The Summit makes good coffee and a good sandwich. It has a cheerful yet subdued soundtrack of mostly ’80s new wave (Kraftwerk!). It has big plate glass windows that allow you to gaze out at the jagged holes currently cut into the walls of the old main building of the New College campus, which allows you to muse — if you remember New College — about how long it’s been since you met someone in the Mission who was majoring in goddess religions or social change.
The dominant apparel here is business casual. Currently counting seven oxford shirts, one polo shirt, two V-neck sweaters, one pea coat, one full-on salaryman business suit. No beards. No mustaches, even. A little stubble.
The Summit is laid out differently than the other laptop warrior cafes in the Mission. Customers sit facing each other at long eight-person tables, like attendees at a banquet that consists mostly of typing. It not only brings customers closer to one another physically, it draws them near auditorially. If someone set out to design a café made for evesdropping, they couldn’t do better than this.
A selection, from one sunny afternoon:
Guy #1: So you’re doing this computer thing.
Guy #2: Yes. I am doing this computer thing. I was just dancing for awhile.
Guy #1: Like….[leans back and makes pinwheeling motion with his arms].
Guy #2: Yes. But I couldn’t make any money at it. So now I’m back to web design.
Guy #1: It’s probably safer. Web design. Than fire spinning, I mean. You don’t have to worry about things like…um…you know…burning yourself.
Guy #2: Yes.
Guy #1: Except I guess there’s the repetitive stress. And the sitting in front of a computer screen. Getting overweight.
Ha ha.
Guy #2: Yes.
….
[Businessman #1 is quietly filling out what appears to be a life insurance application.]
Businesswoman: That’s what I like to see! Not much truth in that! Like that part about when they ask you when was the last time you had a drink? Three weeks ago? Ha! Ha ha!”
Businessman #1: [silence]
Businesswoman: [absentmindedly] I used to drink a lot.
I was supposed to eat healthier today. I’m on a diet. It’s actually a long story.
Businessman #2: I’m paying attention. I’m just also texting.
Businesswoman: That’s OK. So I started going to this program. The woman who runs it does it based on BMI [body mass index], rather than getting you so thin that you lose your abiltity to have children. I want to be on the lowest end of the healthy BMI. I’ve got five pounds to go. Which I guess is me giving in to cultural ideals.
Businessman #2: [sympathetically] Your appearance does matter. We are in sales.
….
Elderly woman: [to lunch companions] This is very interesting! Everyone staring at their computer screens and interacting! Very high-tech! Like in the New York Times!
….
Guy #1: How do you incentivize people?
Guy #2: Their incentive is the metadata. [Takes out iPhone 4.] I can go to my stuff and Google it and….
Guy #1: That’s cool, I like it….
Guy #2: Yeah, you can be like…bam! It looks like a timeline. One that would show what you were doing during the day.
Guy #1: Facebook. E-mail. Facebook. E-mail. I don’t think my timeline would be interesting. I should be going….
Guy #2: Well…good luck then. Get an iPhone!
