I want to come to the defense of the Book Trader baristas. Everyone I know seems to love to rag on them, and I just don’t get why. I think they’re great. Maybe it’s because they’ve recently started greeting me by my name, and the mere acknowledgement of my personhood is enough for me to like someone. But I also think they’re way better than New Haven’s other baristas: JoJo’s are meaner, Blue State more apathetic, and Woodland Coffee’s are way more depress- ing. Sure, the Book Trader baristas are sometimes going to be rude to you—but you know what? Maybe you deserve it. They’re also not afraid to make you feel bad about coming twice in one day, which is good for me because otherwise I would eat every single meal there (don’t think that I haven’t). One time I even saw a Book Trader barista at Target. We just silently stared at each other, confident that no words were needed to express the very special relationship that is the one between the barista and her baristee. At the end
of the day, I guess the Book Trader baristas are sort of like my extended family at Yale. No matter what happens to me, I know that they’ll always be there, waiting for me to buy whatever vegan crap they’re offering today.