Coffee Crazed Pt. 4

            The coffee shop had a strange vibe today. After I ordered my usual coffee I sat down in my corner and noticed an elderly woman talking to the employee behind the counter having a conversation. Not even ordering a drink. There was nobody in line behind her but it still seemed strange because the employees (who have been the same for the past 4 weeks) have almost always been sort of short and to the point when taking orders. However it didn’t take me long to realize that the strict manager, Red, was not there. It seemed as if, just because she wasn’t there, the other employees had a completely different attitude about work. I had seen glimpses of this relaxed attitude in previous weeks whenever red would disappear to the back, but never had it been this prevalent. The whole time I was there the workers joked with each other and sang songs, played games, and seemed happier.

          

  The amount of studious young adults was about average, one of them, a man who was maybe 22, had a large scruffy beard, and a faux hawk.  He has his headphones in and I can see him video chatting with a female and by the way he is flirting over the camera I assume its his love interest.  He has a big cheesy smile on his face and can’t seem to stop grinning. Even after he disconnected from the call, closed his laptop, and walked out the door I could see him visually expressing his happiness through the window.

            

Three teenage girls sat at a table in the corner and even though they were all clearly together as friends, they hardly spoke a word to each other. Each of them sat sipping from their drinks, and looked into their phone screens like they were being hypnotized. Whenever they would speak they only asked if the others had seen something on twitter and would quickly return to their online profiles. At one point one of the employees came and asked if he could wipe down the table next to theirs and they didn’t even realize he was talking to them until he had to repeat himself even louder. Only one of the girls looked up and smiled and said yes, she hadn’t even realized he asked a first time.

         

   There was an old man reading the newspaper on the couch in the shop. During The time I was there, three people sat down next to him. Each time he would smile and put down the newspaper and strike up a conversation. Even though two of these people seemed to not want to talk at first, after a while they were caught up in a conversation with this caring old man. He just had a warming personality and he seemed to be an amazing listener. Two of the people ended up confessing a personal problem to him and both times he tried to relate to them and offered consoling advice. By listening to three conversations he had I was able to understand that he was visiting his daughter and while she was busy he liked to visit different places around town and just talk to people. I couldn’t help but smile at the sincerity of the old man.

       

     I saw others in the back of the shop on their laptops but it seems as though the past two weeks have not had as many customers. This obviously isn’t a problem for the employees as they still joked around and laughed as I was leaving. I wondered where red was and realized how big of an impact someone of her nature has on a workplace. It seemed like the entire shop was almost happier without her there. Although many things have occurred in my 4 weeks at the shop, one remains the same. That sweet aroma.