this post will be a first: little or no capitalization. i'm at sven's european cafe in bay view using one of the public computers. i face a stark choice between dealing with the mostly dead shift key or sparing my blood pressure. i think i'll spare my blood pressure. i'm mostly here because i'm between computers at the moment and computer use here is free with a two dollar minimum purchase. (i think this the kind of public computer where you don't want to be doing financial stuff, entering credit card info or anything else mission critical. i don't think there's any physical or IT maintenance being carried out on these boxes.) i'm drinking a large nicaraguan. the cafe draws an older crowd and is currently in the midst of its lunch rush. i've noticed that south of downtown, no one seems to order food without customizing it, usually specifying three or more variations. seems people on the east side/north shore do that much less.
it's a little humorous to overhear owner steve goretzko—who's been here at least two of the (i think) three times i've been here—order the baristas around. he operates a little leaner than the others—customers outnumber employees, what a concept. He seems gruff, though not really abusive. i have to admit that my first impression when this opened (2005?) was that this place seemed like a train wreck. i was more than a little reminded of the ciao cafe. now, it's clear that that judgment was incorrect. ok, only the train wreck part was incorrect. this totally reminds me of the ciao cafe! the owner is walking around asking people how their food is. also, from the snippets of dialogue i'm overhearing, i'm guessing none of the employees have worked here more than a week; again, shades of ciao.
