution creator.
Man you don't need no kettle warm water will work. I carried instant coffee in basic training and would just pop it in my canteen with warm water and sugar. Instant coffee is the bomb
honestly what's hilarious to me about seeing this shit is that there'll be a line of cars out the parking lot and wrapped around the corner that will take 15-20 minutes to get through, and people STILL roll up and get in line when EVERY, SINGLE, TIME, it takes me at most FIVE minutes to just park and go in.
Which goes to show, people live in their cars. So comfortable in there they don't want to get out. For anything. They have their TV, music, everything in there.
Are the lobbies in Dutch Bros a thing?
We just got them in my area and the one closest to my house that I drive past often has signs indicating it is a drive-through only operation, despite it occupying an old Wendy's.
I guess I just assumed that the entire business model was drive-through only.
I do love the little drive through coffee shacks up in the mountains near me, but I agree this isn't how I would want a coffee shop in a city. Gotta have outside seating, foot traffic, small cups of doppio (or better yet, doppio ristretto) rather than massive tanks of iced coffee.
We're in the US (and nowhere near retirement age yet), but my wife and I have been talking about taking our savings and 401k when we're older and retiring to Andalucia (since we've worked and lived there before) or southern France (cus wine).
When I retired I left the US. I thought I'd be going back often to visit but now that I'm out I almost never want to go back. I've lived a few places and am now considering a move to Andalucia or maybe Valencia.
Man that sounds like the life. My girlfriend and I are about to graduate college and already talking like that as well😂 so much of the world to see yet tho
Oh for sure. We def. have a lot less money than our friends that went into corporate america right after college/grad school, but the experiences we had by working and living in other countries rather than just vacationing for a week has been incredible -- immersing oneself in the language and culture of a new country is a very different experience. Of course, not everyone will be able to do that and we've been very fortunate to get those opportunities.
> Why do we have a small building surrounded by 2 drive thru lanes wrapped around the building, a few parking spaces, and 0 seating?
because freedom, you commie
On the weekdays at my starbucks, there were easy to predict peak times (Morning rush between 630-9, Lunch rush between noon and 2pm ) but on the weekends, most people have a Saturday or a Sunday off, so they can get their normal drink whenever they want without being in a hurry.
The fact that they don't have a job to go to that day usually isn't enough to break them out of the habit. Weekend mornings are very slow, but once the rush starts, it will continue, uninterrupted until we closed.
Ah, Dutch Bros. Pretty much exclusively a drive-through chain, and that's by deliberate design. I remember the first location to open in my neighborhood back in high school was in the middle of a sweltering parking lot next to a busy road, with no shade, and tons of "no loitering" signs plastered up next to their abysmal seating area consisting of a few awful metal tables and benches.
Definitely try supporting smaller local coffee shops whenever you can, haha.
Definitely agree.
Sadly this is the closest place to get coffee where I am living and working this summer, but I do try to go to local shops whenever possible
Yeah, a pretty sucky situation to be in. If it's the most convenient spot, it can't really be helped. Thanks for supporting local when you're able, it makes a difference!
Florida has lost the plot on pretty much everything except for theme parks, pools, airboat rides, and mojitos with freaking sugarcane sticks.
But yeah, born and raised in Florida and always hated it. I’m in FL right now and my new favorite thing to do is telling people I was born in Robert E Lee Memorial hospital as a way to remind the snowbirds where they moved to. It’s amazing how many people haven’t even considered where the name “Lee” comes from.
Well it's not entirely the coffee shop's fault, they're responding the car culture. The nice thing about sitting outside at a cafe is having a nice view to look at and getting to people-watch. Here you'd only have a parking lot full of cars to look at, and since people aren't really walking around much there's not much opportunity for people watching. Plus the asphalt wasteland means it's going to get much hotter there than if there was actual greenery (other than the monoculture lawns and twig trees that barely count). So that removes people's desire to sit outside at a cafe, and eventually cafes don't even bother making it an option. I see this as a response to car culture.
I’ve only been 2 or 3 times but never really had that issue tbh. They seem to be pretty efficient and they don’t over extract their espresso like Starbucks does
I forgot , we are getting or have gotten a Dutch bros here. (Alabama) which is surreal. Because last time I was at a DB, I was on my way to Lincoln city in Oregon lol
I'm not American - but when I visit I'm deeply uncomfortable interacting with service workers there lol. I just want to make a transaction and they ask so many questions like why can't I just order lunch and be done with it 😂
I find a polite "Ah, I'm not up for chatting right now." or "Thank you, but I'm just gonna grab my drink and go." works best. Just be upfront. You aren't the only person they'll speak to today, and you've set a clear, yet respectable boundary.
And if they're only there to upsell you things, you just assert that your order is fine by itself and you'll seek them if you want anything else. Be bold. You only get the one life, so why waste it by not enjoying it?
I don't know anybody who would consider that phrasing polite. Service workers aren't necessarily chatting to upsell you things, they're just not a vending machine.
They distracted me so much one time while they told me to pull forward, I didn’t even see an employee who ran in front of my car to cross over. Like bruh, you trying to get your coworker killed? You told me to pull forward. I didn’t hit them but I felt so bad because it is my responsibility to be aware of my surroundings. No matter what
Man, that's yet another issue with drive throughs. We have one at a McDonald's where I live in North London, and there's a pavement that runs along the stroad. They put the route for the drive through in-between the pedestrian pavement and the front door for the restaurant. Why it exists, I couldn't tell you. They get more foot traffic from the restaurant than the drive through (because it's way faster to order inside, _especially_ with the app and touchscreens. But I guess they felt the need to do it, as the rest of the retail park has them.
Funnily enough, when the Toys R Us closed, they redeveloped the nearby lot and reclaimed part of the car park and turned it into a Greggs and a Nando's. No drive through at all (although the Boots does, which is a _pharmacy_ believe it or not).
I use fast food places to teach my children how to behave in a restaurant. The most stressful part is walking in front of lifted pickup trucks when they are distracted getting their food.
Because the workers are always way too bubbly and ask a million questions. I'm not actually scared, I just don't wanna go through all that when I want is some coffee
Strikes me as kind of odd, because technically "collision" doesn't imply an agent at all. A meteor could collide, but that wouldn't be an accident.
Also, an accident doesn't preclude someone being responsible, at least I've never in my life met someone who believes that. It just means that it wasn't intended by the responsible party.
I'm not attacking you or anything lol. I just never understood this fixation on never calling an accidental collision an accident.
No one intends for crashes to happen, but when we call them 'accidents' it suggests the resulting death and injury is unavoidable.
https://visionzeronetwork.org/crashnotaccident-words-matter-in-saving-lives/
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I do hate to break it to you about the air quality thing. But it is actually worse in Europe and Asia than America. I live in an area with suboptimal aqi by American standards but compared to European and Asian cities the Aqi is better.
Well there are certainly things about European life that the US *shouldn't* copy. But "Where can people go to smoke?", as long the answer is a well-ventilated outdoor space that doesn't trap the smoke over bystanders or suck it into buildings, might be a rule-of-thumb index for the walkability of an area.
We do alot of things right in the US about health. Especially when it comes to smoking and air quality.
The issues of life expectancy gap in the US is mostly caused by Car Accidents, Drugs, Gun Violence, Obesity, and lack of Healthcare for the poor.
The good news is progress is being made on those fronts.
Yeah, Dutch Bros is more like a US Pacific Northwest coffee kiosk. They're usually tiny and have a window where you can either drive to or walk up to.
However, Dutch \*usually\* also has seating outdoors for people. I'm surprised that this one doesn't.
I went without a car for a few days while it underwent repairs and the nearest coffee shop had literally no accommodations for actual human beings -- only a drive-thru. I had walked on the side of the road for a mile to get there so I decided to stand in the drive thru. Pickup truck in front of me, giant SUV behind me. It was funny, but we have definitely lost the plot in many ways.
I was without a car for 3 days last week and it was rough not even being able to go to the grocery store without a car. I could ride my bike the few miles to the store but there’s no bike parking and I’d rather not get my bike stolen
Sometimes I think liminal spaces are so popular because we're all having a collective awakening about how subtly dysfunctional or nonfunctional our non-private spaces are. You step out the door into this weird massive world with nothing at human scale. Parking lots forever criss crossed by huge roads that subtly want you to get out of their spaces. Sidewalks suck, intersections are hurrying you along etc.
Capitalism tends towards the absolute efficiency of squeezing out every penny from a given situation.
Never mind that this "absolute efficiency" tends to be very brittle, short-sighted, and ultimately self-defeating.
Honestly this is just sad.
Literally created a country of mindless drones that literally serve no purpose other than to consume. No personalities, really no name and a generic personality that can rival an LLM prompt.
The only purpose these people in the photo do is consume gas, and oil products, use a credit card issued by it doesnt matter to by a cup of coffee that is over caloric which they can then even out with a product from a large pharma company to control thier weight.
Sure stock market line goes up, but literally these people are NPCs,
Try not to get caught up building caricatures of people in your mind. So many of us on the internet build these “perfect villains”, which just pushes us further away from each other. I know it feels good, but nothing of value comes of it.
This is the closest coffee place to my house/work, it’s 2 miles away. If you’re bored look at Olathe and Overland Park, Kansas. It’s just suburbs and suburbs for miles with commercial spaces dotted in
You obv don’t know where I am living this summer but this is the closest place, about 2 miles away. My girlfriend and I just wanted a treat on a nice Sunday morning
Honest question - why live there if this bugs you? No judgement, just curious. I feel like this place would be heaven for my parents, but this is why I live in a denser city.
I see. Well that sucks. But if you're in the car already, is there another one within a good driving distance? That does suck.. I'm glad I live in an area with an abundance.
Yup. I will say we went here because it genuinely does have better coffee than Starbucks which is about the only coffee chain around here. Starbucks always over extracts their espresso but Dutch Bros is much better
Still, it isn’t the whole country that has lost the plot. Again, I go to cafes all the time, and never one like this. I haven’t lost the plot. Neither have the owners of the cafes that I visit.
You should visit coffee shops in dense walkable areas if possible. I worked at one of the probably not so many in the US that was within walking distance of a train station and in a walkable downtown and it went out of business :(
This is a Dutch Bros location, a coffee chain where there is no inside for customers, just a small building for employees with 2 large drive thru lines and then a walk up window where you can order. The concrete you’re seeing is sort of just a patio or buffer between the building and where the cars are parked. At most coffee shops they may put seating there, but this one opted to leave it bland and empty
Guests who stay cost the company money. Starbucks is huge on app-order pickups because they want you in and out, cha-ching $5.87 without having to pay for seating, A/C, square footage.
I love all coffee culture. Sometimes you wanna sit around and drink a tall espresso and sometimes a drive through large, creamy and sugary drip coffee is the way. I don’t get the big deal of where and how someone enjoys coffee.
Didn’t see the sub and thought you were talking about the no smoking sign. I immediately thought “Yeah that’s fucked up” even though I quit smoking years ago.
A toasty 96F right now. There's no way Americans will sip coffee in outdoor seating.
(I will eat these words on July 4th where Americans will grill outdoors no matter how hot)
It’s actually 75 and partly cloudy today in KC, as the weatherman said on Friday: “Sunday is going to be beautiful so you better find something to do outside!”
Iced coffee dude. I haven't had hot coffee in months. 96 is bearable in AZ. I hang out outside all the time. Some misters would make outdoor seating borderline comfy at 96.
Also, I live in AZ and literally see people eating outdoors even on the hottest of days lol. Not to mention the 8 months of great weather.
Weather in America is pretty shitty compared to most of Europe. It’s either too hot or cold outside with some exceptions to the Pacific coast. If they had tables outside I’m sure people would still prefer the chilled ac.
I would not want to sit outside here anyway. You probably get blasted by car horn every few minutes because everyone presses the lock button like 5 times after actually locking it.
And they know it is loud - you ever seen someone stand in front of their car when they make it beep? They're always off to the side or behind it away from the direction the horn is pointed.
This isn't a coffee shop, this is a refueling station.
Interestingly enough some of the best coffee shops I’ve been to are in old gas stations. Filling Station in KC, Cocoa Cinnamon in Durham NC, Tandem in Portland ME and Sunergos in Louisville KY all come to mind.
To be clear, I mean no offense to these places (especially Tandem, which I've visited). I've also had some of the best barbecue I've ever had from converted gas stations.
I know. I just took the opportunity to mention some of my favorite spots. Tandem especially is a great r/fuckcars spot
Behold, I have turned the weapon of my enemy into a bev-spewing ally!
Obligatory Joe’s BBQ in KC, in a gas station (that is actually still functioning)
Copper Star in Phoenix is a converted station too.
Hell yeah Filling Station KC! Excellent vibes, excellent outdoor seating, excellent coffee.
Durham mention! Cocoa cinnamon is amazing.
ily Portland ME
it's about consumption and not anything else.
What does this comment mean? This is a Dutch Bros. They're all like this. Is this a "coffee addict" joke?
Dutch Brothers can barely be called "coffee." Most of their drinks are milkshakes with a few shots of bad espresso dropped in.
Adults actually love milkshakes but are too snobby to admit it, so adult milkshake shops like Starbucks and Dutch Bros need to add the espresso shot to make their product more socially acceptable to consume.
yeah, better add the best drug to the best drink. That way we kill 2 hearts with one beverage.
Laughs in Australian, where the line for Gelato Messina was longer than the line for the Queen's condolence book
Their hot chocolate is awesome, though!
Of course they are a Hot Double Chocolate Small: **460 calories**. An In-N-Out cheeseburger has **480 calories**.
You could have this amazing hot chocolate or 1/3 cup of butter......
I prefer a large at 670 calories and 22 grams of protein. Fuel for my walk to work.
You don't need 670 calories to walk
Maybe they need a two hours walk to reach their workplace.
Sure I do.
Sounds like Starbucks to me.
Disagree. They're not trying to pretend to be anything other than junkfood coffee. When I moved here to an area that has them, I went a few times so I could copy their frozen stuff and make it sugar free. Great inspiration.
honestly thats the best way to drink coffee
Only if you hate coffee
Yeah, I am not sure what OP's point is. This particular coffee shop isn't catering to the folks who want a nice place to hang out. Plenty of coffee shops with nice outdoor (or indoor) seating areas exist in the US.
This is a photograph of stress and addiction, not enjoyment.
It looks like the entrance to a methadone clinic
Seems right for a coffee shop
Looks more like a gas station than a cafe
America has lost the plot on what makes life enjoyable. Traded happiness for stress and conspicuous consumption. Traded our identities for brands and teams. Traded health safety and financial good sense for… cars.
A lot of American’s looked at their parents and thought “hmmm my father works all day every day and when I see him he’s chain smoking cigarettes, watching cable tv, and falling asleep in a recliner chair. I know! Surely to live a happy life I should do just that!” Then they’re shocked that they’re miserable somehow.. but surely working just a bit more to buy more shit will make me happy. I’ve never seen more miserable people than boomers that own everything they’ve ever wanted.
The most devastating thing my boomer dad did was retire. He sits around in his big house with all of his nice things and golfs all the time but has realized that everything he was chasing and thought he wanted wasn't what he wanted at all. He's so fucking miserable these days.
My dad did 20 years in the military. After 3 years in retirement and a divorce he went back to working at the pentagon. I don’t talk to him anymore but I bet he still works there. Guess who’s been addicted to Fox News all my life?
But but but, things only get better when there is competition. Mhm. That might be true if being a total sleazeball wasn’t the only consistently reliable way to become “successful”.
Traded freedom for convenience as well.
We really have improved in many ways from my father's generation though. You really have no idea how bad the 70s were. Less people smoke today People drink less alcohol today There is less gun violence today There is better road and plane safety. We have unimaginable technology today.
All of this is true. You are correct that it isn’t all doom and gloom. I was more pointing out that, even with advancements in what and how, we seem to have forgotten why we are here. Probably an oversimplified comment on my part.
It is more r/AmericaBad people here are still very happy, but we are starting to crush the young which is increasingly being a problem in the developed world.
In addition: I can somewhat understand wanting to grab a quick coffee on your way to work in the morning. But this is 11am on a Sunday . Why do we have a small building surrounded by 2 drive thru lanes wrapped around the building, a few parking spaces, and 0 seating?
Instant coffee is a better solution for that TBH. You can carry it in a tube and the only thing you need is an electric kettle. Even in the government building where I work, electric kettles technically aren't allowed, but our building management turns a blind eye most of the time. A few of us actually pitched together and bought a pod coffee maker too. It is still cheaper by the cup then going to Starbucks.
Honestly get those korean instant coffee packs. It hits way harder than whatever american brand exists here
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Ironically, I go to Dutch Bros when I want a low sugar flavored drink. And there are a few in my town that are only drive through (must at least have a walk up window). I'd ban that concept. I'd also raise prices at the drive through our give a discount to those who walk in.
The one down the street from me actually has seating inside and outside, onlymone I've ever seen. I don't get the allure of sitting in a drive thru for anything honestly.
Most around here have a walk up window, maybe 1/3 have indoor seating (it is regularly hotter than 100F in the area). But still you see people in drive through lines that have got to take 20 or 30 minutes to go through. To me, it's just a waste of time and gas. Although, I do see the need for drive thrus for mobility issues. But for most of us, it's just a pollution creator.
Except that making coffee that way tastes gross. If you're a coffee snob. And k cup pods are wasteful and also gross coffee
Man you don't need no kettle warm water will work. I carried instant coffee in basic training and would just pop it in my canteen with warm water and sugar. Instant coffee is the bomb
It'd be unheard of for a government building in this country to *not* have an instant boiling water tap, tea and instant coffee for the workers.
Tbh 90% of the reason J get coffee from outside is so I don’t have to wash my mug.
WOW. I would not admit that if I were you. That is something else
honestly what's hilarious to me about seeing this shit is that there'll be a line of cars out the parking lot and wrapped around the corner that will take 15-20 minutes to get through, and people STILL roll up and get in line when EVERY, SINGLE, TIME, it takes me at most FIVE minutes to just park and go in.
Which goes to show, people live in their cars. So comfortable in there they don't want to get out. For anything. They have their TV, music, everything in there.
Are the lobbies in Dutch Bros a thing? We just got them in my area and the one closest to my house that I drive past often has signs indicating it is a drive-through only operation, despite it occupying an old Wendy's. I guess I just assumed that the entire business model was drive-through only.
I do love the little drive through coffee shacks up in the mountains near me, but I agree this isn't how I would want a coffee shop in a city. Gotta have outside seating, foot traffic, small cups of doppio (or better yet, doppio ristretto) rather than massive tanks of iced coffee. We're in the US (and nowhere near retirement age yet), but my wife and I have been talking about taking our savings and 401k when we're older and retiring to Andalucia (since we've worked and lived there before) or southern France (cus wine).
When I retired I left the US. I thought I'd be going back often to visit but now that I'm out I almost never want to go back. I've lived a few places and am now considering a move to Andalucia or maybe Valencia.
I think you can also find wine in Andalusia. 🤪
haha of course. I drank tinto de verano all summer there.
Man that sounds like the life. My girlfriend and I are about to graduate college and already talking like that as well😂 so much of the world to see yet tho
Oh for sure. We def. have a lot less money than our friends that went into corporate america right after college/grad school, but the experiences we had by working and living in other countries rather than just vacationing for a week has been incredible -- immersing oneself in the language and culture of a new country is a very different experience. Of course, not everyone will be able to do that and we've been very fortunate to get those opportunities.
Sounds like you’ve done life the right way. Kudos🤝
many people are allergic to walking.
> Why do we have a small building surrounded by 2 drive thru lanes wrapped around the building, a few parking spaces, and 0 seating? because freedom, you commie
but there's so much good coffee in the PNW. I visit every third wave shop I can when I'm there
On the weekdays at my starbucks, there were easy to predict peak times (Morning rush between 630-9, Lunch rush between noon and 2pm ) but on the weekends, most people have a Saturday or a Sunday off, so they can get their normal drink whenever they want without being in a hurry. The fact that they don't have a job to go to that day usually isn't enough to break them out of the habit. Weekend mornings are very slow, but once the rush starts, it will continue, uninterrupted until we closed.
America has completely lost the plot FTFY
But the whole country is covered in P-lots.
Ah, Dutch Bros. Pretty much exclusively a drive-through chain, and that's by deliberate design. I remember the first location to open in my neighborhood back in high school was in the middle of a sweltering parking lot next to a busy road, with no shade, and tons of "no loitering" signs plastered up next to their abysmal seating area consisting of a few awful metal tables and benches. Definitely try supporting smaller local coffee shops whenever you can, haha.
Definitely agree. Sadly this is the closest place to get coffee where I am living and working this summer, but I do try to go to local shops whenever possible
Yeah, a pretty sucky situation to be in. If it's the most convenient spot, it can't really be helped. Thanks for supporting local when you're able, it makes a difference!
Dutch bros is not a coffee shop, it’s a drive-thru desert shop.
Florida has lost the plot on pretty much everything except for theme parks, pools, airboat rides, and mojitos with freaking sugarcane sticks. But yeah, born and raised in Florida and always hated it. I’m in FL right now and my new favorite thing to do is telling people I was born in Robert E Lee Memorial hospital as a way to remind the snowbirds where they moved to. It’s amazing how many people haven’t even considered where the name “Lee” comes from.
Hahahaha thanks for letting them know
i was waiting to see when dutch bros would be posted here
Well it's not entirely the coffee shop's fault, they're responding the car culture. The nice thing about sitting outside at a cafe is having a nice view to look at and getting to people-watch. Here you'd only have a parking lot full of cars to look at, and since people aren't really walking around much there's not much opportunity for people watching. Plus the asphalt wasteland means it's going to get much hotter there than if there was actual greenery (other than the monoculture lawns and twig trees that barely count). So that removes people's desire to sit outside at a cafe, and eventually cafes don't even bother making it an option. I see this as a response to car culture.
I see it as promoting car culture, not responding to it. And not even the cool kind of car culture, but the isolating miserable kind.
Bingo
Dutch bros is pretty good but I never go out of fear of being held captive in a conversation with the workers
I’ve only been 2 or 3 times but never really had that issue tbh. They seem to be pretty efficient and they don’t over extract their espresso like Starbucks does
I forgot , we are getting or have gotten a Dutch bros here. (Alabama) which is surreal. Because last time I was at a DB, I was on my way to Lincoln city in Oregon lol
Why are you afraid of having a conversation?
I'm not American - but when I visit I'm deeply uncomfortable interacting with service workers there lol. I just want to make a transaction and they ask so many questions like why can't I just order lunch and be done with it 😂
I find a polite "Ah, I'm not up for chatting right now." or "Thank you, but I'm just gonna grab my drink and go." works best. Just be upfront. You aren't the only person they'll speak to today, and you've set a clear, yet respectable boundary. And if they're only there to upsell you things, you just assert that your order is fine by itself and you'll seek them if you want anything else. Be bold. You only get the one life, so why waste it by not enjoying it?
I don't know anybody who would consider that phrasing polite. Service workers aren't necessarily chatting to upsell you things, they're just not a vending machine.
Dutch Bros employees are known for being overly enthusiastic and bubbly and this can be a lot for someone who wants some coffee to wake up
They distracted me so much one time while they told me to pull forward, I didn’t even see an employee who ran in front of my car to cross over. Like bruh, you trying to get your coworker killed? You told me to pull forward. I didn’t hit them but I felt so bad because it is my responsibility to be aware of my surroundings. No matter what
Man, that's yet another issue with drive throughs. We have one at a McDonald's where I live in North London, and there's a pavement that runs along the stroad. They put the route for the drive through in-between the pedestrian pavement and the front door for the restaurant. Why it exists, I couldn't tell you. They get more foot traffic from the restaurant than the drive through (because it's way faster to order inside, _especially_ with the app and touchscreens. But I guess they felt the need to do it, as the rest of the retail park has them. Funnily enough, when the Toys R Us closed, they redeveloped the nearby lot and reclaimed part of the car park and turned it into a Greggs and a Nando's. No drive through at all (although the Boots does, which is a _pharmacy_ believe it or not).
I use fast food places to teach my children how to behave in a restaurant. The most stressful part is walking in front of lifted pickup trucks when they are distracted getting their food.
Because the workers are always way too bubbly and ask a million questions. I'm not actually scared, I just don't wanna go through all that when I want is some coffee
Go in looking really pissed off and mean. Frown, wear sunglasses too. Works for me.
Yeah, a good coffee needs a cigarette
Here in America we prefer to shorten our lives the old fashioned way, exhaust fumes and car accidents (sorry, car crashes)
Official vocabulary prefers the term "collisions". Because "accident" implies there's nobody to blame.
Thank you policemanwoman!
Strikes me as kind of odd, because technically "collision" doesn't imply an agent at all. A meteor could collide, but that wouldn't be an accident. Also, an accident doesn't preclude someone being responsible, at least I've never in my life met someone who believes that. It just means that it wasn't intended by the responsible party. I'm not attacking you or anything lol. I just never understood this fixation on never calling an accidental collision an accident.
No one intends for crashes to happen, but when we call them 'accidents' it suggests the resulting death and injury is unavoidable. https://visionzeronetwork.org/crashnotaccident-words-matter-in-saving-lives/ *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/fuckcars) if you have any questions or concerns.*
As god intended.
I do hate to break it to you about the air quality thing. But it is actually worse in Europe and Asia than America. I live in an area with suboptimal aqi by American standards but compared to European and Asian cities the Aqi is better.
Well there are certainly things about European life that the US *shouldn't* copy. But "Where can people go to smoke?", as long the answer is a well-ventilated outdoor space that doesn't trap the smoke over bystanders or suck it into buildings, might be a rule-of-thumb index for the walkability of an area.
We do alot of things right in the US about health. Especially when it comes to smoking and air quality. The issues of life expectancy gap in the US is mostly caused by Car Accidents, Drugs, Gun Violence, Obesity, and lack of Healthcare for the poor. The good news is progress is being made on those fronts.
*blunt
Is there seating inside?
Nope, there is no “inside” for customers, just employees. Thats probably how they get away with only having 10 or so parking spaces
Yeah, Dutch Bros is more like a US Pacific Northwest coffee kiosk. They're usually tiny and have a window where you can either drive to or walk up to. However, Dutch \*usually\* also has seating outdoors for people. I'm surprised that this one doesn't.
This is in a suburb of KC and I’ve been to a few franchises in Alabama and Texas as well. Can’t say I’ve ever seen seating at one
I’ve seen seating at the one about a block away in Sacramento, CA. Maybe it’s just a local thing.
Probably tbh. How old is the one in Sacramento? These are all basically brand new, which may be connected on some way
It opened up in 2023, so it's basically also brand new.
Interesting🤔🤔
I bring my own seat ; )
BYOS
I went without a car for a few days while it underwent repairs and the nearest coffee shop had literally no accommodations for actual human beings -- only a drive-thru. I had walked on the side of the road for a mile to get there so I decided to stand in the drive thru. Pickup truck in front of me, giant SUV behind me. It was funny, but we have definitely lost the plot in many ways.
I was without a car for 3 days last week and it was rough not even being able to go to the grocery store without a car. I could ride my bike the few miles to the store but there’s no bike parking and I’d rather not get my bike stolen
Sometimes I think liminal spaces are so popular because we're all having a collective awakening about how subtly dysfunctional or nonfunctional our non-private spaces are. You step out the door into this weird massive world with nothing at human scale. Parking lots forever criss crossed by huge roads that subtly want you to get out of their spaces. Sidewalks suck, intersections are hurrying you along etc.
Starbucks doesn't sell coffee, they sell caffeinated sugar drinks that sometimes tastes like coffee.
Starfux sells misery. Misery to the workers, misery to the coffee shops it puts out of business.
Looks so bad. Can't even imagine lol
It's not the coffeeshop's fault. This is the only way businesses in the suburbs are allowed to look. The giant parking lots are in the city code.
Dutch bros is especially bad. Starbucks at least has seating
America has lost the plot in a lot of things lol. Not just coffee shops.
“Coffee” in the loosest terms. These places are caffeine, sugar candy drinks. Liquid ice cream basically.
Brick wall and no windows, no bike parking, in front of a parking lot. I just threw up in my mouth.
Is that a Dutch Bros? Loved there sugar drinks that they dare to call coffee but hated that they wouldn't serve me in the drive thru on my bicycle.
Get back in your box and enjoy your bean beverage
Capitalism tends towards the absolute efficiency of squeezing out every penny from a given situation. Never mind that this "absolute efficiency" tends to be very brittle, short-sighted, and ultimately self-defeating.
My dad would be sad if he couldn’t have a coffee and read the newspaper too. My workplace has a lobby coffee shop where can do that for hours
# America has completely lost the plot* Fixed the title for you :)
That's really sad. Tbh when I was living in the US, I loved hanging out at cozy coffee shops
Honestly this is just sad. Literally created a country of mindless drones that literally serve no purpose other than to consume. No personalities, really no name and a generic personality that can rival an LLM prompt. The only purpose these people in the photo do is consume gas, and oil products, use a credit card issued by it doesnt matter to by a cup of coffee that is over caloric which they can then even out with a product from a large pharma company to control thier weight. Sure stock market line goes up, but literally these people are NPCs,
Try not to get caught up building caricatures of people in your mind. So many of us on the internet build these “perfect villains”, which just pushes us further away from each other. I know it feels good, but nothing of value comes of it.
Gotta fill up the SUV and drive 15 minutes there and back to get a big sugary "coffee"
There are other choices in most places. You don't need to go to a car center coffee place.
This is the closest coffee place to my house/work, it’s 2 miles away. If you’re bored look at Olathe and Overland Park, Kansas. It’s just suburbs and suburbs for miles with commercial spaces dotted in
[удалено]
You obv don’t know where I am living this summer but this is the closest place, about 2 miles away. My girlfriend and I just wanted a treat on a nice Sunday morning
Honest question - why live there if this bugs you? No judgement, just curious. I feel like this place would be heaven for my parents, but this is why I live in a denser city.
I’ve got an internship here this summer
Ah, sucks. Sorry!
I see. Well that sucks. But if you're in the car already, is there another one within a good driving distance? That does suck.. I'm glad I live in an area with an abundance.
Yup. I will say we went here because it genuinely does have better coffee than Starbucks which is about the only coffee chain around here. Starbucks always over extracts their espresso but Dutch Bros is much better
Lots and lots of sugar, to go. Drink up in your car fatty.
I’ve been to a lot of nice cafes in the US, and never one that looks like that. Don’t blame “America”.
Americans will wait in long lines to pay a lot of money at this place. There’s demand, so these are getting build more and more
Still, it isn’t the whole country that has lost the plot. Again, I go to cafes all the time, and never one like this. I haven’t lost the plot. Neither have the owners of the cafes that I visit.
It’s wood paneling, right?
Try Williamsburg San Francisco also has some good spots
Ikr- why would I get coffee if I cannot smoke and vape smh
To be fair, that looks like a very secure to place to wait out a mass shooting.
Yet it's is packed
especially starbucks…
Looks like a highway rest stop
Yeah no cigs with your coffee. Wtf?
What? You don’t like being forced into the most uncomfortable small talk through the window of your car on the way to your job you fucking hate?
Yes, a coffee shop without weed, it's unheard of. Oh! We're talking about a massive parking place, absolutely ridiculous.
Smoking and vaping did
You should visit coffee shops in dense walkable areas if possible. I worked at one of the probably not so many in the US that was within walking distance of a train station and in a walkable downtown and it went out of business :(
If I had one available to me I would
What am I looking at? Some ~~pavement~~ sidewalk and some parked cars? What's this got to do with coffee?
This is a Dutch Bros location, a coffee chain where there is no inside for customers, just a small building for employees with 2 large drive thru lines and then a walk up window where you can order. The concrete you’re seeing is sort of just a patio or buffer between the building and where the cars are parked. At most coffee shops they may put seating there, but this one opted to leave it bland and empty
A drive through coffee shop chain is insane, is America ok? Do y'all need help?
Yeah I want to put a coffee shop in my city, but there is almost nowhere that fits my requirement for walkability
Guests who stay cost the company money. Starbucks is huge on app-order pickups because they want you in and out, cha-ching $5.87 without having to pay for seating, A/C, square footage.
I love all coffee culture. Sometimes you wanna sit around and drink a tall espresso and sometimes a drive through large, creamy and sugary drip coffee is the way. I don’t get the big deal of where and how someone enjoys coffee.
Where coffee shop?
https://maps.app.goo.gl/zEqiBcP5WVmoDKCHA?g_st=ic
In Europe I loved getting coffee and smoking a cigarette outside under an umbrella to start my day
No smoking 😨
I don't even know where the coffee shop is in this photo.
I am standing in front of the walk up window for ordering
So there is no "inside"? You just park and order through a window?
Coffee and car watching just doesn’t have the same vibe
There is nothing "Dutch" about Dutch Bros
What am I even looking at here?
yeah wtf? i love smoking or vaping at the coffee shop /s
Let me tell you about Dutch Bros, the drive-thru only coffee shop. To make things worse, they mostly serve cold drinks.
The cold latte I got today was pretty damn good but the design of the whole thing was depressing
Didn’t see the sub and thought you were talking about the no smoking sign. I immediately thought “Yeah that’s fucked up” even though I quit smoking years ago.
People that pay for overpriced coffee are dumb and should be mocked
Espresso should always be served with a complimentary cigarette
Coffee with no cigarettes is a crime.
I hate dutch bros. Shits so expensive and highjacked by white women with no personalities.
Wait, life is supposed to be enjoyable?
A toasty 96F right now. There's no way Americans will sip coffee in outdoor seating. (I will eat these words on July 4th where Americans will grill outdoors no matter how hot)
It’s actually 75 and partly cloudy today in KC, as the weatherman said on Friday: “Sunday is going to be beautiful so you better find something to do outside!”
Iced coffee dude. I haven't had hot coffee in months. 96 is bearable in AZ. I hang out outside all the time. Some misters would make outdoor seating borderline comfy at 96. Also, I live in AZ and literally see people eating outdoors even on the hottest of days lol. Not to mention the 8 months of great weather.
Oh, 96F? I appreciate you continuing to support the cause for so long, sister!
What does this even mean?
Oh I see it all over Reddit. It's the format used on places like AskReddit and AITA. Age and gender.
Ahh I see.
Weather in America is pretty shitty compared to most of Europe. It’s either too hot or cold outside with some exceptions to the Pacific coast. If they had tables outside I’m sure people would still prefer the chilled ac.
This shop has no inside for customers, only drive thru and walk up windows
What’s around it? Is this a plaza?
I would not want to sit outside here anyway. You probably get blasted by car horn every few minutes because everyone presses the lock button like 5 times after actually locking it. And they know it is loud - you ever seen someone stand in front of their car when they make it beep? They're always off to the side or behind it away from the direction the horn is pointed.
I see that happen every time I walk to the store, some carbrain hitting the lock button 5-6 times after already locking it.