Remote Office

I wish that I had the balls to take a picture but I'll just have to paint the scene with words instead.

I walk into a Starbucks on a rainy Monday morning.  Out of the corner of my eye I see an Indian man in his 50's holding what appears to be an old fashioned telephone handset to his ear.  The rain must keep foot traffic way way down because there was no line so I proceeded to place my order.  The baristas were discussing a Craigslist add for a coffee shop down the street that would give preference to any laid-off Starbucks employees.  The mood still seemed rather light despite the conversation.

After having placed my order I walked over to where I pick up my drink, but while waiting I had a better opportunity to inspect Old Fashioned Phone Guy.  In fact, Old Fashioned Phone Guy was sporting a full fledged video phone (with streaming video that I could see updating), presumably running off the Starbucks wifi and also had a laptop set up.  There was nobody in the seats behind him but this was a light day as I mentioned before.  I wonder if people would have felt the need for privacy enough to vacate the area had it been a busier day.  The man continued on with what I can only presume was business as usual, not feeling the least bit odd holing the large handset to his ear, looking at someone on the video phone while typing away at his computer.  A true multitasker for the generations!