I recently moved back to Seattle - and, I must say, it's been a bumpy ride. I am depending upon the kindness of family? - this is scary ... just leave it at that. I left this place, with such aplomb, back in 2014 - and now I return? To be mocked? There is very little upside to this tale EXCEPTING the legal pot. (zoots man, zoots)
Any who ...
I've been going to this local coffee shop, for breakfast, to you know ... eat. And they make their own special, prancy, hipster version of the infamous "Egg McMuffin". It's not bad. So I get that, and coffee, and some other stuff before the searing eyes of those Seattle'lites burn deeper into my skull-cap, their judgment, their scorn, their shields of entitlement.
When I was done ordering, and the clerk was packing my food into a bag, the "coffee clerk" or "barista" asked me if I'd like some napkins ...
"Would you like some napkins, Sir?"
I said ...
"Sure ..."
So the millennial barista looks down in front of him, at a stack of napkins ...
Then he looks up and walks to the end of the counter, and looks at another stack of napkins ...
Then he looks at me.
"As you can see Sir, there are plenty for you to grab."
I don't know, this seemed either the accident of some mentally defective person, so you try to be forgiving and crap. But more likely, this douche was just enjoying being a douche ... this was yesterday.
This morning, I go back to the same coffee shop ...
The douche is there (I'd hoped he'd be on a different shift), and this short waifish female barista/coffee-clerk was there as well ...
I get my sandwich ... and I ask for a caprese sandwich too ... because I like that fresh mozzarella ... and she says:
"... would you like chips, salad, or potato salad, that goes with that?"
"That just comes with that, as part of it, for free?", I asked, incredulously.
And she looks at me with a wicked, crooked, smile ...
"No, Sir ... you need to pay for that separately ..."
I realize that maybe I'm seeing this from the jaded perspective of a burnout, middle-aged, white, male, software engineer dude-human ... I get it ... but really, is this the way you act? I could have gotten my own napkins, I didn't need to have some dude say "hey, want some napkins?" and then have him point to the stacks. I would have asked for "extras" with the plastic wrapped sandwich ... but I saw no indication that ANYTHING went with the sandwich for free, as extra. The way she phrased it, it seemed like "hey, which side do you want that goes with your thingy for free?" It all seemed like so much mind control ...
Any who ...
Clearly this was a disturbing experience for me ...
(remember: it doesn't come with that ...)