Having a spare few hours in Gorgie, I decided to support local businesses and sample the local café, The Koffee Pot, before taking a look around the shops for a few items I needed. First impressions were good. Nice décor, a spacious feel to the place and a glass counter with enticing goodies on display.
I had to repeat my order a few times as the clattering and running water in the kitchen area, which was directly behind the counter and unpartitioned, was so loud.
I paid for my order and chose a table near the door to sit at where I could see the world go by in the street.
As I pulled my chair in, my knee hit the table leg of which there was only one, in the centre point of the table. It was sore. I was still rubbing it when the tea arrived.
I found milk on the table to help myself to.
Whilst I awaited my hamburger roll, I thought I'd just quickly tidy my hair as it was very messed up from the windy day outside. This operation took roughly five seconds, before the end of which the girl was beside me, scolding me, "because there are people sitting behind." Shocked that I should be offending anyone, I took my scolding without protest. Then, sitting there with all eyes upon me, I thought to myself that I didn't remember anyone sitting at the table behind me when I sat down. A quick glance around confirmed this. There were two women sitting two tables away but I hadn't heard them grumbling about me, despite their conversation being clearly audible. There was a couple sitting across the room, speaking quietly to one another. Surely, in the seconds since I'd raised my comb above my head, they hadn't complained via sign language to the management?
So, before the hamburger roll had arrived I was already feeling decidedly disapproved of and unwelcome in this establishment.
I ask you: On a windy day, are you offended if in a café someone takes out a comb and quickly straightens her hair? I'm not. Am I strange? I am not dirty, smelly or infested with nits for goodness sake. I am a clean, tidy person.
The food arrived and I ate, thinking of getting out of there as soon as possible. It was unusually greasy. I now realised I had been given nothing to wipe my hands with. I had to get up and walk up to the counter to ask for a napkin. Perhaps she didn't bring one with the food in order to emphasise to me how unwelcome I was following my impropriety.
Humiliated, I made a swift exit. Soon after, I felt an unpleasant tingle in my mouth and a cold sweat about my face, accompanied by gas in my stomach, to which I am not prone. It could only have been this very greasy hamburger.
So much for hospitality. The staff in this place made me feel very unwelcome. So, Koffee Pot girl, be assured I will not be offending you ever again. read more