Coffee to go
My husband and I were in a rush last Monday. We had decided at the last moment to bring along our 2 young broods with us down South where we were to deliver a talk to an all-girls boarding school. Instead of staying at a hotel in JB we thought it would be great to drive into Singapore and stay with his family. It had been a while since we had been back there. The kids claimed the week they wouldn’t be studying much, what with teachers being away and all. And it was only for 2 school days.
So there we were, rushing through with the extra packing, picking up some stuff my mother-in-law asked us to get from here and of course, a pit stop at the money changers. We hadn’t had breakfast and thought it would be novel to have brunch at one of the stop areas along the way. To allay our hunger in the mean time, we would buy some croissants and
puffs from Deli France at Carrefour.
We were early; and were the only customers at the famed deli. Freshly baked croissants and puffs lined the trays, still wrapped in plastic clings. It was an honour to be given the privilege of tearing the plastic clings and have our pick of the litter, so to speak. Having accounted for everyone’s orders, I walked up to the cashier to pay and at the same time decided to add in an order for coffee, to go.
The staff attending to us were all trainees – 3 girls and 1 young man. I guessed they were not trained to deliver on this type of an order but they tried. One found the right paper cup and pumped in the coffee. She was about to tightly press shut the cup’s cover when I decided, again at a whims notice, that I wanted my sugar and cream to be added in for my travel convenience. Another girl took over and put in 2 teaspoons as my instruction.
When it came to the cream, all four had gathered at the sugar counter/creamer counter. A more senior looking girl got hold of a pot of fresh cream, poured some into a small measuring jug and handed that to me. I had also by then gathered at the said counter with them. So I took over, poured in the exact amount of cre
am that I wanted and handed the small jug to them. I made a mess, spilling some cream on to the counter top and accidentally knocking over some sugar, too. They were all apologetic for not acting fast enough, and wiped the mess left by me.
Carefully the young man packed my coffee in a paper bag and handed me my coffee to go, thanking me for my patronage and wishing me and my family a pleasant day.
So there we were, rushing through with the extra packing, picking up some stuff my mother-in-law asked us to get from here and of course, a pit stop at the money changers. We hadn’t had breakfast and thought it would be novel to have brunch at one of the stop areas along the way. To allay our hunger in the mean time, we would buy some croissants and
puffs from Deli France at Carrefour.We were early; and were the only customers at the famed deli. Freshly baked croissants and puffs lined the trays, still wrapped in plastic clings. It was an honour to be given the privilege of tearing the plastic clings and have our pick of the litter, so to speak. Having accounted for everyone’s orders, I walked up to the cashier to pay and at the same time decided to add in an order for coffee, to go.
The staff attending to us were all trainees – 3 girls and 1 young man. I guessed they were not trained to deliver on this type of an order but they tried. One found the right paper cup and pumped in the coffee. She was about to tightly press shut the cup’s cover when I decided, again at a whims notice, that I wanted my sugar and cream to be added in for my travel convenience. Another girl took over and put in 2 teaspoons as my instruction.
When it came to the cream, all four had gathered at the sugar counter/creamer counter. A more senior looking girl got hold of a pot of fresh cream, poured some into a small measuring jug and handed that to me. I had also by then gathered at the said counter with them. So I took over, poured in the exact amount of cre
am that I wanted and handed the small jug to them. I made a mess, spilling some cream on to the counter top and accidentally knocking over some sugar, too. They were all apologetic for not acting fast enough, and wiped the mess left by me.Carefully the young man packed my coffee in a paper bag and handed me my coffee to go, thanking me for my patronage and wishing me and my family a pleasant day.
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