To-Go is the New For-Here

 

2/5/25 Cloud City Coffee

One unfortunate outcome of the pandemic is that after cafes were allowed to serve food and beverages with reusables again, many decided to stay with disposables. I’m sure that using takeout boxes and paper cups is easier than washing and managing breakable plates and ceramic mugs, so I understand that decision from the often-understaffed café business perspective. But when I intend to stay in a café to sketch, I miss feeling like I am “here.” Even if I say “for here,” I often receive my refreshments as if I am “going.”

Like some regulars who come to Cloud City Coffee, I could bring my own mug to avoid a disposable cup, and I always used to do that when I drove to most cafes. That would make me feel better from an environmental perspective. I guess I should just do that again, but now I always try to walk to my coffee breaks (that’s one way I justify having a pastry), and I don’t like carrying a cup while I walk. Moreover, using my own cup wouldn’t address my personal issue of wanting to feel like I’m “here” and not “going.”

Sigh. Yet another first-world problem (or maybe it’s just my existential one).