BUSINESS CASUAL

Corporate cafés: these are the best places to
go with a book or a task. Sprawling air-conditioned
rooms that brim with lunchers from noon to two and
empty out otherwise.

They have French or Italian names but only the kind
that firmly designate them as American. Here's what
else they offer: predictable sandwiches, soda displays
lit up like stadiums, large brownies. The music piped
in is the kind devoid of hooks and memorable lyrics.
In other words, the design criterion of such cafés
is that everything be inoffensive. It is sort of
amazing.

The clientele matches. You will never find particularly
comely or unattractive people in these places, just well-
groomed average-looking men and women. Such spaces
are perfect for reading or thinking because the sum total
of the environment is white noise. It's all engineered to
make you smell, taste, hear and see nothing unusual.




Index