For those of you who have been religiously following our Rhyme & Reason Design Blog, you may recall an earlier post where Erin accidentally stumbled upon several porn sites while researching names for a client at her neighborhood Panera.  Well, apparently that particular Panera is a breeding ground for such behavior, accidental or intentional.

This conclusion was brought about during the recent Rhyme & Reason Design retreat in Tampa.  After conducting business through our virtual offices, we all felt a little face time was needed, which meant Karen and I packed up our bags and flew south.  Since we all share a small addiction to caffeine, we thought a trip to the neighborhood Panera would be a great way to kick-off the retreat.

After jockeying for an outlet, we finally settled three computers, three coffees and three girls into a table in the back of the restaurant.  With a brainstorm session in full gear, it was easy to tune out typical dinning sounds, low chatter and the familiar streaming music. Now seeing as the title of this particular blog is in fact “Porn in Panera – Part II,” I am sure you think I am about to say that we heard heavy breathing or the stereotypical “boun-chica-bow-wow” chord, but see that would be too big a give away.  Instead, the noise we heard sounded as if we were front-and-center during a performance by the New York City Orchestra.  I having my back to the sound actually went so far as to say, “I had no idea we bought tickets to the symphony.”  This comment caused Karen to lift her eyes above her computer screen and look in the direction of the music.

To say Karen’s eyes got large and her cheeks flushed pink would be an understatement, no I would say a more accurate description would be her eyes grew to the size of saucers and her face glowed crimson.  Such a dramatic change in her facial make-up caused Erin and I to turn our heads so fast one would think we broke our necks.  The site we were met with was the back of a gray-haired man and a shoddy PowerPoint presentation of naked women flashing across the computer that sat in front of him.  Once we all gained our composure back, we of course forced Karen to monitor the man’s computer behavior until he eventually got his fix and left.  According to Karen, he finished with his peepshow and went on to other pursuits of the mind, including soduku.

Now I am not saying that every Panera in the Greater Tampa area is a breeding ground for Porn Connoisseurs, but I would suggest that the next time you are sitting down to a cup of coffee or a bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup at Panera and you hear Beethoven, look at your own risk.