davis_square mutterings

[prog]

davis_square is normally a great community but there are two patterns that make me sad. One is more interesting (and confusing) than the other.

Q: Something about post formatting policy.
A: If you can't write a Greasemonkey script to format other peoples' posts yourself, like me and all my friends can, go back to AOL, luser. Now if you'll excuse me I shall don my totally badass black trenchcoat and away to the Games Workshop store because I hear they just got a new shipment of Space Orks in. Waugh!
A2: LOL USE LUNIX
Commentary: The Slashdork effect. This is not surprising and there's probably not much to be done about it, but it's still disheartening to see. And I just know exactly when it will appear but I still must read the comments anyway.

Q: Something about local coffee houses.
A: Oh god don't go to the Diesel. Every time I go in there I get spat on by the staff and the clientele bludgeon me with their fashionable laptop accessories. I think it's because I'm so manly. I'm just not sure.
A2: Oh hell yes! Sometimes the Diesel workers call my mom up at home and harass her with their tattoos. It's awful!
Commentary: This, I just do not understand. Seriously, what? I'm just an ordinary slobby guy and I've been going there for years and have never picked up on any attitude. I'm kind of numb but I'm not that numb.

Comments

[jaq.livejournal.com]

The Games Workshop store closed a couple of months ago :-(

Danvers or Natick

[taskboy3000.livejournal.com]

The two closest retail stores are in Natick and Danvers.

I'm not a player of 40K, but I enjoy the background material.

Here's a true story of one of my few adventures in the former Harvard Square store:

ME: I'd like to by this book please
STORE EMPLOYEE (SE): OK. May I show you how to paint some models?
ME: No thanks.
SE: If you like the Codexes, perhaps you'd like the paperback fiction?
ME: No thanks.
SE: Ah, perhaps next time. Your total is...
PASTY FACE CORPULENT GEEK (PFCG): GIRLS ARE STUPID!
ME: *blinks*
SE: um, PFCG, perhaps you could shut up now?
PFCG: I'M MEAN REALLY! STUPID!
ME: *blinks*
SE: (*sweating*) Hey, PFCG, shut up now!
PFCG: WHAT?! I'M JUST SAY...
ME: *leaves quickly*

So, I'll miss that GW store, but probably not for the same reason as the regulars. :-D

[spatch]

I've found that people in Davis Square either love, love, love an establishment or they loathe it with every fiber of their being, and that this loathing stems from one bad experience.

And while this bad experience often seems, to the outside observer, to have been an error in communication or just a simple mistake, it apparently was one which caused An Incredibly Unforgivable Offense.

I don't understand it, either, because while I'd be loath to patronize a restaurant due to One Bad Experience (unless the experience was, say, food poisoning) I know that every place has its good times and bad. The people who vow Never Ever Ever Ever Again to visit the Rosebud because they were told they couldn't bring their outside beverages in (well, hello, they're in the business of selling their own beverages), for example, are the ones who mystify me the most.

The other category are the people who expect every restaurant worker in the area to wait on them hand and food, bowing and scraping and all. When you eat at a "local" establishment, you might often encounter a snarky waitress. That's part of the experience, really, but apparently this causes Much Upsetness to some. Shrug.

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

speaking for myself (obDiesel): i rarely if ever go in there anymore because the clientele is so damned unhygenic. the number of people who would come in, kick off their flip-flops, and curl up in the cloth-covered chairs would always make me feel a little unclean.

then, one morning, i went in and this woman sat next to me and started clipping her nails. i asked her politely to please do that in the ladies' room and she continued clipping her nails. then i informed one of the baristas that someone was clipping her nails at a table, surrounded by people eating and drinking. tattooed barista said "ick! i'll do something about that" and did...nothing. this woman continued clipping her nails. i'd gotten sick of the way she was behaving, told her that her behavior was disgusting and unhygenic, and stormed out. i won't say this is the last time i'll ever go in there, but i'm much more likely to get my caffiene fix at mr. crepe's or even bucky's. at least their customers don't treat the joint like an impromptu nail salon.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

OK, there are certain people who have hygiene problems (there are some specific people for whom I literally must hold my breath as they pass my table). But by and large I've had very little trouble with my fellow patrons. Then again, I don't sit at the chairs in the back, I sit at the tables in the front. That might make a difference.

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

i stopped sitting in the back after i found someone filing down his bunions (srsly) on one of the couches. the nail-clipping woman, on the other hand, was giving herself a manicure about five feet from the register. and still, they chose to do nothing.

[audioboy.livejournal.com]

I spend a lot of time at Diesel and I've never had a bad experience. The staff are always very friendly to me and the customers are usually very polite as well.