Jealous much?

I sit by the window in my favorite coffee shop with my foot firmly on the wonky leg of the table so it doesn't wobble. As I lift the cup to my lips, I gaze across the street at Starbucks in disgust. "What suckers!" I sneer. "I can't believe they spend half of their paychecks on that tar every single day of the week."

"I much prefer my Carole Wang's Cafe. This place is the best to people watch."

My eyes follow a cute young professional woman in a short skirt and sharp heels strut in through the door across the street. As soon as she enters, a mother pushes her toddler in a stroller out the door with a grande in the cupholder. "You'd be better off spending that money on a winter jacket for your kid now that it's getting colder," you mutter to yourself.

Looking into the window at Starbucks, I see that little pudgy man in a trenchcoat and fedora stepping up to the register. "He always gets that same sandwich on the square bread. Let's see what he orders today." As the round man sits at the table by the garbage can and opens the predicted breakfast, I declare proudly, "Yup, I was right again!"

My leg is getting tired holding the table still, so I switch to my other foot. The line across the street is getting longer now that 9:00 is approaching. "Those people are like sheep, and the baristas are the sheep dogs." I chuckle to myself when I notice that one kid at the register looks kind of like a dog with his long nose and shoulder length hair. "I'm glad they don't call them baristas here. That's pompous."

Next, I see the troupe of retired regulars waltzing one by one in the door across the street. I peek l at my watch, "9:15 on the dot! Man, those old guys sure take a long time filing through the door." I think to myself how glad I am that I can sit by the entrance here and not get a chilly breeze.

I take the last swig of my java and look up to see my boss stepping out of a cab on the other side of the street and reaching for the handle of the door. "Time to go!" I say to Carol as I leave her a tip for that positively mediocre cup of coffee I just nursed. "See you tomorrow."