Frank's Brother

Welcome to the 6^th floor. Today's contributors are: Ann, Frank, Scott

Subject: Frank's Brother is in town

Frank's brother was in town this past weekend, and I had the whole weekend off. Frank has no set schedule which works out well when he has company. No asking for time off, no trying to find something for visitors to do when you have to work.

It's one of the biggest perks of having such a flexible schedule. Especially when my brother gave me so much warning that he was coming. This is basically how it went after I answered my phone Friday.

“ugnnhh..Hello?”

“Hey! Frankie! What's up? It's been over a year and I haven't even seen your place!”

“Can this wait Johnny? I'm sleeping.”

“Well it can, but it's awfully boring here at the airport, and It'd be cool if you could come pick me up.”

“Thanks for the heads-up there. What if i was away this weekend?”

“Well you're not away are you? So are you going to come get me or am I going to spend the whole weekend in this dump of an airport?”

I gave him subway directions and went back to sleep.

And that's why the first person John met was me. 90 minutes later when he knocked on the door it was me that answered it and Frank was still asleep. I woke Frank up, got John a drink and we talked while Frank showered. No one else was home yet so the three of us went out for a late lunch, or really late breakfast in Frank's case. After that we went to Scott's Starbucks.

I think Scott may have frightened Johnny a bit. We're from North Carolina and Scott's personality is not like anyone John would know back home.

“Hey guys! Who's this?”

“This is my brother Johnny, spontaneously visiting from North Carolina.”

John: “Nice to meet you.”

“Johnny boy! So me and Bruce over here have been having an argument, he thinks those two guys on the corner outside are up to something sneaky. I'm trying to explain that they're just old friends stopping for a chat. What do you think?”

Bruce is one of Scott's 'posse' members. He's a regular that often comes in and argues about something or another with Scott. Last week he was convinced Starbucks should change the name of soy milk to make it sell better.

John: “I uhh.. I don't know. They seem harmless to me.”

“See? What did I tell you Bruce? You're just a paranoid old freak, You have gotta get a handle on this. Hey Teresa, this is my roommate's little brother. Let them order whatever they like.”

Teresa (barista) : You know I can't do that Scott, You're not allowed to give out free drinks anymore. After you gave away 40 drinks to your groupies that time, George said that you can't give any more drinks away.”

“Those were all close personal friends of mine. I don't see what George's problem is.”

Teresa: “Close personal friends? One of them was a woman behind you on line at Walgreens who gave you three cents so the cashier didn't have to make change!”

“That was just because she was smoking hot!”

Teresa just rolls her eyes.

Scott tried to coax her into doing it, but she held fast. We're used to paying for our drinks now anyway. Scott's always been very friendly and the ever growing list of regulars and acquaintances he has that come into Starbucks is insane. I don't blame George for not letting him give away free drinks anymore, although I'd wager that if Scott ever left so would a lot of his group. That's probably why George puts up with Scott's antics and doesn't fire him. He's not what one would call a stellar Barista.