“What can I get for you this morning?” an energetic guy with a “faux-hawk” hair cut asked from behind the counter.
“I’ll take a Vente Vanilla Latte please” I responded.
“What’s your name?” He asked as he paused with a sharpie in one had and a large ‘seasonally’ festive Starbucks cup in the other.
“Go ahead and put it under Allen” I said. See, I’ve found that over the years many people have a hard time “Capturing” and even "retaining" the correct pronunciation of my name, if you will. “Did you say Justin?” or “Jason?” or my favorite “was that Justin with a ‘D’?” sure. Even people I’ve known for a long time will say “Great Job Justin” So in this setting, being it’s 6:30am and all, I figure it’s much easier to go with “Allen”, as I’ve done many times before.
After he had taken my order I moved off to the side to await the Barista’s magical creation. As the conveyor belt of people advanced one notch, the next gal was asked;
“What can I get for you this morning?
“Um.. sorry…” She started, apparently still not awake yet “um… I’ll have a grande mocha coffee” she said.
“What’s the name?” He asked, again with sharpie in hand.
“Amy” she said again still a little groggy…
“Amy?” The guy asked for confirmation.
“Yes, just put it under Amy, there is a lot more to it than that” She said with a sigh “…but Amy will work, sometimes I wish my name was simpler” she said. I was left wondering what it could be? What was the "long drawn-out version" that Amy would be short for? Maybe it was her middle-name or maybe a made up name just for Starbucks and the occasional reservation at a restaurant?
Maybe I’ll put something on Craigslist in the “missed connections” section … “you were wearing a black business suit, you ordered a mocha coffee, you said your name was “Amy” but it wasn’t your real name, I told them my name was Allen, which is also not my name. What is your real name?
When my coffee was ready they called my name. When I got up to the counter however, there were a couple of other ‘creations’ waiting to be adopted from the kidney shaped floating ‘pass through’ counter. Subsequently I had to spin a couple of the cups until I found the one with my name on it. I found one that read “Alan”… yup….That must be mine.
“I’ll take a Vente Vanilla Latte please” I responded.
“What’s your name?” He asked as he paused with a sharpie in one had and a large ‘seasonally’ festive Starbucks cup in the other.
“Go ahead and put it under Allen” I said. See, I’ve found that over the years many people have a hard time “Capturing” and even "retaining" the correct pronunciation of my name, if you will. “Did you say Justin?” or “Jason?” or my favorite “was that Justin with a ‘D’?” sure. Even people I’ve known for a long time will say “Great Job Justin” So in this setting, being it’s 6:30am and all, I figure it’s much easier to go with “Allen”, as I’ve done many times before.
After he had taken my order I moved off to the side to await the Barista’s magical creation. As the conveyor belt of people advanced one notch, the next gal was asked;
“What can I get for you this morning?
“Um.. sorry…” She started, apparently still not awake yet “um… I’ll have a grande mocha coffee” she said.
“What’s the name?” He asked, again with sharpie in hand.
“Amy” she said again still a little groggy…
“Amy?” The guy asked for confirmation.
“Yes, just put it under Amy, there is a lot more to it than that” She said with a sigh “…but Amy will work, sometimes I wish my name was simpler” she said. I was left wondering what it could be? What was the "long drawn-out version" that Amy would be short for? Maybe it was her middle-name or maybe a made up name just for Starbucks and the occasional reservation at a restaurant?
Maybe I’ll put something on Craigslist in the “missed connections” section … “you were wearing a black business suit, you ordered a mocha coffee, you said your name was “Amy” but it wasn’t your real name, I told them my name was Allen, which is also not my name. What is your real name?
When my coffee was ready they called my name. When I got up to the counter however, there were a couple of other ‘creations’ waiting to be adopted from the kidney shaped floating ‘pass through’ counter. Subsequently I had to spin a couple of the cups until I found the one with my name on it. I found one that read “Alan”… yup….That must be mine.
2 comments:
This tale brings to mind a situation dealt with often: a single gold coin phrase, dropped unknowingly, from money bags of limitless conversation. This single loose coin glitters as it hits the floor, rolling, slowly wobbling and beckoning. Someone pauses and glances nervously around. Did anyone else notice? In one swift movement, with hardly a break in stride, they stoop, snag, and palm the prize.
Makes one wonder if we pick up more coins than we drop in our daily travels.
Polvo, I like this story.
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