The Boss Takes His Turn at the Cafe

Every morning when I wake up, I look at my watch and think about what is happening in my cafe. No matter where I am, no matter which time zone or country, I always do this. En route, I phoned the cafe about 8 to check in on whether Alan needed anything. No answer. Well, I thought, he must be so busy he can’t answer the phone. When the second call ten minutes later got my outdated answering machine message, I knew there was trouble.

I arrived to a closed cafe, finding out too late that my barrista had called in sick. Egads! The place was sweltering at 8:45 am, no ac on, and no coffee made. I struggled to get the place going, and do all of the tasks that usually take place at 6:30 am. My pal Bill came in and I made him his usual double espresso. He watched me try to catch up, fortunately, friends are easy on you.

I wrestled with the blender and had an entire mango smoothie ooze out all over the machine’s shiny metal base. I stumbled and fumbled and through it all, but remained the friendly owner, trying to fill in for his regular guy. It was all ok, and truthfully, I love this place and I love the way the customers react to our little touches. Out in the park, two people surfed the net on our WiFi.

Our coffee ice cubes, that friendly ‘hello’ that coffee lovers card with the free coffee at the end. These are the little things that make us special, and different, and loved.