The Dog Days of Summer (and Starbucks)

I decided to head the new Starbucks on Saturday after my weekly visit to the Market at the Square. As it so happens, it was so hot, and there was no way I was going to leave my precious four-legged best friend in the car. So I brought her with.

Amazingly enough, although I got plenty of funny looks, not one member of the small army perched behind the counter said a word to me about the dog (she is pretty cute). I got my tall skim latte in short order — and left. Evidently they don’t know the rules. According to this 2003 St. Petersburg Times story, “Corporate policy allows service animals inside Starbucks but prohibits other animals.”

Some thoughts on the store: the seating section is awfully small — there seems to be a lot of wasted space in the area between the seating section and the counter. The aforementioned small army (I’m serious. The workers outnumbered the people in the store.) were doing their best to please people. While I was there, they were handing out free samples of pastry. They also gave one guy a free drink coupon because he was waiting for so long — he was there before me and I got my drink before he did.