It’s a hot and sunny Thursday
afternoon as I make my way over to the usual entrance of the Barnes and Noble
at the mall. As I am entering a young gentleman opens my door and I say thank
you and walk in. We are both greeted by a Barnes and Noble employee with the
greeting “Hi welcome to Barnes & Noble”. We both say hello and go our
separate ways. I go to the Starbucks and
wait in line to place my order. There is a middle aged woman in front of me she
is surprisingly ordering the same drink I had in mind of ordering myself, a
passion fruit tea. She has also other items in her hand that she wants to buy.
From what I could see is a box of Godiva chocolates and a set of greeting
cards. She tells the Starbucks employee that the cards are 30% off and also
tells her “Aren’t these gorgeous cards?!” The employee replies “yes they are
very adorable”.
The middle aged woman, Jane, is wearing a light green t shirt
and a pair of cacky jeans. She has red short hair and glasses. She seems like a
nice woman but she has quite a loud voice because even from where I am
standing, a few feet away, I could hear her clearly. Jane pays her total for the chocolates,
cards, and her drink and grabs a seat in one of the tables against the wall. I
am greeted by one of the other Starbucks employees and asks me what I would
like today. She is an employee who I have never seen before. Genesis is wearing
a plaid shirt under her green Starbucks apron and has glasses. She is dark skin
and dark hair. I tell Genesis my order which is a passion fruit tea. She
prepares it right away even before I pay because there is no line behind me so
she has no rush to help the next customer. She has my drink ready in less than
3 minutes and this is because they have the tea already made, all they have
left to do is add ice and pour it into a cup, which I didn’t know before that
they had the tea already made. I grab my
drink and have a seat.
There seems to be not much action going on today, it
seems quieter. I could hear the jazz music in the background clearly. As I
drinking my drink I notice that the line had gotten quite long. The two
Starbucks employees seem to have their hands full now. A set of three friends
seat near me, Kim, Jill, and Seth. They have drinks their in tea cups which
tell me that they ordered hot drinks. Kim has a pastry in a plate and she
mentions to Seth that it’s pumpkin flavored. She says that she loves the fall
season because everything comes in pumpkin flavor. Kim starts talking about how
these two upcoming final months of the year she is not going to be busy and
that she is planning to go and visit her family out of town. Jill and Seth are
listening closely while having their laughs as well. The group of friends seem
to be enjoying themselves.
I can’t seem
but to notice that there is an elderly couple with laptops across the room
which is new because these past few weeks I have only seen young people with
their computers here. There is nothing wrong with them being on the computers
but it’s a difference I notice from the past few weeks I been coming. I turn my
head over to the Starbucks and Genesis has left. I guess it was the end of her
shift. Another girl has replaced her. Something that I have noticed from the
weeks I have been coming is that most of the Starbucks employees have been
women. I have only seen 2 guys work here. It’s different I guess you would say.
The group of friends keeps on chatting a long and the elderly couple keeps on
being on their computers. As I finish my drink I wrap things up and head home.
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