Monday Coffee

I'm searching everywhere for a free seat, but I dare not try to take the sofa in the corner in case the owner decides to flex his bouncer's muscles on me. Yup, seating is tight in every quarter and they have already flagged that sofa for employees.

I can see some customers taking a firm stance against bullying and they are rallying up, ready to take on the other coffee lovers stating that plain old straight coffee should be served without fuss or colour to the masses. Of course, being a coffee house, it's a bit hard to please everyone and the establishment is arguing back that variety is the spice of life: try the new non-fruity frappuccino for instance, for those who feel it unnecessary to segregate fruit.

The barista has no words.

Luckily, we are not fussy customers and with little to no interaction with the sparring quarters, we order our herbal teas and sit outside where we can watch the altercations happen within. Always nice to watch the action without getting involved. Pity about the smell out here though. With the heat wave over the past weekend, we find our olfactory senses bombarded by the stench of dead fish. Too polite to complain to the manager (and fearing his bouncer) we continue to sip our herbals and stare pointlessly at the decomposing bodies of fish floating in the nearby river. Damnably inconvenient really; it spoils the lovely ambience of the dying sun warming our backs whilst we reminisce about better days.

Thankfully, the fighting inside seems to have quietened down and a peaceful serenity washes over the coffee house and surrounding establishments. We watch the painstaking efforts of management to please all whilst making sure they collect enough remuneration to warrant the hassle.

I shrug my shoulders when they glance our way, hoping we might want to weigh in on the negotiations. Why should we risk getting involved. I mean, after all, how does it affect us if they decide to stop segregating fruit or not; serve only one type of coffee and ban all others; or if they leave the fish to die in the heat? We will just move on to another coffee house with better service and less opinionated customers. Isn't that the thing to do?