Sitting at Starbucks, sipping on the first cup of coffee for the day I flipped through the pages. Barely had I reached the third page when the lad working at the cafe brought me my breakfast order.
"Have a nice day, ma'am", he smiled in a coy manner, with a trace of hesitation.
I smiled back with a quick nod.
Getting back to my report that was due for submission the next day, I glared at the rugged print of the page. Being the easily distracted self that I am, I looked away to the empty tables ahead of me. I was attempting to organise my thoughts so that I can deal with them once and for all and get back to my work. As expected, I failed.
I sighed as I rummaged my runsack to pull out a pen or a pencil. The lad came running up to me and pulled out the pen from his pocket- " Ma'am?" This time his smile gleamed across his face. I let out a short laugh and thanked him.
"Have a nice day" he said again.
"You too," I responded. "Have a great day"
His face lit up as though I had just tipped him a 20 dollar bill.
I could not help but think to myself why I did not say it back the first time he wished me so. How sometimes our words and expressions resort to such levels of mediocrity.
" You are working on the paper by Waldfogel."
"Yes, I am! Have you read this one?"
"Oh yes. If you want to get the real idea behind the 'Dead-Weight Loss of Christmas', you should read Solnick and Hemenway's paper."
"You seem to know a lot about this. Why don't you sit down and enlighten me?"
Then something strange happened. He laughed loudly and walked away like a child who was returning to his playmates. My puzzled gaze followed him until he disappeared behind the counter and began to attend to the new customer who had just walked in.
The brief episode was mildly unsettling. However the moment the crowd filled in, I plugged in my earphones and buried myself under the abstract burden of my report.
Four hours later, after exhausting around seven tracks of indie music, six sides of A4 size sheets ( front and back) and keeping about thirty something tabs open on my browser, I closed the lid of the pen shut. It was after lunch time and the afternoon hustle had nearly faded, leaving me once again alone in the land where you can literally inhale the strong aroma of caffeine.
I stretched my arms up in the air to get my limbs out of the numb state. At that moment a cup and saucer was placed on my table.
"I see you are finally done," he peered at the mess I had created in the course of the couple of hours.
"I din't order any coffee"
"No. It is on the house. You have worked very hard."
For some reason I couldn't tell whether he was being too kind or just too sarcastic.
"Why did you walk away, back then?"
"Why din't you respond back the first time I wished you?"
I did not answer. Neither did he.
He placed the bill on my table and walked away with a nod, smiling his smile. It had my breakfast menu in it, excluding the coffee he had just placed on my table. Below were the words inked in blue- "Have a GREAT day :) "
"Have a nice day, ma'am", he smiled in a coy manner, with a trace of hesitation.
I smiled back with a quick nod.
Getting back to my report that was due for submission the next day, I glared at the rugged print of the page. Being the easily distracted self that I am, I looked away to the empty tables ahead of me. I was attempting to organise my thoughts so that I can deal with them once and for all and get back to my work. As expected, I failed.
I sighed as I rummaged my runsack to pull out a pen or a pencil. The lad came running up to me and pulled out the pen from his pocket- " Ma'am?" This time his smile gleamed across his face. I let out a short laugh and thanked him.
"Have a nice day" he said again.
"You too," I responded. "Have a great day"
His face lit up as though I had just tipped him a 20 dollar bill.
I could not help but think to myself why I did not say it back the first time he wished me so. How sometimes our words and expressions resort to such levels of mediocrity.
" You are working on the paper by Waldfogel."
"Yes, I am! Have you read this one?"
"Oh yes. If you want to get the real idea behind the 'Dead-Weight Loss of Christmas', you should read Solnick and Hemenway's paper."
"You seem to know a lot about this. Why don't you sit down and enlighten me?"
Then something strange happened. He laughed loudly and walked away like a child who was returning to his playmates. My puzzled gaze followed him until he disappeared behind the counter and began to attend to the new customer who had just walked in.
The brief episode was mildly unsettling. However the moment the crowd filled in, I plugged in my earphones and buried myself under the abstract burden of my report.
Four hours later, after exhausting around seven tracks of indie music, six sides of A4 size sheets ( front and back) and keeping about thirty something tabs open on my browser, I closed the lid of the pen shut. It was after lunch time and the afternoon hustle had nearly faded, leaving me once again alone in the land where you can literally inhale the strong aroma of caffeine.
I stretched my arms up in the air to get my limbs out of the numb state. At that moment a cup and saucer was placed on my table.
"I see you are finally done," he peered at the mess I had created in the course of the couple of hours.
"I din't order any coffee"
"No. It is on the house. You have worked very hard."
For some reason I couldn't tell whether he was being too kind or just too sarcastic.
"Why did you walk away, back then?"
"Why din't you respond back the first time I wished you?"
I did not answer. Neither did he.
He placed the bill on my table and walked away with a nod, smiling his smile. It had my breakfast menu in it, excluding the coffee he had just placed on my table. Below were the words inked in blue- "Have a GREAT day :) "
