The venue I have chosen for this assignment is a local Starbucks Coffee shop.
Peace and calmness at Starbucks
Peace and calmness characterizes the entire establishment. There is absolutely no kind of disruptive noise. The laughter and chatter sounds of the store’s enthusiastic customers blend in with the blue’s background music that hovers around the shop’s atmosphere. The level of the music volume is moderated to be convenient for everybody. As I walk in, I feel a cold chilling wind blows in from the door closing behind me. I walk across the shop searching for a booth and I notice the exposed brick walls and the custom mural that creates a very warm atmosphere. A warm, soft hue is given by the shop’s orange lighting. The inside of the shop looks more of a resident living room than a coffee shop. There is a huge sofa, almost the size of a bed, and an enormous mahogany coffee table just beside it. There are also small round tables just beside the shop’s glass windows in which you can gaze at the ever busy streets of the town as you take your coffee or snack. The waiter takes my order of a hot Mocha Latte. As I wait for my order, the delicious and scrumptious coffee smell wafts into my nostrils from the nearby espresso machines. As I sit there, I start wondering where else I can access such a delightful atmosphere and as the taste of the Mocha Latte twirls in my tongue, I have one deafening answer and this is “Nowhere!”
Discomfort
I see a balcony and move towards it. My breath is immediately jammed at my throat as a strong cigarette stench reaches it. The place is filled with smoke coming from dozens of cigarette smokers. I move back to my seat but as I sit down, some of the cigarette smoke and smell has drifted past the closed balcony door and has entered the inside of the shop. Most customers immediately become wary of this new discomfort. I notice a lot of litter on the floor, most of it being candy wrappers dropped by clients and I am dismayed when a waiter walks right beside it without picking it up. Dust from the outside streets also occasionally makes their way into the shop through the tiny space under the door. There is also a stubborn dry coffee smell that lingers around whenever the waiter wipes the table and all these factors make one nauseous and I immediately develop a huge inclination to leave immediately but I manage to shrug it off.
Rhetorical analysis
The first thing that I commence with is a general description of my chosen venue. I extrapolate the peaceful and calm comments using descriptive words and vivid examples like the blue’s background music, cool chilling wind, soft client chatters and laughter and the sweet aroma of coffee. I then move on to the negative description where I offer a contrasting impression of the place, this time a negative one and here I talk of the cigarette smoke, the dust from outside and the stench of dried cream coffee.
My choice of words is tailored to give a clear description of the place and to also give my most honest opinion. I fully abide to the claim-support structure where I give substantial evidence after making a resounding claim. I make sure that I have alienated some observations in each description to ensure that they do not cross over. For instance, when I talk about the chilling wind entering behind the closing door, I do not talk about the dust that the wind also brings in.
Reflection
In writing this assignment, I became aware of the gigantic problem that most observers have particularly when noting down feelings and observations. It is extremely hard to find the perfect choice of words to express an honest opinion that is not biased. For instance, I noticed how a positive first impression can somehow cloud’s one perception of a place or object even when negative aspects reveal themselves. For instance, in spite of the negative things that came to light after spending more time at the Starbucks establishment, the positive aspects that I had witnessed beforehand were somehow dominant and my overall perception of the place was still a positive one. To this respect, writing this assignment has enabled me to appreciate the great efforts that authors have to put when writing reports so as not to exhibit any trace of biasness.
