Dear Internet,
The social class divide between the baristas and the customers at Compass is something to behold. At least in Georgetown. The baristas are poor kids from the Midwest who came to DC for opportunity. The customers are rich kids from the Midwest who came to DC to fulfill their undeserved destiny.* The contrast is so stark, it’s unsettling.
The last time I was in, the baristas were talking about coronavirus. How everyone was afraid of getting it, of how one barista was sure everyone already had it, of how another was so afraid of getting covid-19 from handling all the money and all the customers that he just called in sick, premptively. Good for that barista, looking out for himself. Cause Compass sure didn’t.
I hope that wherever the baristas land, it’s a better job than the one they were so unceremoniously fired from.
In closing, they have (had?) a bulletin board by the bathroom that has a question for the baristas with their home states. Indiana. Oklahoma. Michigan. The latest question was, “what’s your sandwich personality?” I want to say sliced banana on cream cheese toast but in reality i’m mac and cheese on a hoagie roll.
very sincerely yours,
Daya
*There are exceptions, of course. I overheard one youngish member of a political dynasty who complained in sotto voce that they had a professor at Georgetown that “didn’t even comment on” the fact that they were a member of “Ultrafamous Political Family”