There’s more to the simple neighbourhood coffeeshop than meets the eye. Apart from the fare served, it is also a place where people meet to freely chat about virtually anything under the sun.

THERE is a coffeeshop in Johor Baru with a notice that reads: “Prices subject to change according to customer’s attitudes.”

Two other signs that will surely make a customer smile as he walks in are: “If you think the customer is always right, please turn left to exit” and “If you are arrogant, grouchy or irritable, there will be a RM10 surcharge”.

I would love to visit this coffeeshop one day and meet the 57-year-old owner who has such a great sense of humour.

He told the China Press: “I love to collect jokes, meaningful proverbs and quotes.”

He admitted that the signs were a gimmick to attract customers, and that, so far, only a handful had been offended and vowed not to return.

The coffeeshop is such a Malaysian institution. I just returned from another short trip to Penang and a good portion of my time was spent catching up with family and friends in coffeeshops.

I am not talking about the branded kopitiams that promise a fixed menu and free wifi, where no one seems to be really engaged in any meaningful conversation.

I go to such places now and then, too, and I notice the first thing that customers do is to whip out their smartphone or other smart devices and ask the waiter for the password. They place their orders and then spend the next hour or so in deep silence.

No, I am talking about the coffeeshop where people talk and talk about everything under the sun, from politics to sex, quite unperturbed that people at the next table get to hear everything as well.

A dear friend was reflecting on this topic of coffeeshop talk and I agree with him that we should not simply dismiss it as pointless gossip. There is much wisdom to be gleaned from such ordinary conversations among ordinary people. Our politicians and policy makers can learn a thing or two from coffeeshop talk.

I am regularly inundated through social media by reflections on current issues by armchair commentators. Most times, I am not suitably impressed because they often lack the “oomph” of a genuine feel of the pulse on the ground.

But through coffeeshop talk, I can get anything from an up-to-date analysis on the political situation (though the forecasts on the date of the general election have been misses so far) to which stocks or property to buy.

Many decisions made at the top are felt the most by people at the bottom.

Whether in government or in a major corporation, we must never forget that the people in the staff canteen or in our neighbourhood coffeeshops are often the ones who can give a more accurate picture of the impact and ramifications of policies and ideas that come out of brainstorming sessions of elite small groups.

That coffeeshop in Johor Baru with the clever signs, along with countless other coffeeshops around the country, may well be where battle lines for the elections are drawn. I’m all ears.

> Deputy executive editor Soo Ewe Jin (ewejin@thestar.com.my) would love to go to a coffeeshop in Penang with a sign that says, “If you are a Penangite from the Klang Valley, you get free refills of kopi-O!” He wishes all Christians a blessed Easter.

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