At the coffee house

Happenned to me today. Not a very big thing and all, but it bugged me tho.

So i goto the coffee shop, think was my 3rd of the day.
For a lil background on that, i frequent the place during days, esp when at work, more so-ly bcos im tryin to not smoke when at work, and coffee kinda acts as a rather good substitute. Im having second thoughts about it now tho, cos a single cig. actually works out cheaper than a cuppa. Anyways, thats not relevant now.

I walk into the store, and survey it. There wasnt a soul in sight inside the place. Usually, i have a quick " How's it going?" or " watch the Pistons- spurs game Sunday" or some gossip along those lines going with other dudes/ acquaintances who haunt/ frequent the place. There wasnt nobody there, and so i walk up to the fixins and make myself a refill.

And then i turn and intend to pay for it, when i see this damn big queue lining up before the counter. Its not as big as the tent-poppers prior to Wimbledon finals night and all and dint strectch from Piccadilly to Hyde Park and all, but pretty significant alright. I mean, anyone wud be bummed if 10 people had taken their position in a queue, when off to the restroom/ quick smoke. I hadnt been to either, and there were these 10 guys, so imagine how bugged i would be.

I hate the British and Americans for this, their tendency to form queues. And they take pride in it, and think of as a national pastime. Hear this out, and dun get bummed. The truth hurts. The s/m works better in India. You have to exert minimum exercise while boarding buses/ trains in India. All you have to do is make your way towards a big group of people that are never on a line, and they shove you into or outside the bus. And that saves so much more time. Imagine a 100 people getting out/ boarding a train that stops for 10 seconds. If we started forming queues, the train shall never move outta the platform.

Anyways, i walk myself toward the rear of the line, to pay for the stupid refill. And these new entrants ahead of me act as if there isnt nothing in the world that would hury them up. Not a quick bagel/ muffin and exit spirit, no sir, they dont know what they want, and small talk the gal workin on the counter into tellin them what is the special for the day/ if its any good/ how much it costs / whether he can have hot coffee with ice on it etc.. And they are like this big group right. They are taking time over it, clearly enjoyin the exercise of ordering brews for the whole lot. And BREWS, i tell you. It takes a couple minutes to brew every item.

No, they cant fix themself this quick drink, or at least shoot a quick glance toward the kid in the back of the line, with a refill ready at one hand, and cash ready at other, and make him move up the queue, wait for him to pay and exit. It wudnt take 10 seconds, i tell you. I mean, when a kid is in a hurry, and he hears " So, a Chai latte for you, is it Jason, and a Double shot espresso for Ben and so on" and Jason and Ben are like " No, i dint want that, i wanted this, Jenny asked for espresso, i said Mocha' ...", you feel like steppin up and poking them in their snoot.

Unable to find myself to do anything else, i found a paper, surveyed it for anything intresting, found nothing that caught my eye, chucked it, sipped on my refill, and bored again, fetched the paper and started reading it in random. I had chucked and retreived the paper like 15 times before the line actually cleared. And i had finished the refill by the time i arrived first up on the counter. And i was about to say " That would be 2 refills. One for the one i just finished while waiting for this storm to pass, and the other for the one i am gonna make rightaway". I cudnt imagine taking another 30 hours off work for a damn refill within the next 1 hour. My boss would fire me if i did. She would fire me anyway, but why supply more reasons ?? I am a quick thinker, and even in the face of adversity/ height of irritation cud coax my old grey matter to do some rapid thinking.

Which was when i saw it was Vanessa doing the counter, and she's like " Its Ok Ram. Its on the house." It struck me rather hard. I mean, i was touched and thanked her and all, but said would take the offer another time when in dire straits. Basically insisted on paying due to the ordeal i had just been through, and she wudnt have any of it. I even said said i wanted another and she right-ho'ed it too.

And to think i said " In and out",to myself when i entered the shop and it so could have been that way had i just waved and byed Vanessa, instead of reading that stupid paper. The thing is, i dont know how to conclude this stupid write up suitably and also now I dont know whether to be glad or sad about the entire exercise.