Monday, August 27, 2007

Mid 90s Cultural Awkwardness

Before I was married, I would get mad crushes on practically any woman behind a counter in a coffee shop. My secret belief is that it is something about the coffee smell, but it may have to do with a fond memory I have of this tanned and exotic woman who would always smile and wave when I came into her coffee shop. She was very friendly and put me at ease, which, in retrospect I see as just providing great customer service, but at the time I interpreted as nothing short of love. Which was totally cool.

Every day I came by she would write a different drink on a chalkboard under "Barista's Special." Because it was the mid 90s and because I don't know anything, I thought her name was Barista.

Every day for over a year I would come in and go, "Hi Barista! What is the special of the day?" and then I would pay lots of money to buy it. I even gave a tip, which usually brought the total purchase amount to about an hour-and-a-half's worth of work at my old pay rate.

But that was ok with me because I thought it was so cool to know someone with an exotic name like Barista.

Then Starbucks happened. Only after seeing the word "Barista" plastered over every coffee shop in existence did I learn that "barista" was a job title, not a pretty Latin name. Sad but true.

I still think the word is kind of pretty and I think a coffee-scented perfume named "Barista" would make millions of dollars. Because, what guy can resist a woman who smells like coffee?

1 comment:

Citymouse said...

that's okay, living in a town of less than 8000 it is still the same! you should see what happens when I take the students to the city!

nice blog!~