COFFEE SHOP JEALOUSY: #5 of 13 Ways to Kill Your Community

from 13 Ways To Kill Your Community by Doug Griffiths & Kelly Clemmer (2010) - a summary

For readers who deserve accuracy, Chapter 5 is titled  Shop Elsewhere. Griffiths states, "The  central purpose of this book is to point out the very real impact our attitudes have on the success or failure of our lives and our communities." (p.69)

Griffith congratulates communities which preach shopping locally but that isn't enough. Attitudes must change.

Three stages of local business failure: 

Stage One. A new business opens. This results in a lot of negative conversation in the coffee shop which, according to Griffith, is "the most negative falsehood-invested place that ever existed on this continent". The aim of the conversation? To discourage people from patronizing the new business.

Stage Two: The business has been around for awhile.  Discussion at the coffee shop: the wealth of the owner, the size of his/her house, their new car, etc. Aim: to discourage people from patronizing the shop.

Step Three: The business goes broke or moves to another town where it is more appreciated. Some of the coffee shop customers then ask town officials or councillors what they are going to do to attract local businesses.

The killing attitude: jealousy. Harms the person who is jealous. Harms the person the jealousy is aimed at. Harms the community. Harms those looking for work.of