Monday, April 23, 2007

Disaster of the Day

Okay, this isn't really my disaster. Well, it is. It happened to me, but it wasn't caused by me.

When I have time in the morning on my way to work I stop for coffee. I always go to the same place, primarily because of Mac. He is the older gentleman who mans the coffee station. That doesn't require much, so he's primarily there to talk to people. He keeps me informed about any local politics or issues I need to know about and I can always get the final score from the game last night. It's an important part of my morning and I don't tend to get my coffee anywhere else.

There is one small thing that makes my morning coffee experience a little trying. There is a person on the cash register who has no business being anywhere near it. I don't think I ever see her without something needing to be voided. The other day I had to convince her that no matter what the magic computer said, I did not in fact owe her $17.07 for a coffee and the newspaper. It's good coffee, but not that good. She is always completely convinced that she is right and I am wrong, making it necessary for the owner to come out of the back to fix it. They have a new tool that should help things a little. It's one of those scanners that reads the bar code on your item. Coffee is not one of the things that can be scanned, they just key in $1.09 and I give them money. She doesn't understand this at all. This morning she picked up my coffee and looked for the bar code to scan. When she didn't find it she turned the coffee upside down to look for it. I think you can guess what happened next. The cover came off, and coffee went everywhere. On the counter, on the floor, on her, on me, on the pile of newspapers on the counter, on the magic computer. Everywhere. She put the cup down and asked me for the $1.09 as if nothing had happened. I handed her the exact change (it really isn't worth trying to get money back from her) and then I went back to Mac who gave me paper towels to clean myself up, while he went up front to swab the decks. I poured myself a new cup of coffee, thanked Mac, and headed out. Until I hear the register girl screaming at me for walking out without paying for my coffee. She actually thought I should pay for the second coffee. I just shook my head at Mac and kept walking. I'd be afraid to go back in there tomorrow just in case she attacks me, but I'm guessing that she won't remember me at all.

3 comments:

Kate said...

wow. and we feel dumb when we forget to put the pot under the drip spout on the coffee maker... which equals coffee all over the counter as well, but in a much less publicly embarrassing way... (unless i announce it publicly, like so)

if she doesn't remember this fiasco, you could have *days* of upside-down coffee suprise before she figures it out. i would recommend wearing a raincoat when buying coffee.

Heather said...

I went back today, and she seemed okay, greeted me pleasantly and didn't even pick up my cup. I did see her ringing in a six-pack of coke for someone by trying to scan each can individually. She took one can out of the holder before the customer could stop her and then dropped it on the floor. Being disaster-friendly is certainly better than just being dim.

Anonymous said...

Dim? This girl sound positively foggy!


Good blog entries, one and all, sorry I've not had a chance to read them up until now.

Later...

...pie.