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Every time I think I’ve seen it all, I’m proven wrong. Today while sitting at Starbucks a guy came into the store with a bag and some other stuff. Within minutes he had chosen a space at the end of the long table against the wall. As I went up to get a refill I looked over and realized he was pulling a full on soundbar out of his bag. He then proceeded to plug it into the electric outlet under the table. As he was doing this I was thinking, “surely he isn’t going to play it in here is he!?” I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Within minutes I heard a beep of the soundbar turning on. This was followed by bluetooth connection sound. At this point I was morbidly curious but still couldn’t believe he would actually use it in a Starbucks with people in it. Again, I was wrong. As I stood there getting my refill, he turned on some bass thumping music… quite loudly. It overpowered any music or discussion that was happening in the store. Thankfully, it only lasted for less than a minute. Refill in hand and an eyebrow raised, I made my way back to my table on the other side of the store.
After a couple of minutes, he began playing more music…loudly. The Starbucks manager came over and asked him to turn it off. He said he was just testing it to hear if it works. He repeated several times that he was just trying to see if it works and then he’d be leaving. As the manager walked away, he turned the volume down for a minute… and then apparently assumed he was off the hook as he began playing it louder again. He then started making conversation with the guy on the other side of the table asking what he thought of his speaker.
For the last fifteen or so minutes he has been “testing” this speaker. This apparently means trying to different genres of music and different levels of volume. He has been asked multiple times to stop by the Starbucks staff. Each time he argues that he is just testing it and then will leave… and then continues to do whatever it is he is doing. At one point he started playing whatever was playing on the Starbucks speakers, which was a bit weird as obviously it wasn’t syncing up.
The guy with the soundbar continues to fiddle with his soundbar. Customers who make their way to that part of the store are doing their best to ignore him and not make eye contact. One flat out did an about face. I’m not sure what his story is but I’m curious where the soundbar is from and where it is going. As I’m looking now, I see he also has another bluetooth speaker with him. Perhaps it is a hobby?
Ok, update time. He is a trouble maker. He packed up his stuff and walked up to the merchandise wall. Then, as I was watching him he tried to snatch a tumbler by putting it in his fur hat. At this point I spoke up quite loudly and said “Put it back, sir!” He looked up at me with a look of shock and said, “what!?” To which I replied, “I see what you are doing. Put it back.” He stood and stared at me while I stared back at him for a moment before putting it back on the shelf and asking, “do you think I’m that dumb to take something right in front of you?” I replied, “it sure looks like it and I’m still watching you. You can deal with me watching you or I can call the cops.” Following this, I continued to watch him as he looked at several more tumblers and proceeded to glare at me between each one. As he walked past me toward the door he said made some choice statements that amounted to a threat of some sort before he huffed out of the door.
On to the next adventure!
