B & B, what happened?
Michael Nutter Jeweler (from Vancouver, WA) has moved into the space next to Batdorf and Bronson coffee shop, furthering the gentrification of that block.
The owner has informed B & B that the smoke from out front bothers him, so B & B has obligingly removed all the outdoor seating and thus they suck even more.
Rumor has it that the owner has a beef with the notorious and lovable Long Hair David, a regular in the outdoor/smoking section in front of the coffee shop. He apparently started something with LHD the other day, grabbing Long Hair's bicycle to remove it from the space in front of his shop. When LH objected to this, jeweler turned to him and said, "I know who you are. My brother's a cop."
Sometimes I just fear for the future of our town, when there is not a spot on the marble sidewalk left for any chain-smoking, cranky eccentrics.
It couldn't be that jewelery guy's complaints about the sidewalk-sitters has something to do with his Long Hair Dave vendetta, could it?
The verdict is still out on whether the change is permanent. It will be an interesting test as to what kind of prestige is more powerful in this town...
The owner has informed B & B that the smoke from out front bothers him, so B & B has obligingly removed all the outdoor seating and thus they suck even more.
Rumor has it that the owner has a beef with the notorious and lovable Long Hair David, a regular in the outdoor/smoking section in front of the coffee shop. He apparently started something with LHD the other day, grabbing Long Hair's bicycle to remove it from the space in front of his shop. When LH objected to this, jeweler turned to him and said, "I know who you are. My brother's a cop."
Sometimes I just fear for the future of our town, when there is not a spot on the marble sidewalk left for any chain-smoking, cranky eccentrics.
It couldn't be that jewelery guy's complaints about the sidewalk-sitters has something to do with his Long Hair Dave vendetta, could it?
The verdict is still out on whether the change is permanent. It will be an interesting test as to what kind of prestige is more powerful in this town...
posted by Jade at 8:36 PM
4 Comments:
I must confess that I frequent B&B on a regular basis, that being said, I've never been much of a fan of B&B. Something about it has always rubbed me the wrong way. I don't know what it is, maybe it just tries to hard to be hip, and really doesn't do it well. Sure it has all the right touches, the free wifi, the tattooed baristas, but something about it is just too contrived. It doesn't surprise me that they would cave to the request of the new tenant. I'm fairly certain they only barely tolerated the smokers, no question about it, but I'm also certain they would prefer to eschew the likes of LHD and his cohorts (I being one of his cohorts). I think it is time that coffee drinkers, and smokers find another venue to satisfy their coffee and smoking needs. Not sure which place it will be, but I know that I will not be frequenting B&B after the next meeting for Urban Layers on Sunday (sorry that has already been scheduled). Too me the B&B is too much like the Farmer's Market, way overpriced and on the exclusionary side. Not what we need in our fair city.
On Olyblog again rages another discussion about homelessness. I guess it is that time of the month to discuss downtown transients. I think here we will just say that homeless and transient people are not a problem. We have human beings that have no money and they have no places to live or conduct the normal activities of life. That is not a problem as such. Being alive is not a problem, being human is not a problem, staying alive is not a problem. How we respond to this type of human being is a problem. Do we make them a problem or do we help them in some manner? Is it so difficult for society to provide people with proper restroom facilities? Can we not further provide places where people can take care of their other basic human needs? People need to sleep, they need to wash, they need to avail themselves of restroom facilities. This business with B&B is just part of the structural violence heaped upon the homeless on a daily basis. Get the homeless out of downtown, out of Olympia, and the problem will be gone. But remember, the homeless are not the problem, we are the problem.
Batdorf and Bronson did not remove their outdoor seating because of a request from Michael Nutter. In fact, after the smoking laws changed, some of our customers called the health department to rat us out about the folks smoking in front of the store. In response, the Health Department fined us and pressured us to remove the seating. We tried an alternative first – Baristas had to be the smoking police, constantly asking customers to smoke away from the front door. It was an unsafe and uncomfortable situation when smokers got irate.
I honestly don't mind it much, being a non-smoker; I hated getting smoked on when I walked into work. I also don’t have a problem with no longer having to pick up all of the trash and cigarette butts left on the tables.
Furthermore, Michael Nutter has been 86'd from the Coffee House. He is a jerk to us and our beloved customers.
So please, next time you have an issue with a policy, ask a Barista for the inside scoop, before you bash us on the net.
Sincerely,
BnB Baristas #1 and #2
The information I got about Michael Nutter's complaint and the subsequent removal of tables did come from B & B employees. Perhaps there are some different perspectives as to why the management made this decision.
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