coffee on the house

Earlier on the year, I mentioned that I would be giving my former favorite hang-out joint another go, right? 

Well I went in today and weee! I don’t know if they are giving up on the business altogether or the staff are content with having one customer per day so when they hit 10, they have surpassed the target and the surplus can serve themselves.

 I decided to choose a day, and a time when it is not peak. Today (Thursday). evening-ish (some minutes past 1600hrs). As expected, there are less than 20 other guys and I settle down to my favorite spot.

I fire up Greyson and carry on with work. (10mins in – No one has bothered to wait on me)

Since my taste buds haven’t decide what they want, I am fine with using their space and doing my work.

 

(20 mins in) No one.

30 mins later a waiter walks by, says hey and walks away…

40 mins later some gentlemen walk in and the same waiter almost breaks her leg as she rushes to get the menu to it give to the newbies.

An hour later – a familiar face walks in, it is the ‘No smile waitress’ who gets your order very fast. I wonder where she has been. 

She walks up to me.

Waitress : ‘umesaidiwa’

Ice : (smiles) nope, not yet.

Waitress : ( grabs a menu, hands it over and walks away)

This got me thinking about brands (promises given by individuals / companies / business). Do you have one? Are you keeping the promise? I would like to imagine that 89 Eateries did not open doors for people to walk in, sit for hours then leaving without consuming their services (food).

‘You should have called one of the waiters to get your order’ – you might say, but the service industry doesn’t quite run, like that. I would easily have walked out after 30 minutes (and this is on a good day), they in-turn would be a few shillings less in their sales today. To some extent, it feels like arrogance.

Now let’s bring this closer home, you are a brand, your business is a brand and so is your company. Are you keeping your promise? Am I? Am I giving 100% to my clients? Are you giving 100% to your employer? Are you diligently working towards enhancing your skills so as to be a better brand / company / business? 

ION, Their coffee is okay, it is better than a cup I once had at Java, but that is a story for another day.

I hate hugs!

I hate hugs half as much as I love them.

I am not talking about the impersonal space invasion gestures that are half awkward and the half forced. Nope NOT those, it is the embrace that takes you in, all of you. Pulls you in, in all your eternity and holds all the pieces of your life together. No words. No thoughts. Emptiness that overflows, silence that speaks volume and touch you will remember in this life and the next.

 

Those kinda of hugs are the ones I love to hate.

But I Don’t HATE them, I am Terrified by Them. 

I know I am not the ‘wear your heart on the sleeve’ kinda a girl so more often than not I will be listening, talking about coffee and praying for people. It is not until a few years ago that I had ‘invest in friendship’ as my new year’s resolution, that I had to become one. This means doing counter intuitive things like sharing with someone about how I truly feel. Not what I am expected to feel, but how I am feeling. The pain / insecurity / uncertainty / doubt etc the whole nine yards.

I digress.

Back to the hugs.

The first hug of this kind happened in campus. During my last semester. I was getting ready to go into the world! BUT Boy I WASN'T Ready!

The previous semester, I had to learn how to unlearn how to be in love. I had had my heart handed back and it was the longest 3 months of my life. I had to be conscience about which classes I took, to avoid his route, I had to intentionally avoid places that I would bump into him. Had to stay away from some common friends who would ask about him. Heartache decided to be my companion and since it was a new babe, I had to carry it with me each day of that Semester

It was the first ‘it is not you, it is me’ breakup line.

Those words still give me a subtle panic attacks. 

My grades were mostly affected, my relationship with God somehow begun to grow deeper roots. I don’t know if it was because of the late nights drowning tears, literally holding my fingers interlocked and tucked away to keep them from dialing his number or the early morning prayers for Him(God) to take the pain away or at least keep him( ex) away from my path that drew me closer to God, BUT I was drawing closer to HIM.

Now the beginning of the last chapter was here and heartache and I had grown accustomed to each other. On one particular day, I was going to get her (heartbreak) something to chew on. I met a Chari Kingsbury (she probably does not remember this encounter- It must have been a very usual to her. It was far from usual for me) as she was going towards the PAC (this is place in Athi, a Daystar alumnus would understand). She gave me one of these hugs I am talking about. An embrace. The one that I did not know I was deathly afraid of but one that I so desperately needed. Back then I did not know of oxytocins, or what a hug can do, but on that day a healing begun. 

This is the reason, I steer clear of those space invading  impersonal body contact and opt for the soul invading fear crushing, oxytocin releasing embraces and in return, I get one.