Probably the closest thing to Starbucks Norway has (until they establish themselves here, which is apparently in the pipeline now) is Kaffebrenneriet (i.e. "The Coffee Roastery"). There's one in my building, in fact, and I've formed the habit to have a couple cups of gourmet coffee once or twice on the weekends. I sit and read my Kindle in a corner of the room, and sip my coffee black.

A couple weeks ago, on a sunday, I found my place last in line, and a minute later another young woman suddenly stood right next to me. I wasn't sure if she was cutting in line, but frowned a little at her in case. I said nothing whatsoever, and was definitely willing to be wrong.

What happened next rather soured my day. She told me, "Yes, I'm at the *back* of the queue, so you don't have to stand there and raise your eyebrows at me!" I was a little taken aback, and definitely confused. I answered something along the lines of "Well, I couldn't know, could I?". She was definitely being hostile. When the next person in line finished, I thought I'd better check to see I'd got it absolutely right, so I didn't cut in front of her by mistake, so I asked, "Just to be sure, I'm the next in line?" No attempt on my part to be sarcastic, you understand, just trying to be polite. "Yes, the *back* of the queue is where I belong (I swear, that's what she said), it's your turn next!".

Her whole attitude, body language and tone of voice, and expression, all combined to make it a masterpiece of passive-aggressive hostility.

So I ordered. While I was waiting for my cup of Cup of Excellence-winning filter coffee, the barista recognized the woman behind me, apparently another regular (...they all know what I drink, too!). "Oh, hi, your usual double soy?"

I know, she may just have been lactose intolerant (and maybe had a fight with her S. O. that morning), but I immediately thought to myself, "Yup, that's *vegan rage* all right!

IDK. It took me a while to calm down over my excellent coffee, and I'm glad she sat down in the other room.

Oh dear. Well, that happens sometimes when people are in dire need of caffeine! LOL

Ugh, line-up rage (pretty similar to road rage!).

People can be so arrogant, and you're probably right, hand her some sliced fat or something. Geesh

At least she was a regular, so she hadn't been banned from the place for beating up people. I do think that carnivores are mellower, but that does not mean they are nicer.

I've had similar experiences Equinox, when I'm being perfectly polite and the other person is a hostile jerk. I just tell myself that I did nothing to bring their hostility down upon myself, and I have no idea what they've been going through that day. You behaved perfectly!

I love it! Vegan rage! I'd be enraged, too! lmao

I used to think I was being paranoid about the vegan attitude in the playgroups around here (I've got two little ones, so playgroups rock, especially if they're not all vegan). But then I heard a perfectly normally weighted woman tell someone she didn't go to the playgroups I've had issues with because of all of the nasty vegans. lol I also spend time at the dirty carnivore forum and there are several there who used to be vegans, so there is still hope for them.

Sorry she messed with you!

Is she a native English speaker? If so, then she, like me, is simply peaved that you speak better English than she does. Makes me want to snap your head off regularly too, Equinox! Luckily, being a carnivore, I can control my lingual envy. As a matter of fact, I feel much better having confessed.

LOL I think she was going to cut in front of you in line or she wouldn't have gotten so upset at your look.

Now I am the person she could have cut in front of because I detest confrontation.
Maybe she was just having an off day.
Don't let it ruin yours!! People like her are sooo not worth it.

Well, and first of all thank you, that's so sweet... But we were speaking Norwegian, so I was just translating (and paraphrasing).

Actually, I've had native Brits swear my vocabulary is better than some of their friends', which is really weird considering I've never lived abroad, not for more than a month (just the once, at 16)...

I was just reading this morning about the rash of ex-vegans who have to reconsider because of health reasons. Once they go public they are bombarded with death threats!

Yes, I've read some of those stories too! It's horrible, the filth that comes out of some people's mouths... You'd think, you really would, that these ex-vegans had left a sect...

It's exactly like that.

In a conversation I happened to overhear about a year go, I noticed this really weird phenomenon which up until then I'd though was a unique thing I did... My brother was speaking English on the phone. I don't remember about what, so I guess I wasn't eavesdropping as such, but I noticed *his accent changed*. Norway is inundated with American mass media. A lot of us sound like wanna-be-North Americans as a result, but I've known for a while that I was different, because my accent changes according to whom I'm speaking to.

If I've been speaking to friends from England, you guessed it, sound more like a Brit. Friends from Australia (weird, huh?) same thing. Americans, you get the picture. It's like instant, subconscious mimicry!

In that phone conversation I realized for the first time that my baby brother shares this thing of mine, whatever it is, because he suddenly sounded archly British...

When he finished, I asked him, "So who was that Brit you were talking to?" and he didn't even blink. I've never even told him about my own odd dialect mimicry thingie, but he was right on board immediately.

I guess we have a genuine family talent...!