The tap on my shoulder was all I needed to make me jump out of my skin. After I'd calmed down from my mini heart attack I turned to see my work friend, Ethan, smiling at me.
"I swear to God, one day I'm going to murder you" I said through my teeth, slipping my phone back into my pocket. "Yeah, well you really shouldn't be playing on that while you're working. Who were you texting anyways, your secret lover?" He said, winking at me.
"Hate to break it to you Ethan, but you're an awful 'gay-best-friend' if you don't even know I'm single," he clutched at his heart, as if I'd stabbed him.
"Me? Awful? How could you say such a thing?" he cried in mock horror, before realising a customer had walked through the door and rolled his eyes at his behaviour. Ethan composed himself and turned to the man the other side of the counter. "Good afternoon, what can I get for you sir?" he said with a smile to make the Cheshire Cat envious.
"Caffè Latte, extra espresso shot," the man mumbled as he typed furiously on his phone. "Anything else I can tempt you with today? A muffin or sandwich perhaps?" asked Ethan as he wrote the order on a take out cup. The man sighed. "No, and make it fast I'm in a meeting in half an hour." Ethan handed the cup over to me and shook his head a little before turning back to the customer. "Sir, I'm not sure you're familiar with how this coffee shop works. The owners believe that the world would be a much nicer place if everyone remembered their manners, and so has based the prices on the attitude the customer has. For example, a filter coffee here is £3, but with a smile it drops to £2.50, down to £2 with a friendly greeting, and £1.50 with a 'please' or 'thank you'. He has trained us to engage in conversation with customers, and try to make their day a little brighter whenever they pay us a visit. If it is fast and basic service you are after, may I suggest the Starbucks a little further down the street?" He gives the customer a huge grin, ready for the abuse he will undoubtedly receive.
After a moment of silence we get a very different response. The man smiles at us, thanks us for our time, and turns around and walks out of the shop.
Ethan exhales, and turns to me. "That'll be the mystery shopper he's been expecting. Ugh, I'm so glad I remembered he was coming in, I'm really not in the mood to deal with people like that today. But on the bright side, only 15 minutes to go before I'm out of here!" I rolled my eyes. "Lucky you, I'm here til 2 today, I'm gonna be late for my lecture again." I pull out my phone and start messaging my classmate Marci to apologise to the tutor for me.
The rest of my shift is uneventful; I finish, say bye to Cara who'd just started, change in the staff toilet and start my walk to uni. My phone begins to ring, and when I pick it up I hear Marci. "Evie! The tutor's not going to be in for another 15 minutes, traffic, hurry up!" and she hangs up. I start to run, and when I get to the university building I see a few other students half jogging to the lectures they're late for. I run up the stairs, then somehow manage to grab an empty lift on the 2nd floor before it gets called up, press 8 and start to catch my breath as the doors close.
"Hold the lift!" I hear yelled out, and so I stick my hand on the door to stop it closing. Three guys reach the lift, squeeze in and press the 'close door' button. Sounding rather out of breath one turns to me, "Cheers, can't be late, we've already missed the first lecture." The lift reaches the 8th floor, and they exit the lift, me following behind them. They're talking to each other as they walk down the corridor, then enter the room I need to go in. I close the door behind me, find Marci sitting at the back again, and join her.
"Oh my God, how cute are the guys on this course? Eek, I could die, go to Heaven and not be able to tell the difference!" Marci squeals to me. "Oh hi Evie, nice to see you got here before the tutor, I hope work went ok?" I say to myself sarcastically, before realising she isn't even listening to me. I sign, pull out my notebook, and wait for the tutor to turn up.