canadian headhunter

Don't Go Changing

I go to Starbucks every morning. I like to get there early, before the recruiters come in to interview candidates at the top of their lungs as if no one else was around. Not everything is fantastic. The coffee's often lukewarm and the music is often too loud but sometimes it's not even on and I can sit there reading and making notes as if it was my own private club.

One of the greatest things about it are the big wing chairs. You can just sink into them and forget that gravity exists. The way they envelop and cushion you, it's like floating on air. If you're in a deamy mood, they make it easy to let your mind wander where it will. A wonderful experience.

Well, I arrived this morning and found the chairs were gone. Part of a general upgrade. The new chairs have big, loose cushions on the seat and back but the base under them is just plain wood so they're still quite firm. And, the chair is more upright so there is no sinking back. An era has ended.

Luckily, the couch has not been removed. It's really good but, because it doesn't provide the same support on both sides of your body, is not quite the same. And, who knows what fate it's future holds.

Indigo Books used to have some great cushy chairs. But people used to read in them all day without buying any books so they got rid of them. One might suspect, then, that SB chose their new chairs deliberately so that people would not sit quite so long, but I doubt it. As Frank Sinatra says, "It was just one of those things. Just one of those crazy flings."

Tell that to the marketing people. Why don't you survey your users before you start making improvements? Wah!