Most traditional coffee shops ask if you want something “extra” with your coffee, meaning perhaps sugar or cream. A nude show on the side, now that’s unheard of, or so we thought. ÿUsually when coffee shops ask if you want something extra with your coffee it doesn’t include bare breasts, whip cream shows and exposed genitals, except for one coffee shop in Seattle, the “Grab & Go Espresso,” that was the naked truth.ÿ
After receiving complaints from various people in the neighborhood, police went undercover as costumers and arrested several young women on prostitution charges.
Women would offer their customers to play games such as “basket ball” where they would make the customers throw money into the air while they tried to jump up and catch it wearing nothing but their underwear.
While it is only one of the stores that have gotten caught it seems to be that other stores do the same sort of lewd behavior.
It is in no surprise that the owner claims that an employee bearing it all is not one of his policies but then again he also has a “no-whip cream show” clause that is in fact a written policy. The owner has also said that the employees “must cover-up with pasties if they have to.” Heaven forbid they don’t happen to have a shirt that covers-up their body that they must have a drawer of pasties for such an occasion.
The economy is rough on everyone, so it is no surprise that people are coming up with imaginative ways to make extra money. However a gimmick like “Grab and Go” bikini baristas is just illogical in a business as thriving as the coffee industry. If you want scantily clad women with your coffee, it seems more logical to go to a gentlemen’s club but this type of behavior does not belong in a coffee shop. These actions instill in young woman the same old adage that sex sells and that a woman must use her sex appeal to get what she wants.
Being a bikini barista may be a fun job, but can one really see a young woman putting on their job application “I was a bikini barista and I did whip cream shows for tips”? Even they would know how ridiculous that sounds.
Another thing to think about is since the majority of people don’t go to Hooters for the chicken wings, that same majority is not going to “Grab and Go” for the coffee and the last thing we need is to violate the sanctity of the coffee shop, a pure institution.
We want more foam or caramel in our cup of joe, not more jiggle for our buck.