Sunday morning. Want to get up but completely unmotivated. It’s the last day of the weekend, after all. Though, that doesn’t really count these days since my work has been cancelled for the foreseeable future. Workout? Ugh, I did that yesterday. Japanese? Yea, no, Japan trip isn’t happening any time soon. Coding? No brain power for that just yet. Hungry? Yes, but that kale smoothie didn’t turn out quite right and the remaining container isn’t too inspiring. What if I just made coffee? Gah, that’d require rinsing the coffee pot and boiling water and then I’d probably see all the dishes that need to be washed. That’s definitely not inspiring.
I guess I could just go get coffee. But it costs money. No work = no money, gotta save. But…
Why not? I could have a walk around, see what’s going on, see what’s open this early (8.30 am) on a Sunday. And by going for coffee I’d get my walk in, get dressed, and scope out the neighbourhood for signs of any change. This is an exploratory mission, a need to research and see with my own eyes what is going on in my own neighbourhood. So getting coffee is one of the cheaper and shorter promises of reward for getting up.
There was a tiny detail that I didn’t know for sure if anything was actually open. I’d seen Starbucks personnel in their shops on other days but I hadn’t seen many customers inside. Is Starbucks being shunned now, too? I haven’t been going as of late because they closed many of their stores in February but they do offer delivery. I don’t like getting delivery for a single cup of coffee because I think it’s just a little bit too wasteful, in my own opinion. Starbucks’ competitor, Luckin Coffee, does the same, except their stores are much more bare bones than Starbucks’ locations.
But the decision was made: I’m going for coffee.
Before finally getting out the door, I dutifully worked in 30 minutes of Japanese and coding study, so it wasn’t a completely wasted morning just in case everything was closed.
The scene outside wasn’t too inspiring, however, with what smelled like moisture in the air mixed with the coal dust and factory output that gave reason to the 169 level on the Air Quality Index.
There is no lack of coffee shops around my neighbourhood, but whether or not they are open and taking customers is the question. Here is a map of coffee locations within one street corner nearby:
There are four Starbucks locations near the major intersection in Shuangjing, along with a few other coffee shops, notably Luckin Coffee which just opened down the road from Starbucks, another one tucked into an office building down the street, and then a Costa Coffee within one of the malls and then a McDonalds in between Starbucks and Luckin. Then there is also a Baker & Spice and a Wagas, but they are more restaurant / cafes than pure coffee dispensers.
Given the day’s dreary scene, I didn’t want takeaway but wanted to sit down and ruminate while checking Western social media APPs. It’s during a time like this when one looks at the AQI level in Beijing (169) and wonder if that’s really even an issue given the outbreak of an infectious disease.
So about those coffee locations.
Luckin has alright coffee but their food choices are limited. They used to have a chocolate scone that I loved but have since removed it from their menu. Most of the food items now consist of dried nuts or fruit, you know the little packaged kind that makes airplane rations look bountiful but still isn’t enough to justify the price tag?
Further, the challenge with Luckin is that you need to order through the APP. You cannot just show up at the store and say “I haz moneys, can I haz cofffeez?” as they’ll then direct you to the APP. And then normally you’ll get some sort of special offer that, unless you’re Chinese is really good and you’re familiar with the APP, will be hidden away and you won’t know how to access it and you’ll have to ask somebody which means they’ll probably touch your phone which is a violation of the current safety protocol, etc. But you would get more coffee for a cheaper price than at Starbucks. But you also can’t sit down in their shops at the moment.
Baker & Spice and Wagas are run by the same folks but their menu items have been severely limited due to the lack of foot traffic as of late. Since the outbreak most locations open later in the day, usually around 11.00 am, and skip out on the breakfast items. So both of these locations in my neighbourhood were still closed and I wasn’t going to wait around for another hour before they opened.
As for the Starbucks locations, there is a Starbucks beside the Wagas store but that was a further distance and I didn’t feel that committed to research. So too with another location to the south “across the street” (really an eight lane highway) right beside the subway station, but it didn’t look like there were any lights on so I wasn’t sure it’d be worth it to cross the street.
Then there is a Starbucks in the Space 3 mall which faces the Starbucks Reserve store “across the street” (again, another eight or ten lane highway). The Space 3 Mall Starbucks is rather tiny and I could see that all of the chairs were stacked up in the corner. Not a good sign. Further, the delivery guys from Eleme were standing outside for their takeaway orders, ensnared by their cell phones and trying to figure out the best way to get to their next drop off point. I walked in but, looking at the food options there (no scones), it didn’t look promising.
Finally, inside that same Space 3 Mall and basically right beside the Starbucks is a Costa Coffee. But since the mall itself hadn’t opened just yet, the coffee shop nested inside the mall was still closed, too.
So I thought I’d try the Starbucks Reserve store.
Since the store had just opened, I suppose it is pretty normal for it to be empty at this time. At other times, however, this wouldn’t last long as the foot traffic and people looking for free WIFI would have the place packed pretty quickly after opening. Today, however, along with the mall, it was empty.
Like other Starbucks locations around the city, most of the chairs were stacked up and put off to the side. There were four or five chairs set up about a metre apart throughout the store, each with a sign stating that disinfectant was available and if we needed anything else, we could ask the barista.
When I walked in I was immediately greeted by one of the employees wearing blue surgeons’ gloves and a mask. This is normal now, and has made me wonder, if they use the blue plastic gloves for every person, how does that mitigate the spread of germs? Another employee was mopping the whole floor. I didn’t get a good look but the mop did look only a touch grey, which suggests to me that it wasn’t entirely old, a good sign and a little bit comforting. (Workers here are notorious for using the same mop and water while cleaning the many different areas, eg, footpaths, toilet areas, etc.) And, as of late, you can usually smell the chlorine in the water, another small comforting feature that they are actually trying to clean the place.
Temperature checks are required now, either on the wrist or forehead. There are times when the device doesn’t register a temperature. This has happened so often that I’ve started to joke, “Well, people have said that I am dead inside and I do sometimes feel as if I’m a ghost” which usually draws a chuckle, especially from female staff, then an immediate retesting of the temperature.
Another requirement, but not as strictly enforced, is the logging of visitors, including their name, ID or passport number, phone number, temperature, and whether or not the person has been out of Beijing at all. Some restaurants even ask you to scan a QR code made by your specific phone carrier to detect where you have been over the last 14 days. Starbucks did not require this of me. And I was wondering where all this paperwork would go and if it would be handled in a hygienic manner. Anyway…
35.2. You’re okay to enter sir. What would you like?
Americano. Big. Hot. No milk.
For here or take away?
Can I stay?
Yes, but wait until he finishes mopping. You can stay for thirty minutes and you must keep your distance from others.
Umm, ok.
That wouldn’t be hard since there were very few tables till set up with chairs around them. Where there would normally be five or six tables there were two space a metre away from each other.
Do you have scones?
Yes.
I’ll take one of those too, please. Hot.
Alright. Please wait here. He said as he pointed to exactly where I was to stand to receive my order.
Another delivery guy entered and immediately started wandering around the place to which the employee got after him asking what he was doing and that he needed a temperature check. Turns out the delivery guy’s glasses had fogged up and, since he couldn’t see, he was just going toward an empty space instead of colliding with the darker objects in front of him.
The baristas are wearing blue plastic gloves. Gotcha. And the guy who was mopping got behind the bar, washed his hands, put on new gloves, and then finished making my Americano. Impressive. I don’t think I’ve seen that before. Or maybe I’m just noticing it because of the times we live in. I’ll admit that Starbucks staff are usually pretty good with their care of food and beverage items.
Scone took another few minutes but, in that time I found a place to sit (wasn’t hard) at the elongated bar table. A sign on the table gave customers instructions on what to do while in the store, including wearing a mask when not eating or drinking and not to rearrange the chairs or tables.
A couple of more delivery guys showed up. One older lady sat down but was only waiting for her son to get the takeaway. Another lady wanted to look at the items on sale. So, there seemed to be foot traffic even if at a trickle.
And after two or three customers, the temperature guy would take out a bottle of disinfectant and literally spray down the entire walking path of wherever the customer had gone, from entrance to exit. And when the older lady accompanied her son with the takeaway, again the disinfectant bottle was out and the entire area spritzed.
Wow. And this is when it struck me that I hear farmers getting criticized about using too much pesticide or insecticide and it got me wondering, what are the consequences of using so much disinfectant all the time? If it’s killing everything then it must also be killing some of the good stuff, right? And is that going to get into the water supply? I don’t trust Chinese tap water anyway, but washing all this stuff down the drain and spritzing it into the air has me wondering if there will be any other unintended side effects of effort?
So I posted that to Facebook while sipping my coffee.
The time flew by and soon my thirty minutes was up. I wasn’t sure if the employee was going to tell me to leave or if I had to on my own volition. I mean, if I chose not to go, what would they do? I wasn’t feeling very provocative today, and I didn’t really need to be out much more so I decided to return home.
So, although a lack of people in one Starbucks location, in seeing the number of deliveries out there and the slow opening of many places, it seems as if things are slowly getting back to normal. Getting out and about not only gave me a slight variation to my daily routine, but also help support the local economy!