Monday, September 10, 2012

Happy Birthday, TKE!

The King's English turns 35 today.  I know!  Hard to believe!

I've been associated with the store off and on since the late 80's when Betsy (I think on a whim) said, "Hey, do you want to work for us?"  And I said yes!  Didn't even think twice about it.  It was sort of like that time I (on a whim) asked the manager of the Provo Taco Time if she was hiring, and she said yes, and I said, "Well, okay then.  I'm your girl!" because I thought I could get free tacos that way.  True story!

Anyway.  The first day I went to work, Betsy asked me to make the coffee.  And because I admired Betsy like crazy and I was also a little intimidated by her, I didn't say, "My people have all kinds of desirable skills--we can feed hordes at the drop of a hat, set up and take down for weddings, give talks, handle a glue gun like trained Navy Seals, pick cherries at a Welfare Farm, can salsa, and love our neighbors.  HOWEVER.  Many of us are fairly inexperienced on the coffee-making front."

That's what I should have said.  But I didn't.  Instead, I pulled the I'm-gonna-bluff-my-way-through-this-one card.

So I ran around looking like all busy while secretly trying to intuit my way around a coffee machine.  What's this white cup thing?  I wondered?  And where does the actual coffee part go?  And now that I think about it, where is the actual coffee?

After awhile, I realized Betsy was looking at me with this expression that I can describe as amused horror.

"You don't know how to make coffee, do you," she said finally.  And I confessed.  But I told her that I've always like the way it smells.  Because that counts, don't you know.

4 comments:

radagast said...

I'll bet she gave you that look over the top of her reading glasses, didn't she? Love the TKE. And tacos.

Unknown said...

What I want to know is, did you end up learning to make coffee?

Donna Tagliaferri said...

I live in absolute fear of people asking me to make coffee. I used to make it every day for my parents, but I have lost the skill. So now I stop at Starbucks and buy the container that looks like camping gear...they love it and I am saved. Isn't it odd the million-zillion things we can do, and yet coffee? Krytonite

Tiffany said...

I used to make the coffee at a dentist's office where I worked in college. Never drank a drop, but I sure did love the smell! I still walk slowly down the coffee aisle in the grocery store--so many memories in that scent.

Thanks for the great story.