If you live near Route 34 and Main Street and have a teenage daughter who tells you she is going out to hang around with her buds for a while, consider the possibility that she and her friends are loitering at the Matawan Starbucks.
Maybe your daughter is the girl I saw there the other day. She was with four guys and they were making a general nuisance of themselves. My spouse abandoned me for a visit to the powder room, so I amused myself by watching the spectacle for a few minutes.
It's nothing new for young folks to come in and take over the place. Ever been in there and all the tables have lost their chairs? You're walking around with a hot coffee, a scone, and a newspaper and you're looking for a place to sit. As they occupy the place, the kids gradually form a huge communal circle. If you're lucky, it's like Stonehenge and only the chairs are left. You can sit down in peace. That can happen.
Of course they don't buy anything. The staff used to have to call the cops but now the kids just leave when they're told. The staff mostly tolerate your daughter and her friends. If a customer complains, they're more than happy to toss them.
Sometimes your daughter's male buds get that call of the wild. You know what I mean -- call of the wild? Well, it is a teenage call of the wild, so I guess it's ok. More of a PG-13 rating than anything else. But just think: Maybe it was your daughter with the boys who were leaving the G rating behind on those bulky fabric chairs along the window that overlooks Main Street? She could be the one that had the boy lying across her and breathing down her neck? Hey, customer?! Want to add milk and sugar to your coffee? I suggest you come back later.
To make the scene complete there's the boy getting straws from the counter, chewing them into bright green knots, and spitting their mangled carcasses onto the floor for nothing better to do. Then there was when they started riding on each others' laps, complete with butt slaps. It was a veritable Starbucks rodeo, but without the saddle. Another boy in the group kept picking up napkins. Runny nose. I felt for him. Don't you?
Yeah, maybe that was your daughter and her friends? Just hanging out. That's what kids do.
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