Quote:
The best way to do it is to just walk right up to them and sit down. Dont even ask if the seats taken. Say something like, "Excuse me. Yea I'm sorry to bother you, but I need a female opinion on something.." Or, you could play the tourist and ask where some kind of store or something is..
Great answer. The only change I tend to make to this scenario is instead of sitting down without asking I fake a walk-by, stop halfway and turn my head to ask them a question. I've found it's a little less intimidating if she's already doing something like reading a book or talking to a friend.
I've found situational openers work well, since I tend to go to Starbucks that are in book stores. If they're reading a book you can always play up the "Oh I love that author, have you read his book..." or you can always be playful if she's reading something heavy duty and use "a little light reading eh?" If I don't know the author or there's no obvious complexity to the book, I'll asses the book by it's cover.
If I'm waiting in line, like the post above this one, asking which drink is good is always a great opener. If it's a long line you can always playfully say "This coffee had better be worth it, this line looks like it's going to take forever."
Day game's a tougher one, but I've found HBs to be pretty open to conversation in coffee shops more than anywhere else.
Good luck.
Try them out, let me know how they work for you.