Everyone's got their own curse. Mine is the ol' "my line always moves the slowest." Oh, I know. That's your curse, too. No, I'm afraid not. Sure, you may have times when your line moves more slowly, but you just forget about the other times, when it moves faster. It all evens out in the end.
But not for me. The other day was unusually bad. I was again in the slowest line. In fact, it was the only line. To be more specific, I was the only person in line.
I was on the way to a local Game Stop to check out the non-existant specials, bad used-game pricing, and to just generally schmooze with the gamers that worked there.
On the way, I decided to stop at the Tropical Smoothie Cafe. I hadn't had lunch, didn't want to take the time to go to a restaurant or even a fast food place (the curse, remember?). So, I thought I'd grab a Peanut Paradise smoothie, which is a scoop of peanut butter, a banana, some low-fat yogurt, and enough suger and other junk to make an otherwise healthy drink truly fattening. But, hey.. it's got soy protein in it!
I entered the store, and luck was with me! Or so I thought. No one was in line. There were four other people there. Two were already eating, and two were waiting for their orders.
I walked up to the register, and a guy comes out from the back to take my order. Just as I notice a sign advertising that they take call-in orders for pickup, and right before the guy can ask me for my order, the phone rings.
"I'm sorry, I have to take that," he says.
About twenty seconds later, I'm thinking he's either ordering for a small town, or he's never been to Tropical Smoothie Cafe, because the guy is pretty much describing the entire menu of thirty smoothies.
Finally, after another minute, another guy comes out from the back, delivered a couple of sandwiches to the two waiting people, sees my dilemma, takes pity, and takes my order.
"Peanut Paradise, with whey, no soy," I say. Hey, that soy protein is too healthy, anyhow.
He rings it up and I pay. He goes back into the back, but he's not making my smoothie. No. He's cleaning up his workstation.
Finally, the other guy gets off the phone. "Sorry," he says, and then goes back to, presumably, make my smoothie. His workstation is around a corner, so I can't see what's happening.
A minute or so later, I hear the 'ding' of the door, and another customer walks in. I hear the blender kick in for my smoothie, and then the smoothie guy comes out to take the new order.
Another genius, here. He has questions. The guy has answers. The blender keeps churning. Finally, a decision is made, the order is rung up, and a cash transaction occurs that would put Paper Moon to shame.
Finally! The smoothie guy turns to go get my smoothie. But, no. The customer stops him and asks, "How much for that cookie?" "89 cents," is the reply. So, another cash transaction takes place with the customer slowly peeling a George Washington from his roll and the guy, oh so carefully, grabbing a pair of tongs, extracting the cookie from the display case, and placing it in a wax-paper bag.
The blender finally gives up and stops on its own. The guy goes back and finally delivers me my smoothie.
After all that blending time, it was a bit too smooth.
Total time? Fifteen minutes. Clocked.
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