I don’t like to do my lesson plans and grading at home. For one thing, it’s too easy to get distracted, what with all that yarn and chocolate around. Also it can feel a bit isolating – I actually get more work done in a coffee shop or library, where there are other people circulating and a hum of background noise.
Lately, my favorite place to go is Take 5 Gourmet Cafe in Robbinsville. It meets my requirements for a coffee shop: they have an excellent tea selection, friendly staff, and good music playing at just the right volume.
Last week I was so busy I didn’t get there for two days, and was lamenting to my husband that I missed it. He said, “You’re their best customer!” I laughed and replied, “No, I’m their WORST customer! I sit there for hours and only buy one paltry mug of tea!”
The next time I went, I noted the amount of time I was there: two and a half hours. I purchased, as I always do, a medium tea, which costs a whopping $1.75. So as a customer, I only spend 70 cents an hour (1.75/2.5 = 0.7). That’s pathetic!
It’s not that I’m a tightwad, mind you. I don’t drink coffee, it’s not my fault their tea is so cheap, and while they have a lot of tempting desserts to accompany my beverage, there’s nothing I could eat every day. (Well, I easily could, but then I’d have to stay home because I’d no longer fit into my pants.)
My husband suggested I should just give them a set amount of money to entitle me to sit in one of their chairs for as long as I want for the rest of the year. Kind of like a gym membership, except I’d actually use it. It could be my endowed chair!
Luckily I don’t think I have to approach the management about this. For one thing, I’ve never felt rushed there. And this is what is written on their website (words in parentheses are mine):
“Take 5 was designed as a place to escape the stress of the world…if only for a short time. But if you can, you’re welcome to relax with us for as long as you like – read a book or magazine, (grade all your math exams), use our free WI-FI (to obsessively check Facebook) or just sit and listen to the music as you enjoy your special treat (your one mug of tea that only cost $1.75).”
Is that welcoming or what?
Love it! Who says you have to become a tenured professor to have an endowed chair??
Thank you. Reading something like this makes it all worthwhile. It’s difficult surviving as an independent coffee house in today’s world. But the struggle is worth it when you find out that someone enjoys and appreciates what you’re doing. So please sit around for as long as you like. Your $1.75 and your kind words are more than enough payment.
Ira & Bernadette,
Owners Take 5
Pingback: My birthday present |