I went to Borders earlier
I went to Borders earlier tonight to study, and the dude who took my coffee order turned out to be the bright spot in my day.
He was your typical trendy, might-be-gay bookstore cafe barista, with the ubiquitous thick-rimmed black glasses and fashionably unkempt hair. When I stepped up to the counter and told him I wanted a medium mocha -- one of the things I like about the Borders cafe versus, say, Starbucks is you don't have ridiculous drink size names; why am I asking for a tall or grande mocha when I really mean "small" and "medium"? The other thing I like about Borders cafes is that there's always a sign by the cash register that says, "Please do not tip, it is our pleasure to serve you," because then I don't feel guilty for not tipping. Okay, I've digressed -- so anyway, when I asked for a medium mocha, he raised his eyebrow and retorted "no" before following it with a laugh: "of course."
I think it was free cookie day at Borders, but I didn't know that at the time, so when he asked me, "Would you like a free cookie?" I was a bit taken aback -- something free? is he kidding again? -- but before I could say yes or no, he answered for me, gallantly: "You want a free cookie," and finished ringing up my purchase. He was similarly jokingly sarcastic to a woman who stopped by the counter to ask where the bathroom was, and winked at me, "I'm just doing what the book tells me," while he waited for me to fish a five dollar bill out of my wallet.
I watched him out of the corner of my eye as I sat down at a table by the window and pulled my emag notes and binder out of my bookbag. He took his time making my mocha, and I thought that at some point in my life I would have liked to be a barista, and take pride in making nice, satisfying drinks for people. (Those of you who have actually been baristas are probably rolling your eyes at me here.) When he finished, he headed toward my table, balancing my drink in his hand, and, not wanting to make him weave through the sea of other customers, I stood up quickly and walked toward him. He handed me my drink, apologizing for the whipped cream and chocolate syrup spilling down the sides. Then he asked what kind of cookie I wanted, lemon or chocolate chip, and when he came back with a chocolate chip cookie wrapped in paper, he smiled and said, "You're going to have a chocolate overdose." I took the cookie, licked up some chocolate syrup from my fingers and smiled, yes, yes I will.
I studied relatively productively for the next two hours. Before I left I stopped to browse through some of the stands, and ended up buying a set of 20 Christmas cards (which I like for the cute, fat snowmen on the front and because the card design fits my minimalistic sensibilities -- maybe if you're on my list of people to send cards to, you'll see what i mean! ;) ) that was 20% off and also a copy of Jon Stewart's America (The Book), which was 50% off. Usually I avoid buying books and music at Borders, just because their prices are comparatively expensive, but today I made my purchases happily. I know my reasoning is totally flawed and irrational here, but -- it was my way of paying back Borders for hiring such an awesome barista.