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.
I'll bet she gave you that look over the top of her reading glasses, didn't she? Love the TKE. And tacos.
ReplyDeleteWhat I want to know is, did you end up learning to make coffee?
ReplyDeleteI 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
ReplyDeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great story.