Mission Mission

Local artist Jihaari Terry is obsessed with common courtesies. He works in the service industry and has become acutely aware of the nuances of pleases and thank yous and related social graces, and the way signage plays a part in this whole thing. He’s got a show opening up this Saturday at Dreamers and Make Believers Salon, and if the above animated GIF is any indication, this series of paintings is going to be fuuun.

We decided to ask Jihaari a few questions to better prepare ourselves for the opening.

What sort of work do you do at your day job?

I work at a coffee shop downtown. I’m a barista and I pull more than 100 shots a day because it gets soo busy there.

Do you like your customers?

Customers range from not courteous to very nice. We get a lot of tourists from Australia and from Tokyo.

Do your customers like you?

I think they appreciate the coffee we make. I don’t actually know if most customers know that we are actually making drinks to order.

Do common courtesies make your day?

Oh, Yeah they do. Sometimes after 20 drinks It’s nice to here one person say “Please” or “Thank You” It’s rare though. I think iPhones and lack of social interaction plays a big part in this.

Have customers ever complained about aspects of your customer service abilities?

We get some customers that come in asking for things we do not do in order to maintain quality. For Example, Espresso to go. We explain it in a nice enough manner so people can understand the reasoning. But sometimes it’s not enough. I think most customers hate getting to the front of the line and we are out of something. I offer alternatives to their order but you cannot please everyone. But you can be polite to everyone though.

Do you have any experience with uncommon courtesies?

Yeah, about a year and a half ago some dude used to come in and try to exchange massages for coffee. I declined.

Do you appreciate all signage, or just signage you personally find to be aesthetically pleasing?

Aesthetics bro, It’s all about how something looks. I’m really into 70′s colors and block lettering. Old signage has a little bit of a romantic feeling, probably because of the times they were produced. For example faded letters on old brick buildings are great.

If you could change anything about the way signage exists in society, what would you change?

I believe in the art of the sign. The hand drawn letters, the colors, the painstakingly straight lines. It’s cool. Most contemporary signage is devoid of the hand that creates it.

Here’s one of my favorite instances of the melding of signage and art. Do you like the way graffiti writers in San Francisco interact with signage?

Of course, graffiti is it’s own form of signage. So much that most ad companies look toward graffiti for the next best way to advertise.

How do common courtesies and customer service change after dark?

Be nice to creatures of the night. They will be nicer to you. You are talking about prostitutes right?

No, dude, don’t be weird. Anyyyways, on your days off, where do you go for the best customer service?

My days off are spent making art and skateboarding. I usually do not deal with many people. But I would like to give a shout out to a favorite brunch spot of mine. St. Francis. They are always nice and courteous to customers.

When you’re off the clock, are you ever tempted to act like a jerk just because you can?

No, I like to stay on point with manners all day. Even saying thank you to people that don’t deserve it might make their day better.

When on the clock, have you ever had to dispense with social graces because a situation called for it?

It takes a lot to get to my breaking point. Because there will be an end to my work shift. Some instances I have had to leave from the room for a second and laugh it off.

Some people are just racist and that gets to me.

The other day we published a story about an artist whose show at Ritual Roasters got pulled after a day or two. The owner explained in an email to the artist that serious art deserves serious art openings with wine and cheese. Will there be wine and cheese at your opening?

I just had a similar experience with a different art gallery. It sucked, but opened up other doors.

I will not be serving wine and cheese but chicken, waffles and beer. Maybe ginger-ale and cinnamon rolls. Maybe just cinnamon rolls. I love cinnamon rolls.

Damn! This sounds like a kickass opening, and surely it will be socially gracious! RSVP and invite your friends here.

Reader Joel explains:

My 6 lb Yorkshire Terrier, Patti Labelle, was brutally attacked in Dolores Park yesterday evening (6/30/11) around 6pm by a black Pit Bull. Patti is doing okay now after an intense 6 hour trip to the SF emergency vet on 18th and Alabama (and $1100). She ended up with a 4 inch x 1 inch gash across the back of her shoulder and neck. The owner did provide her contact phone number and I am going to try it today, fingers crossed.

I have a friend who also had his dog attacked by a brown pit bull in Dolores Park yesterday as well. He had to take his dog to the vet, although the injuries were less severe.

Beware of dogs!

Here’s Patti enjoying happier times prior to this incident:

Now that’s just right, am I wrong?

[Photo by Mary]

Now that’s just wrong, am I right? Or I dunno, maybe it’s water soluble, or CGI. F.E.B. C.G.I.!

[Photo by Man Freckles]

They’re discontinuing the apparently not popular enough Pumpkin Seed-Chili Sourdough, and replacing it on the roster with one of the above. So head on in and initial underneath whichever one sounds best. And also have a slice and a chocolate chip cookie.

Mai over at Fashionist tells us why she likes this look:

I like the toughness and sweetness mixed together in this image of Andrea.

And, maybe even better, the first comment on the post says:

Love her look. It’s straight out of the 90′s, which are golden years to me.

I love the ’90s! Closeups and further commentary here.

P.S. Don’t forget, Debaser is this Saturday!

(And Max.)

Honey In Yr Brain just returned from a considerable hiatus with a killer breakdown of the problem with heterosexual romance in San Francisco:

Do you understand the LIMITATIONS women have in this city? It’s sort of crazy…..for every one attractive guy who actually has 60%+ of his shit together there are a thousand really great ladies with good style who have %70+ of their shit together. It’s not fair here in my age bracket…so many of us women have to settle for some dude who is just AND I QUOTE (from more than one dude) “hanging out”. Wait..you aren’t going to school? No. You aren’t working? No….I’m on unemployment. For how long have you been on unemployment for? A year….WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU DO HERE? I tag sometimes…hang out at the park. WOT? Ugh it makes my stomach hurt just thinking about the awful, awful scum single ladies have to deal with in this city.

Read on.

[Photo by LLL]

[via Dex]

This is definitely the sort of thing I like to see when looking for a bit of escapism with my coffee. Right?

Btw, discussion is still going strong in the comments section of our earlier post, “Ritual Roasters and the art of banning art.”

(Thanks, Corntard!)

UPDATE: This is a photo by Corntard of a photo by Julian Cash.

UPDATE: Ugh. This is all so dumb. Sorry, everybody. Here’s a screenshot of the publicly viewable Facebook wall of a guy connected in some way to Ritual:

And lots more here.