We all need a “third place” (neither home nor office) to let our hair down.
It used to be Cheers-like place “where everybody knows your name“.
And lately, it’s been Starbucks, which struck a yuppie nerve (male and female).
With the lingering recession, I suspect that jokes will have to start with “a girl walks into a Starbucks…” or
“a Mr Mom walks into a MacDonald…”
for both men and women share equal stress load during hard times. Except that women are more prone to explore
and share with one another their feelings, much more than men. I noticed a string of suicide by men, taking with them
their families, children included. The American dream had turned nightmare for some. We were more confident
to overspend money which was not ours than we do this side of “green sprouts” with money which is ours. There lies the paradox:
economic activities are powered by collective trust and confidence, and slow down in their absence.
I saw the Verizon‘s CEO interview on Charlie Rose last night. He came across astute and ambassadorial: “it’s getting back to the quality of the network”…(can you hear me now?). I came away with higher appreciation for the smart phone category. And I couldn’t help agree more with Charlie’s last word ” wonder if the US will put more emphasis on tech adoption as some other countries did , so its citizens can take advantage of the network effect“.
We will learn to communicate in ways we have yet known how (from the early days of gossip news at the boat docks, and in the bars, to today’s instant tweet). I told you, we all need a third place, the place where everybody knows your name, where they can see what you are up to and maybe, share a laugh: “a girl walks into a bar, she demands to buy that TV behind the bar. Bartender replies, “No, can’t sell”. She asks “why not” Then the next day, same thing, except this time, she brings cash, lots of them. “I still want to buy that TV there behind the bar” Mam, can’t sell it to you. Why not? Well, for one, it’s not a TV. It’s a microwave.”
Thang Nguyen 555 