Feliks really, really did not want to be there.
But alas, he had to be. Opening the door of the shop, his breath was almost taken away as he stepped in from the cold into an almost unbearably hot atmosphere. He did end up coughing a little, looking around to make sure he hadn't caught any undue attention. Moving to stand in line for the counter, he noticed that he was pretty much a step away from the end; the line wound around a turnstile and was about twenty-two people deep.
His job usually accounted for a lot of over the phone and email contacts, but occasionally his boss wanted to actually meet face for face, like for evaluations, big discussions, and the occasional check in. Because coffee shops typically had Wi-Fi, those were common places that he'd get called to to have a meeting.
He'd gotten out of bed an hour late and still arrived twenty minutes before the meeting was going to be held, which was a miracle on his part. But he wished he could have been up earlier enough so he could make his own coffee. He reasoned, half dead, that hey, it's a coffee place. He can just buy coffee. But then once there, Feliks began to rethink this whole thing. He looked over his shoulder quickly but there were already more people approaching the door. If he got out of line, people would wonder what was up. Not that he was concerned about being rude (he honestly didn't think of things like that much) but he didn't want to feel people's eyes looking at him. More than anything, he wanted to just go back to bed. Why was the line so long? A few people and a counter person he could handle but the crowd in there made him nervous.
The line seemed to move slowly. Feliks kept looking around, hoping to see his boss. If she showed up, he could get out of the line and sit and get out. Or convince her to get coffee for the two of them; they'd been friends for a long time. Getting coffee now seemed like the worst idea in the world. There were seven people in front of him now. It was a while before there were six.
It seemed like fifteen minutes passed before he was at the counter. Once he got there, he didn't even notice. He was more preoccupied with how uneven his shoelaces were and how the snow outside had gotten his nice socks and corduroys dirty. Feliks was finally shocked out of his staring by a louder than normal "May I help you, sir?"
He looked up, eyes wide with a gasp, to see a man staring at him with his own wide eyes. "Sorry, we're just a little packed so we have to be a little speedy." He ran his hands down a wet apron, brown and white spots where leftover creams and caramels had splashed. "So can I help you?"
"Uh, yeah." Feliks quietly mumbled, reaching in his back pocket for his wallet. "I want a hot one but sweet. And, uh, big. What is that called."
The man stared at him, hands hovering over the cash register buttons. He blinked before speaking again with the patience of a saint. "We have handout menus to your right and a large menu above." Gesturing with a shoulder.
"Oh, yeah, I know." Feliks embarrassedly snatched one of the folded menus. "Duh."
He looked at it for five seconds. Everything on it had a foreign name. What were all these Italian words? Was he supposed to know Italian to order? He gulped quietly.
"One of these!" He quickly spit out, just turning the menu toward the cashier and pointing blindly. Whatever, it'd get him out of the line.
"Alright, that's a nice one...are you sure for today, though?"
"Yeah, positive." He looked cross. Why question him? Don't make him stand there longer than necessary.
"What size? Can I get a name? Yours, I mean." The man asked, hovering one hand over a section of cups in various sizes and grabbed a permanent marker with the other."
"The biggest one. And, uhm. Feliks"
"Alright. It'll be brought right over to you."
After handing over his credit card and paying, he couldn't have left the line faster. He quickly found a table in the corner, flopping down and removing the bag he'd had on his shoulder. Taking out his laptop, he quickly typed in the password and opening up the one document he had on his desktop. Now all he had to do was wait and only talk to his boss. He was just too shy to want to deal with any other people.
He strummed his fingers on the keys, looking at the spreadsheet on his computer. He just had to wait for his boss. That was all. Before long, steps approached his table and stopped. He looked up and didn't see his boss but the cashier with a drink in hand, paper towl wrapped around it.
"Here you are. Hope it's what you wanted?" He asked questioningly. Feliks looked at him with a look of confused frustration and then at the drink. He saw why pretty much immediately.
It was something with a lot of ice in it. An iced drink when the temperature was almost in the negatives outside.
"No, this is definitely not what I wanted." He took the paper towel off with two fingers like it was dirty, trying his best to save face and not look too embarrassed. All that was revealed was more ice and a milky colour. "Uh, I wanted what was under it. Like a hot thing."
"Well," the cashier extracted a folded and dingy menu from his apron pocket. "Everything in the column you pointed to is frosted." Laying the menu down and showing him. He was busted but then the man asked another question which made him sigh with relief. "Did you mean another page?"
"Oh...yeah. Definitely." Cocking his head and pushing falling hair behind his ear. "Uhm...where's the hot ones?"
"This page." Flipping it over and pointing to a page that even had a large 'HOT' across the top. Figures.
"Is...there one that's sweet? Super sweet?" He asked, feeling a little more at ease than at the line where there weren't people behind him and all around. His corner seemed a little more empty since it was closer to another door and therefore a little chilly. One person asking simple questions was doable.
"We can make any of them as sweet as you'd like. Extra syrups or powders are only fifteen extra cents, twenty for our largest cups."
"I'll get this one then." Pointing at a description he'd actually read. Chocolate, whipped cream, a fruit topping. Basically a dessert in a coffee. "And add more chocolate. Uh, here's my card-"
He moved to get his credit card back out of his wallet again. The man cut him off.
"Please, since it was an honest mistake, it's fine. If anything, please take this card and leave a positive review." The cashier extracted a long white cardboard piece of paper and placed it on the table, taking the drink away.
When Feliks' boss finally came in, she was dripping wet and obviously agitated.
"Sorry I'm so late. The snow is unbelievable coming from the northside. You been here long?"
"Like an hour now." Feliks had sat his laptop aside and was pouring over something, hair hanging down and a pen pushing and wiggling through it.
She sucked her teeth. "Can you believe this weather? It's unreal...what are you doing?"
"I'm filling out one of those customer service cards," he looked up and took a strawberry off the top of his drink, the hot part of it almost melted through the heavy whipping cream.
"Oh God." She sat down across from him, having taken her coat off. "Did they screw something up?" She leaned in with a harsh whisper. "Did you find a bug? I heard they had horrible bugs in here once. Not that I have issues with them but I would if I found one in my coffee. Disgusting. It's open so, I guess that got dealt with. It was just a rumor."
"No, it's a good one. But, ew, bug coffee." He explained, sitting up, flipping the card over a few times, wrinkling his brows as he pictured a roach swimming in iced coffee. "Like, really good. Good enough to waste my time filling this out."
"What'd I miss? Customer service isn't dead?" She folded her hands, gently overlapping them. "Oh, and we do still need to talk."
Rolling his eyes, Feliks leaned back. "For your information, I got free coffee. Like, on the house free coffee. And guess what." He quickly shot back forward and whispered something shameful to him. "It was my. Fault."
"Ohhh." She nodded, looking smug. "Can I hear that again? The fabled words?"
"Nope. But whatever. Free coffee. Free extra chocolate." He took another fruit from the top. "Free extra fruit. I didn't even ask for that. See? Want one?"
She'd already plucked one off of the top before he'd asked. "And what'd you do to get that?" Lis asked, chewing.
"I just got the wrong thing. The guy was super nice. Like, nicer than usual nice." Taking a loud sip and dipping his finger in his whipping cream. It felt nice being with his old friend and boss. Natural. "Figured the least I could do is fill one of these out."
"Let me see." Lis snatched it from the other side of the table. "I've got a theory here...ah. See. Your phone number's listed."
"Oh gosh, yeah. See if you fill these out, you're entered into this thing and you could win something. See, right at the top. They call you. And like, even I can put up with a call if it's giving me free stuff, you know?"
"Feliks." She tossed it back, watching it land on the table. "You're being duped."
"Duped?" Taking more whipped cream. "How? Isn't the business getting duped? I got the free stuff after all."
"No, God, you are so clueless sometimes. All the time." Lis folded her arms across her chest. "You're being duped because you're being hit on."
His face paled and he gave her a cockeyed look. "What?!" A little too loudly.
"Okay so." She stuck her elbow on the table now, fist in the air, extending a digit with every word. "First, free drink. Then, a way to get your number. How do you turn these things in?" Lis peered over, reading the bottom. "'Please turn into the residing cashier.' Is that who gave it to you?"
Suddenly they were both craning their necks behind and around them. There were a few people hovering around the counter which also served as a dessert cabinet, but when they subsided, Feliks could see him, swiping a credit card. It wasn't often he remembered a face, but since it was only about a half hour ago and he was nice, Feliks remembered. The brown hair, the quick hands as they did three or four things at once. The stained apron.
"Yeah, that guy."
"Mmmm." She leaned over and nodded. "Not bad. Could be worse."
"Oh my gosh, will you stop. Do you not leave your house or something? Sometimes nice people do nice stuff, you know?" Lis, during all the years he'd known her, had had a certain...interest in things like this. If someone gave someone she know a look that was even anywhere near meaningful, she was completely sure that they were destined to be in each other's arms.
"You're the one who doesn't leave your house. I'm the one who's engaged, remember?" Wiggling her finger at him as they sat back into comfortable positions. "So I think I know."
"No, you don't." He rolled his eyes, though obviously embarrassed. There was no way that was what it was. Absolutely not.
"Okay. Well. Here we go. Let's talk about what we need to talk about. It's about, uh, almost half past eleven, right?" She looked at her watch as Feliks looked at his laptop clock, nodding. "I bet he goes on lunch soon and he'll come over to get that card. If he does, then I'm right. But if it's not a big deal, and you have to go turn it in, then you're right. And I'll buy you cake."
He hoped and prayed she was right. That cake looked good.
After discussing several business dealings and inputting new totals and cash amounts into the spreadsheet, their lunch meeting was over by half past noon. Several times Feliks would look up and see a distracted Lis with her eyes narrowed, almost falling off of her chair, looking towards the counter. Shaking his head, he continued. He definitely wanted that cake but he also didn't want to be embarrassed anymore today. He'd already made a really stupid mistake and had to have it fixed. That was really all it was. He was thankful it wasn't some employee that was frustrated and angry and causing a scene instead of someone nice who got things done calmly.
He was in the middle of explaining this funny news story to his companion and boss when she spoke up, though under her breath.
"He's not there. Shift change."
"...You are obsessed."
"Not at all! But it's interesting. I am so completely sure I'm right, it's basically written in the Bible."
"It is not in the Bible."
"You would know. I bet you, I bet you! He'll be here. You watch."
"If he comes over," Feliks explained. "It'll be because he's got nothing better to do. Plus, don't some places give out bonuses or prizes for getting these? There's a name on it, right? He probably wants it for that."
"There's a name on there?" She looked back at it. "No, there's not. There's a place for one, but it's not there!"
Feliks looked at it himself. Indeed, one of the first and biggest things to fill out was 'Name of employee who dispensed card:'. Damn.
"He's going to come over here and you have to ask his name and he gets your number and in three years you'll be married with five kids and a dog. That's how things like this go."
"You're nuts-o." He was getting animated. "You are just crazy! How does anyone put up with you? How do I put up with you?"
"Are your ears hot?" Lis reached across the table, causing him to shrink away. "I know you're embarrassed when your ears are hot."
"I could get you for sexual harassment!" He threatened, though playfully, scooting his chair way back as she reached across the table with her half of her body.
"Can I, uhm, take this away? Sorry to interrupt."
They both turned in surprise. There was a finger pointing to the dregs of whipped cream in Feliks' plastic coffee cup. Attached to the finger was a man in a stained white shirt and a stained apron.
"Yes, you may. You're not interrupting anything." Lis sat back down as if nothing was going on, smiling widely. "Also, my employee here had a question for you. Feliks."
Turning and smiling at him, she wiggled her nose mischeviously. If he were the kind to use many expletives, he would have let out a string.
"Oh, aha, uhm. I filled this thing out but I..." He suddenly felt as if his throat was swollen. Damn Lis. Damn this stupid meeting. Damn this coffee, no matter how good it turned out to be.
"Oh, you need this." The cashier leaned over and pointed to the spot that was blank. "Oh, and thank you for this by the way. If you grab a pen, I can spell it for you? People say it's a little hard. Normally we have nametags but mine got lost in a mixer this morning."
Feliks just nodded, wide-eyed. Why was he suddenly shy again? He grabbed the pen and hurriedly bent over the card, at the ready.
"T. O-r. I-s." What a weird name, he mused, as he wrote it. Foreign. Not like he could talk but at least his name was a form of a pretty normal name.
"Okay. Uh, here. Weird" Taking it quikly, he handed the card back to him. Thank God that was over. He studied the man, Toris, as he read it over.
"Thanks, again, this is really nice of you." He nodded as he read it, smiling slightly. "I didn't mean to interrupt your meeting or anything."
"No, no." Lis quickly replied, almost snapping. "So, these little cards, huh? Do you get some bonus or something? I've thought about doing something similar myself in the office so I just wonder what the big goal is." Feliks gave her a look that said 'You know good and well you don't have the authority and in this line of business they'd be useless.' but she ignored it completely.
"Well, not really." Lis' eyes went wide. "It's sort of like that, but these only get filled out probably once or twice a month at the most so it's kind of useless. But it's nice to be one of the two, so it's still worth something." He laughed lightly. Feliks looked at him with squinted eyes. Cake was at stake here...so did that make them both right? Was it a half victory? A half a cake?
"Well, Feliks told me what you did and I'm grateful." Lis patted the top of her friend and employee's hand like a mother would. "He's not exactly the most outgoing, you know."
Feliks' eyes immediately widened, mortified. "Oh my God, what did you just say?" The fact that he both used the name of the Lord and said that outloud were milestones.
Toris just laughed again, though he was sure it was just politely this time. "It's fine, it's fine. Mistakes happen, especially when it's so cold. Oh, uhm." He felt around the pockets of his apron for a second, finally reaching in. "We also have individual marketing cards. It's actually more of a competition than a bonus or anything but-"
He pulled out a brightly designed card and set it on the table, then tapped it with his hand. "It's a promotional thing where if you bring these in and we sell patrons with these coffee and-or other food items," Toris stared at the ceiling as if recalling what was said to him with as much detail as possible. "Not only do we get perks, but a discount is applied to your purchase based on the number, like this one." pointing to a bright yellow circle, "This is ten percent off, twenty, thirty, and then the last one is free. So ten."
Lis smiled as he spoke, nodding along and looking at him. Feliks looked at the card and nodded as well.
"So would you like one?"
Feliks continued to stare at the card but after a pause he looked up to find the cashier staring at him with expectant eyes.
"Sure, I guess." Laughing nervously. Lis was wrong. Dead wrong. He was getting the card because he actually bought something. Just like he got something for free because he made a mistake. It was really that simple.
"Alright, thank you. I'll put my name on it." This time Toris got down, squatting to be level with the table and extracting a pen from his apron that seemed to hold literally everything in the world. He jotted down his name. A big sweeping top to the 'T' and an 'o' that didn't come full circle. Ah. He would definitely remember that name.
"Thank you." Lis replied, though it wasn't her place. "We'll be sure to have more meetings here."
"Good, good. Oh and while I'm here." He made a swooping check on one of the boxes. "There's your first one."
"But I didn't buy anything." Feliks stared dumbly, looking from the check to Toris who stood up.
"Ah it's alright. It helps us both out...or we could do it fair and square, if you want. Maybe that is better." He began to take out another but Feliks stopped him.
"No, it's cool. Cool. I mean, less money to spend, right?"
Toris gave him a look that wasn't exactly strange but not normal before he laughed again. "Thank you. It's honestly a help. Oh, and." He picked the almost-empty cup back up and shook it. "I forgot. Got to get rid of this. Please come back anytime you wish."
He turned on his heel, taking the cup away and disappearing through a door that said STAFF in big green letters. The two at the table were quiet for a second before Lis started to laugh.
"Okay so that is not just good customer service." She pointed after him, almost shaking with laughter.
"You're really deluded." He didn't see what was funny or so believable. "Like, wow. You should be locked up."
"You get a free card. With a free check. He wrote his name twice. Where's my card, huh? He's got a thing for you. Enjoy it. Come back and get more free stuff."
"You didn't buy anything, I did. He probably gives those out to everyone. What was it? Some kind of, uh...competition. Remember he said something like it was helping him?" Feliks shrugged, saving his document one last time and preparing to close his laptop. "He's just a good business man or. Whatever. Besides, what's the chance of coming in here and seeing him again?"
"Do you want to?"
"Are you kidding me? There's got to be a word for nosy, gross chicks like you. But nosy gross chick fits pretty well."
She leaned back and shrugged, an expression of agreeance. "Yeah, probably. Oh but. I still won. So you know what that means?"
"Uh...you're never going to shut your mouth about it?"
"No." She laughed, grabbing her coat and getting out of her chair as he closed his laptop and put it back in his bag. He grabbed the card, considering leaving it. But if he did come back, he got cheaper things. That was never bad. And maybe, just maybe, he would get more free things. He quickly slid it over and stuck it in as well. It couldn't hurt.
"Then what?" Feliks stood up, zipping up his jacket again. He was not looking forward to getting on the subway again in this weather. "Also, can you give me a ride? It's crazy cold and like, my pants are already probably ruined."
"Yeah, sure, stop wearing those when it's wet out. But, like I was saying...you owe me cake."
"That was so not agreed upon."
"I won so my prize is cake. Seduce the new cashier and then we'll get that for free too."
Feliks flushed and grumbled as he at least pushed his chair in. He would never understand why Lis was always so ridiculous.