What a terrible morning here in the city. First, the rain is pouring down and after the snow yesterday everyone and everything is just disgusting. Second, have you ever walked on the sidewalk in NYC with an umbrella? It’s a battle for space on the NICE days here, add umbrellas and it’s torture. Everyone gets poked, smacked and ultimately wet here.
Adding another bowling pin to the morning umbrella juggle is the morning cup of coffee. No one carries just an umbrella. Not men or women. So you’ve got some sort of bag, the umbrella and you’re all bundled up like a snowman because the weather changes every 5 minutes. Now you’re going to balance a cup of coffee on your nose while you walk to your office. This morning I didn’t get that far.
I walked into Au Bon Pain, my morning coffee stop (I stopped going to D&D because the idiots behind the counter consistently got my coffee WRONG and won’t let me make it myself…but that’s another post). The first thing that pissed me off was that they were out of large cups for the second day in a row. Muttering to myself, I picked up a medium and went to fill up. Of course, the first giant pot I went to was empty (you can’t see through them, I had no way of knowing), so I grumbled some more and moved to the next. Now it’s time to put in my milk and Equal – and everyone in NYC needed to do the same thing at the very same time and ALL of us have our hands full already. So I put my cup down, reach to get the Equal, get bumped by the person racing to grab a cup and spill my coffee ALL OVER the guy standing next to me. Uh oh. I quickly and repeatedly apologize and motion to get napkins. He looks shocked and says “No, that’s OK,” as he swipes coffee from his coat. Luckily he was wearing a rain coat because I really DRENCHED the guy. I apologized again and he said “No problem.” I was very relieved and thankful that he was so cool about the accident.
See, that could have gone a VERY different way. I’ve not only witnessed ridiculous rage from New Yorkers, but I’ve been a part of it too. This guy, however, was really cool…which was awesome and a bit surprising.
I’m still not going to Au Bon Pain anymore. At least not until they come up with a better system for their coffee station. I left without coffee this morning and rediscovered the pretty kick ass coffee machine we’ve got IN our office. I’m gonna save my $2 per day, thank you very much.
And Au Bon Pain, get your shit together. The coffee station is always a mess, and I’d bet money I’m not the only one who spilled coffee today. If only D&D paid attention or Starbucks didn’t cost more than the average mortgage. There’s something refreshing (and safe) to having your coffee made for you.