When was the last time that you felt like a true outsider? Where the place you are visiting has a different language and a different set of customs that are foreign? Before last Friday the last time I felt that way was when I traveled overseas. Curiously this new foreign culture unfolded in front of my eyes just 3 miles from my home. It was called Starbucks.

My friend was running a few minutes late for our eight am meeting so I volunteered to get in line and get him a cup of coffee. I saw there were two lines of people patiently waiting to order their “morning pick me up”.

As I stood there I began to observe and listen to a vibe that was new to me since I don’t drink coffee. Some people had their Starbucks mobile apps opened and ready to be scanned while others just waited in line like myself. Whoever came up with whole “app thing” idea at Starbucks was a genius because in sort of a passive aggressive way it divided their customers into two distinct categories, the “haves and the have nots”. The app carrying customers just looked and acted way “cooler” than everyone else. I wanted a Starbucks app just to fit in too.

As I got closer to the front of the line I started to hear a language that I had never heard before. It kind of went like this. A nice dressed man with his Starbucks app ready to be scanned exclaimed to the barista, “I’d like a vente espresso, half caf, with a little bit of foam.” Each person in line would give their own unique coded lingo to the barista and amazingly she understood every word of it. I of course had no idea what they were saying and furthermore the whole ordering thing was pretty intimidating since I didn’t know the language. It was like I was in a foreign country where no one spoke English.

Suddenly, it was my turn to order and it felt like time had stopped and everyone in Starbucks was watching me. I didn’t have a Starbucks app and I didn’t know the Starbucks language either. I said to the smiling lady that I’d like a grande Colombian mild roast coffee. She acknowledged my request and I thought I got through the ordering part without a glitche until she asked me, “Do I need some room?” I stopped and thought to myself, “Some room?” Some room for what? I was at a loss for words. For a moment I felt like I was in France and the waiter asked me something in French that I couldn’t answer. I sheepishly asked her, “Room for what?” She answered, “Cream.” “Oh!” I said, “Sure leave a little room.”

As I paid for my coffee I just wondered how many other little alien cultures existed around me just waiting to be discovered. I bet many more than I think. Probably not many of them though have the size of the Starbucks world.