Once upon a time a very fine cook who had formerly sold chocolates, crepes, chais & daals found…read morehimself famished. Well versed in customer service, the man had become more patient over his years, now aged 52. As a neurodiverse dad of an autistic adult son, he endeavored to be more empathic of people, events and happenings.
On an unusually warm January day he drove to a local bagel shop. As a new resident of Manville he thought it would be nice to frequent a local small business + his tummy was rumbling!
Walking in with a face mask, he thinks "this looks okay, must have good bagels" - one doesn't think much about service at all - as the mouth salivates gazing at a giant photo of a deli standard: egg and cheese on bagel. The masked man had seen many such signs over his years - especially having worked in NYC over a decade.
The shop was populated by few customers, some having coffee, discussing politics "democrats are better organized than we (republicans) are" this on morning for 1st time in a century the US House of Representatives were unable to elect a House Speaker on day one of a new session.
The man walked towards the big "ORDER HERE" sign, with only one customer ahead of him at 915am it was a short wait - the masked man placed his order with another masked man - the deli guy - for 1 plain croissant, 1 egg and cheese on croissant, and 1 bottled drink placed on the counter. The deli man seemed confused so the order was stated clearly again : 1 plain croissant, 1 egg and cheese on croissant, and 1 bottled drink.
Alongside standard sodas the fridge held fruity veg drinks which looked not only delicious but maybe healthy. The mango carrot juice caught the man's widened eyes, after all he had never seen this specific brand in such a homestyle labeled bottle - he decided to give it a try. It's usually fine to get a taste of things one hasn't tried, after all.
The order was placed - written down onto a pad by the deli man. The man who taught yoga had once been a waiter / server so was well acquainted with systems of retail order taking - passing the order slip on to the kitchen / cashier for food prep / payment, trusting in the process. After placing his order he proceeded to the register clerk - also masked - he assumed that the prior written order - now in the cashier's hand - with be clear - so the cashier must know exactly what was ordered. Note test the cashier spoke Super Fast - so let's just call her The Fast Talker.
The Fast Talker proffered coffee, the man accepted, payment was made, but no receipt offered, and after pouring his own coffee into the cup provided, the man sat down at one of many available clean empty tables.
Within 3min he received 2 bags and sat back down to enjoy a sandwich. Suddenly The Fast Talker called loudly, "Sir! Sir! You got a drink! You didn't tell me you got a drink!" He walked back to her where The Fast Talker shook her head saying "you didn't tell me" several more times. He said quietly "OK I thought I paid for it - how much?" The Fast Talker continued shaking her head, so the now tired man decided to release his drink curiosity to avoid a continued unpleasant interaction - beginning to feel it offensive.
He returned to his table, opened 2 bags finding 1 egg and cheese sandwich - and 3 croissants (not 1). The man had conscience and stood up to return what he'd erroneously received. He walked up to The Fast Talker and said "excuse me, I ordered 1 plain croissant, 1 egg and cheese sandwich, and in my bags are 3 croissants and 1 egg and cheese sandwich." The Fast Talker looked into both bags, kept 2 croissant and returned 1 - it was not clear if the croissant were passed on to another customer, or discarded.
The man decided to leave after this experience to eat in his car - after taking a few steps outside The Fast Talker opened the shop door "Sir! Sir! You ordered coffee!? You didn't pay!"
The surprised man turned around said "I did" but followed her back indoors anyway. Once inside, he said "Miss I ordered 1 plain croissant, 1 egg and cheese sandwich, and when you asked if I'd like coffee I said YES - you then gave me a cup - I used the cup to serve myself coffee. Please check your receipt?" The Fast Talker looked at the receipt tally - then said 'happy new year' looking deflated.
Back inside his car the man ate an unimpressive meal: egg simply edible, now cool not hot, cheese not entirely melted, seemed like a slice from a grocery store packet perhaps. The croissant was well toasted but just average, not exceptional.
This story brought to you by someone who does not usually leave reviews, yet has decided that leaving constructive, imaginative reviews in prose could make the service world a better place. For me it's difficult to give any business '1 star' because as a business owner, I appreciate the importance of customer reviews. So this review gets 2 stars instead out of empathy.
