I like to support locally owned
businesses whenever pos-
sible. What would Hampden
be if Atomic Books were a
Barnes & Noble or Caf5f Hon were a Johnny Rockets? That's right: it would be like everywhere else in the country; and we'd need another excuse for why Baltimore isn't just a rat infested cesspool.
But of late, corporate chains have evolved to such a level that even an advocate for local commerce like myself can be found fawning over a slogan on a paper cup.
So I thought it would be a good idea to check out a few of my favorite chains and explain why I think they work. Fans of this column might remember my convoluted defense of Taco Bell, but there is another Mexican-styled chain that makes its greasy, hot sauce-laden way straight to my heart -- and I'm not even talking heart disease! This chain is McDonald's-owned Chipotle.
Chipotle adopts a highly efficient model for serving food. One chooses a type of meat, a delivery method and various accoutrements. By being offered few menu choices, the customer is offered tasty food in a quick and affordable manner. The food is made to order and preparation is overseen by the customer. The restaurant's atmosphere is decidedly and self-consciously hip, with metal surfaces aplenty and off-kilter musical choices from bands like Uncle Tupelo.
While I am suspicious of the fact that McDonald's owns the chain, I can't resist its efficiency, tastiness and large portions. The closest location is conveniently next to Wells Discount Liquors on York Road. Be sure to check out how hard they try to seem unaffiliated with the evil McEmpire.
Across the street from Chipotle, is the Panera Bread chain. Paneras are decidedly pseudo-Old World, with wood and stone trim, fireplaces and jazz music. Aside from baking a selection of well-made breads, the restaurant offers a selection of coffee-shop beverages, and soups, salads and sandwiches -- often featuring ingredients like sun-dried tomatoes.
Prices are somewhat steep but are appropriate for the quality that's offered. If you don't mind mixing with older professionals or you're not creative enough to find a real coffee shop, Panera is a gem.
My biggest corporate crush lately is Coldstone Creamery. It takes the concept of an ice cream parlor to a new hyper-artificial height. Every sundae has a name that will make a person with dignity shudder while ordering. Luckily for the sweet tooth, confectionary amalgams such as "Germanch5fkol5ftek5fke" are as delicious as they are wrought with artifice. Best of all, the employees are trained in rituals regarding the ice cream. Someone announces the coming of a fresh batch of ice cream, and employees must sing when a customer drops a dollar into the tip jar. The song I heard was "Zippity Doo Dah," modified to include references to the ice cream. All of this marketing mumbo jumbo makes for a hilarious, if somewhat awkward, ice cream experience and shows how absurd consumer culture has become. Is it postmodern gourmet? You bet it is!
The next time the suburbs call your name, support our country's friendly multinational corporations and franchises. They might be homogenizing our culture, but you can't fault them for being uncreative or incompetent. After all, it's the American way.
We've all heard the
age-old expres
sion "dress for
success."
Whether speaking publicly, attending a job interview or embarking on a first date, it's believed that what one wears on the exterior will influence the outcome of the actual endeavor. Essentially, if you look good, you'll feel good, and you'll be at your best.
Quite frankly, this notion makes sense. Nobody - no matter how slipshod their persona - enjoys looking like a mess. Moreover, based upon psychology alone, very few people take comfort in being negatively judged and assessed by their appearance.
Most people, fashionistas or not, take special care to make a good first impression, often putting as much time into what they wear as to how they conduct themselves. For better or worse, humans are creatures of judgment, not hesitating to assess individuals on the shallow grounds of a first glance. In all honesty, how many times have you met another person and labeled them based upon the outfit they were wearing? Clothing speaks volumes, whether we like it or not.
The power of the garment extends beyond simple judgment, ridicule or praise by another. Clothing is a way to convey a bit of your personality to passersbyes. And clothing can, one could very well argue, be the basis of a friendship or at least the initial foundation of relationship. After all, birds of a feather flock together.
In situations when a large group converses for the first time, for example, sub-groups often form of like individuals, with their establishments sometimes based solely upon similarities of style. This shallow formation occurs before groups are founded upon similar personalities or interests.The sporty people locate other sporty people, the studious folks find their counterparts, the stylish ones find their kind, and so on.
All of this grouping is based, fascinatingly enough, around aesthetics! While this situation is true of nearly every new encounter among groups, we'd expect it to occur only with adolescents, teens and young adults, and to not be applicable to the real world, where such shallow behavior is presumably a thing of the past. Such is not the case.
In fact, adults -- no matter their age, intelligence or status -- are just as likely to form pockets of simular individuals within a group setting as are youth. Perhaps the sole reason we feel that this is less likely to occur is because, with age, we seem to form social worlds where such group encounters are composed of other people much like ourselves.
Thus, as life progresses, we create networks increasingly based on similarities. When like-minded (and identically styled) people come in contact, it only appears that shallow groupings based on appearances are devoid. In reality, all those people in a particular group are already similarly linked, dressed and "grouped off" through a process where networks are established among individuals of likeness, making teenage stereotypes unnecessary.
First impressions are a powerful type of interaction among humans. Whether you're shopping, dining out or meeting people, your clothing receives attention, and it can either garner you respect or earn you criticism and even dismissal.
The next time you step out looking less than presentable, remind yourself of this and consider a maxim Mark Twain scribed: "Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society."
