Two Rules Broken

I broke a couple of my rules this week I feel terrible for having done so.

I try to practice what I preach. I have never bought anything from the Nile. I have had a family member order something for me, but not until I am positive I cannot get whatever in my town.

I never buy coffee from the big political guys from Seattle. I broke that rule Friday. If I had been able to get a coffee at a Mom and Pop, I wouldn't be confessing this story right now.

Friday, I was ready to start my one hundred mile journey home from work. It was snowing heavily and the road was getting icy. In the early days of my construction career, I spent years commuting to the state capital and beyond. Literally, many times (maybe hundreds) those commutes were in snowstorms. Reminds me of the time, I drove home from Amarillo, Texas

pulling a trailer in an eleven hour snowstorm. (Monner, finish one story before you start another. Was that first person or third person?)

Anyway, a whole bunch of coffee was drank on those commutes. I knew I had a long, slow drive home. Experience told me to get some coffee.

I called Elaine and told her to expect me in about four hours. I was going to get some coffee and start driving. My construction project is in a shopping center anchored by a store with a big red circle on their walls, PetIntelligent and Jill-Ann's. There is a free-standing Green Political Coffee building in the parking lot. Their is also a GreenPolitical Coffee in the Red Circle store. Green Political Coffee didn't leave any opportunity for Mom and Pop.

I needed coffee and it was snowing hard. I had to choose. I could try to find Mom and Pop, or I could support the Big Green coffee. It seemed others were faced with the same dilemma and chose the free-standing Green coffee building. Fifteen cars were waiting in the drive-up lane. I chose to try the Red Circle, Green coffee store.

Being part of the management team at Your Daily Fiber, (I took a chance there. I hope Ivy doesn't read this!) I have a great affection for retail workers. Poor Ivy has had to look at scars, listen to inappropriate stories, answer the same questions over and over, keep people from helping themselves to things they didn't pay for, and she just continues to laugh. That's tough.

Inside at the Red Circle coffee store, I found two women had ordered coffee before I arrived. A high-school aged retail worker was preparing their order. After completing the women's order he removed his green uniform and left.

After a couple minutes another green clad teenager appeared. He apologized for the delay. I said it wasn't a big deal. He asked what he could get me. That high calorie, super sweet, salted caramel looked to good to be true. I had to have it.

The teenager asked me what size "I would like a large" I guess, I was supposed to answer in Italian or something. He said, "Do you mean, Grande?" This is when I should have left. I answered "OK?"

Green Clad picked up a cup and asked me my name. You know the drill. I thought it was unusual because I was the only customer in the store. I apologize for what happened next. I started thinking this kid looks like Big Bird, a green clad Big Bird. I didn't want to think that, sometimes I just cannot help myself. It might have added negativity to the experience.

By now another customer came into the store, a woman pushing a stroller with two toddlers. ' Green Clad took her order. She wanted brownies for the toddlers. Green Clad handed the woman the brownies before he wrote her name on her cup.

Another woman entered the store. She also had a stroller with one toddler and one baby. She ordered a lollipop and a sandwich. Green clad stuck a sandwich in the microwave, handed the woman a lollipop and wrote her name on a cup.

Four high school aged girls walked in. Green Clad grabbed four cups. I turned into Oscar the Grouch. I broke my second rule. I yelled at a kid in retail. "Hey, make my drink or give me my money back!" I didn't use "construction language" even though I was less than fifty yards from a construction site. I rocked this kids world, I tried to apologize but he wasn't having it. So I did what, I a person would need to do after that. I watched him to make sure he didn't spit in my drink!

Always buy from Mom and Pops!

Our crazy lives!

Monner