It's no secret that I'm counting down the days until I can quit this job at the coffee shop. Some days are better than others. Yesterday was not one of those days.
It was one of those days where I screwed up every drink, got frustrated with the customers who hemmed and hawed over the menu when it was their turn to order, dealt with several insubordinate employees, and was just in an all-around pissy mood.
And everything just came to a head when I handed out a grande mocha frappuccino to a customer who looked at it without missing a beat and said, "I asked for no whip."
"Do you mind if I just scoop it off?" I asked her as politely as I could without moving my clenched teeth.
Though she didn't answer, her expression was enough for me to know that was absolutely NOT OK.
"Fine," I said as politely as I could while displaying my frustration the only way I could while at work - by chucking the entire drink in the garbage can as hard as I could.
Unfortunately, I wasn't actually LOOKING at the garbage can while hurling the drink to my right, and though it fell inside the can, I banked the shot.
That means that when the cup crashed into the inside wall of the garbage can, all its contents splattered outside of the can... and landed all over the counter, the register screen, and on a 20-something blond woman carrying a Coco Chanel purse and wearing a stark white jacket.
My mouth dropped open the same time as hers, and we both stood there for several seconds not quite comprehending what just happened. Then it hit me - I essentially (though accidentally) threw a mocha coffee drink all over a customer. It was on her jacket, in her hair, and some of that damned whip cream was even on the side of her face.
"OH. MY. GOD. I. AM. SOOOOOO. SORRY." I repeated over and over while clumsily fumbling around for some paper towels.
She said nothing. She just slowly pivoted and walked straight for the bathroom. I remained standing there not quite believing what had just happened while mentally trying to figure out what to do once I got fired.
After a few minutes, this woman came out of the bathroom, marched right up to me, held up her right hand,and let me have it.
"Are you OK?" she asked, softly.
I'm sorry I must not have heard you right, I thought.
"What?" I said, stupidly.
"Seriously," she said with genuine concern in her eyes. "Are you OK?"
I just threw a drink in your face and YOU'RE asking ME if I'm OK? Something is seriously wrong with this person.
"It... I mean, yeah... not really," I stuttered, dumbfounded. "It's just one of those days, but again, I can't apologize enough. I AM SO SORRY. What can I get for you - whatever you want. And here's a bunch of coupons for more free drinks. I AM SO SORRY," I rambled on and on.
"It's fine," she said. "I just want to make sure you're OK."
"Yeah... It's just... you know," I said, not quite knowing WHAT the heck to say to this obviously crazy person. I mean, if a coffee shop employee threw a drink all over me, I'd have a whole hell of a lot more to say than a very nice, "Are you OK?"
After I was done making her vanilla skim latte, all the while apologizing over and over, I handed it to her, apologized again as if that would make it all better, and she smiled at me and said, "You're just lucky it was me because I'm chill. Don't worry about it. Take care, OK?"
Every sentence she said to me contained two letters that formed one word. An O and a K. OK. It's amazing how a single two-lettered word coming from a genuinely nice person can totally change your outlook on life. I've never seen that girl before and probably wouldn't have looked at her twice while she was ordering unless it was in annoyance, but am so blessed that I was able to see just the kind of amazing person she is - however crappy the situation had to become for me to see it.
Man, I hope that one day my outlook on life can become even remotely as positive and upbeat as hers. Sure stuff happens - sometimes crap gets thrown in your face. But the true testament of who you are comes from how you deal with those types of situations. You can let it get you down, or you can rise above the situation. And rise above is exactly what she did.
I've got miles to go to take the negative situations with the class and grace that she did, and am still astonished that she was able to turn them into something so positive. You go, girl.
1 comment:
Wow, She sure was something wasn't she? Mom
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