The busiest the store ever got was the first ten minutes of me being there.
Three fourtyish women ordering separately: a medium iced coffee with almond milk; a chicken salad sandwich and roast beef sandwich; a chicken salad sandwich and a medium iced latte.
This encounter began awkwardly because the first thing these ladies encountered was me telling the “money man” that I was under no circumstances going to give him a chocolate croissant even though according to him there was a woman coming who was bringing the money. Two things to know about the money man are that it can be very hard to understand what he is saying and that he is not very credible on the subject of money.
Young business woman with military background, iced coffee. While I was trying to get three sandwiches out the door she was having trouble with the wi-fi but eventually used her own hotspot.
Customer who’d moved from the area I hadn’t seen in a year or two. Medium light roast coffee and sesame bagel with lox. Tends to chat up the ladies and sure enough, before long he and the business woman were in a conversation.
Customer I’ve seen a few times now –and the last in this initial concussive shock, I feel disposed to call it, of customers– tall, short hair, young, black, want to say he works in computers or tech support by the look of his work shirts. Large iced coffee with two pumps of vanilla and a well toasted everything with veggie.
Then there was the former horn player for a sandwich and the former professor for his small coffee and the human resources worker from Gambia (coffee and bagel) and the medical researcher from Ghana (small coffee) who asks after the welfare of the management and now the man from Sierra Leone walks in: bagel, smoothie, coke, and the petite Ethiopian gal who orders a small coffee, half-full before taking the bus… Also the well-read gal of Scottish heritage from I think the Chicago area and the voracious-reader-circus-enthusiast local gal who ordered a single large iced coffee today.
Couple of young lovers, it seemed, teenagers, whom I inadvertently called “kids” as they left, as in “thanks, kids” (which was actually the result of an inner debate in which I decided I should absolutely not refer to them as kids. As in, should I refer to them as kids? No, definitely not. Then they say “thanks” as they leave and I say “thanks, kids” because it’s not what you decide to say that you say but what’s been rolling around in your head.) An everything and cinnamon raisin bagel both with lox, and two iced hot chocolates, i.e., chocolate milk, then two cookies, peanut butter, chocolate chip.
Another young person, quite familiar, gal always orders plain bagel with cream cheese, today ordered two.
That’s it, all I remember, so who are the people I’ve failed to remember: the “recent regular” ethnically Indian, broken arm from biking incident guy (but he was there when I came)… Can summon no more. Haven’t seen the sort of adrift Indian guy who’s been about… Albanian couple hasn’t been in.
.i`` * ^ / . . . . . ` `~ 