Khris is her name. Pleasant smile. She looks you in the eyes. She remembers your name. Customers know her name. Kids wave bye. Dressed in pink and with obligatory "It’s a Grind" brown apron. Saturday at noon and the place is packed. Electrical outlets filled. Kids are sitting and smiling. Taking pictures. People with backpack look around and smile. Laptops wi-fied in. People are locked in on the computer screen
Fiji, Arizona, and Perrier stand tall in the refrigerator stand. Butter croissant, bran muffin, apple fritter are displayed. Bulletin board could be of better make, but it has that feel of homemade. Order here and pick up here signs hang from the ceiling. A lady with gorgeous red hair walks out the door with her nieces I am guessing. Red dreds, blue eyes with a pretty smile.
“At last, my love is coming home. . .” plays on the speaker over head. The workers are staff mingle and smile. Backs to the wall ready for the next rush of customers to come in. Can smell the macchiato here. white foam. Heaven.Three women, one man. Man has a tight goatee sipping on a. . .I don’t know. The other latin lady smiles as he converses with Khris. Wearing a red top with and white thermals she smiles as the conversation goes on. The other lady with the long pony tail is deep in making macchiato magic.
Good morning they sing as two walk in. One is dressed in light suede jump suit. She’s obviously the mom. Looking at her kids. Red Verizon phone in her hand hugging her left ear. She has her right arm on her hip in a motherly manner. This is the power stance. A stance of. . .waiting. She sits down with her kids as they are peruse the internet.
She leaves with a smile. Guess, her kids are doing school work. She drops her sunglasses and kicks across the store in soccer style. Accident, of course. She passes me by and we do the obligatory eyebrow lift. We recognize and smile.
Many things are resolved in a smile. Wish most things were that easy.
Another man sits typing away. He’s in the corner next to the bathroom. An oversized painting of Ray Charles looms overhead. Ray Charles is also smiling his big giant smile.
Two sit next to me. They got the big grand daddy chairs. Large, leather. A pattern one would see in hotels like the Oxford Inn or Hampton Inn. A mini table separates the two as they flip through their business books. Don’t get that science feel. Feels more accounting, management, MSCI feel. One is in an orange, white, and blue gold shirt. Hair slicked back. Both speaking Spanish as they peruse. The other dressed in a white Geoffrey Beane. He has white wife beater underneath. Face has a bit of rosacea. He looks at his silver imac, playing with the wiresless mouse. His IPOD phone is left hand as speaks English to his girlfriend or wife. How do I know? He says, “Okay, Baby.”
He hangs up and faces his associate. Back to Spanish.
Latin It’s a Grind has the long view. Linda is her name. She looks out the opened front doors. A pretty face. A new edition to the staff. Haven’t been here in awhile. Khris is in the middle of the group. She looks and smiles. Apparently she’s the manager. Latin lady says, you are the manager and you are showing a bad example. This is a good crew. Ready and waiting. I can tell it’s a good crew. Everyone is smiling. Everyone is cracking on each other. A new rush comes in.
Medium sized black man, wearing a mammoth t shirt. Good shape. Shaved head. He’s cool. He has his oakleys on the back of his head. His girlfriend (wife?) just left the restroom. She’s in light blue with a faux alligator bag on her right shoulder. Blue and white parachute pants. Okay. Everyone is laughing. Smiles all around. Pleasant place. Don’t want to say where it is because you may want to come in. Its my spot. Okay, I’m selfish.
Time to go. Time to run. It’s been fun. Time to sun. No, no, no gun. Okay, you won. Needs some mon. A ton, hun. Much fun. Got stunned. No sesame seeds on the bun. No pun. I’m done. . .Son.
