Mocha Mania

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Tabitha, Scott.

Subject: Mocha Mania

“Ann! Tabitha! Glad you're home. Someone had called and ordered a whole bunch of Frappachinos, and then called and canceled five minutes after he was supposed to pick them up. I took five of them with me when I left for you guys.”

“I'm not sure I'm in a coffee mood, and Frank, Billy and Sara are all at work.”

“I'll have one, what kind are they?”

“Java Chip. You have to have one or two Ann, you can't let good coffee and chocolate go to waste can you?”

“I'll have one, if you have one.”

Time Passes...

“Why are you baking?”

“I'm too jittery. Have to expend the energy somewhere.”

“I just hope you're not making something like espresso brownies.”

“I am going to make chocolate chip snickerdoodles. Oddly enough we have the ingredients for them.”

“Why aren't you hyper Scott?”

“I think I'm immune. There have been days I've drank espresso like water at work. I must have built up a tolerance.”

“I wish I had a tolerance. Although, had I eaten lunch maybe I wouldn't feel as jittery.”

“You're speed walking around the couch. You're going to wear a hole in the carpet.”

“You're juggling sticks of butter that Tabitha needs for her cookies. Maybe you're not as immune as you think.”

“He's probably just gotten better at dealing with it.”

“By channeling it into juggling? Do you juggle Mochas for your customers Scott?”

“No, but I preform slight of hand on their money.”

“Ha! Now give me the butter, I need to cream it for the cookies.”

“Come and get it!”

Scott heads into the living room with it, and Tabitha gives chase and tackles him. Scott loses his balance and collides with Ann, who was still pacing, and they all crumble into a heap on the floor.

“Ouch. Get off of me!”

“Nice tackle, the Jets could use you.”

“Thank you. Now give up the butter.”

“I dropped it when you tackled me.”

“Here it is, it's smushed into my shirt. Does butter stain?”

“Only the salted kind.”

“Great, now I have to go to the store. You two behave while I'm gone.”

“Without you here to tackle us, I think we'll be fine. I'll have you know I was almost in the end zone.”

Tabitha sticks out her tongue at Scott and walks out the door.

Death of Blond Jokes

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.

Subject: Ann's Changes

We arrived at Catalina's at 10:30. Sara and Frank wanted to watch the game at home, not knowing if they'd have a seat with a good angle for the televisions at Catalina's. When we got there the crowd was thinning out a bit, but there was no one at the hostess stand, so we stood around waiting until a red-haired girl approached us with menus.

“Ann?! You dyed your hair!”

“You work here now?”

“Ann! Lookout, your hair is on fire!”

“Why didn't you tell us?”

“Can you get us a discount on drinks then?”

“Well I'm glad you approve. I did indeed dye my hair, I figured it was time for a change. I cannot get you a discount though. I'm off at 11, so I'll seat you now and join you after my shift. We can discuss how I've actually seen all of you recently and you didn't notice.”

“Wow, she looks so different.” Sara says as Ann walks away after seating them to finish her duties for the night.

“I know. It's a nice color on her though. Will definitely take some getting used to.”

“It eliminates the blond jokes too. Redhead jokes just aren't as funny.”

“I'm going to order a Killian's Irish Red to celebrate.”

“Me too. Here's Clarence now.”

Clarence: “Hi guys. Isn't Ann's hair just fabulous?”

“Just blazin'. It was quite a shock. So when did she start working here?”

Clarence: “Just yesterday afternoon. Usually we wouldn't have her working Friday night, but two of our regulars called in sick.”

“Sick sick? Or I have tickets to the Yankee game sick?”

Clarence: “My guess is the latter. Crazy game today huh? I didn't know the Yankees knew how to steal that many bases. And what was with all the swinging bunts?”

“No idea. I'll take it though. 10 of 11!”

Clarence: “They're definitely getting back on track. So what can I get you tonight?”

“Let's start with five Killian's Irish Red in honor of Ann.”

Clarence: “Sounds perfect. I'll be back shortly to ask you what overly greasy appetizers you want.”

“Ann isn't Irish is she?”

“I don't think so.”

“Then she's not really an 'Irish' Red.”

“Did you have a better drink to order?”

“Could have gotten strawberry margaritas.”

“Well there is always round two.”

“Very true. Ann's not even off yet.”

Clarence: “Here you guys are. Appetizers?”

“We are going to wait for Ann to order food. I imagine she's hungry.”

“We are? Oh fine. Could you bring us some breadsticks to hold me over?”

Clarence: “Certainly. The firecracker should be here shortly.”

“Firecracker?”

Clarence: “Yeah, I thought it up myself.”

“I kind of like it.”

“And here is Ann herself!”

“Introducing yourself? You really are a firecracker.”

“Firecracker? I guess it beats blond jokes.”

“Fess up! You said you've seen us in the last couple of days. Where?”

“Well I saw you at work. I was sitting in the corner on my laptop for about an hour on Tuesday.”

“What? No way..”

“Yup. I ordered a Java Chip Frappachino from..I can't remember the girl's name. The one with the nose ring.”

“Ring Girl.”

“Her real name Scott.”

“I don't know her real name. I've called her Ring Girl since she started working there.”

“I'm sure she loves that. Anyway, you actually made the drink for me, and handed it to me.”

“If you say so. I guess the hair totally messed with me. Of course, I rarely look at a pretty girl's face.. Wait, Frank was at Starbucks on Tuesday too. I remember because he complained about losing $100 to an idiot with jack five.”

“Fucking newb.”

“Yeah. I saw Frank there.”

“Wait, so why didn't you just say hello or something? Instead of stalking us from a distance?”

“I was going to when Scott didn't recognize me, but then I decided it'd be funny. Anyway, you guys did your own stalking it seems.”

“We certainly did..you were successful though. Where did you see me?”

“You don't have to worry about not recognizing me. I boarded one of your trains this week. I was in the front car and saw you. I wasn't sure it was you at first, but then I heard your announcement. 'Union Square. Transfer here for the N, R, Q, W, 4, 5, 6, 7 ,8 ,9, 10...wait, only the 4,5,6 I just can't help counting once I start.'”

“Ahh yes. I'm worse at 6^th, because then I have to start with 1,2,3. The nine used to help but then they abandoned that line.”

“Sara walked down the stairs and right past me onto the train on her way to work. This was earlier yesterday, I was coming home to pick up some clothes. If I was a little faster she would've actually seen me at home.”

“No guarantees. I can be very zombie-like in the morning.”

“Saved the best for last?”

“Certainly. You were walking on Park with your friend Melissa, and I suddenly stopped because I wanted to grab an Onion from one of the boxes, and you actually walked into me. I thought for sure you'd recognize me, but you just said 'excuse me' and hurried on your way.”

“Oops. Serves you right for suddenly stopping in front of me though. We were in a hurry, Melissa had made lunch reservations and we were running late.”

“So that's how I've been stalking you all week. Now to the important stuff, where's Clarence with our second round?”

The Inferior Starbucks

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Billy and Scott.

Subject: The Inferior Starbucks

I'm working the M line this week, and as usual I occasionally stop off at different stops, just for the sake of wandering around areas of this great city I don't normally see. So far my experiences with the M train are not as nice as the trains I usually work on. The speakers on a couple of the trains have been really crappy too. I imagine there aren't as many lost tourists on the M, most of the riders of the Nassau Street Local probably know where they're going and where to get off, but that's no excuse for faulty equipment. I got off somewhere in Queens, and went looking for something interesting. I didn't really find much, and on my way back to the train I decided to stop at the Starbucks on the corner.

“It was a hot day, I figured I would get a Frappachino. Easy enough right?”

“Oh, I hate making Frappachino's. They're such a pain. I wish everyone would just order drip coffee.”

“Well anyway, I ordered the Java Chip and I don't know if she didn't hear me or just didn't feel like getting the coffee, but she made me a Double Chocolate frapp instead.”

“Oooh, a lazy barista. Surely you've seen one of those before?”

“Of course I have, haven't you noticed I always order simple things when you're making them?”

“You're just afraid of what I'll do to them!”

“Exactly! Anyway, I like the chocolate one fine enough so I didn't ask for a new one, just went to get a straw and sit down at a table.”

“Well that seems pretty normal.”

“There were no straws, and when I asked for one and told her there were no more out there, she glared at me and finally handed me a straw.”

“Manager must've been away or sleeping in the back or something, so she was taking advantage of being lazy.”

“Unfortunately the condition of the seating area left much to be desired. One of the comfy chairs was very obviously stained with spilt coffee, and the only unoccupied table was very very wobbly. I ended up just taking the coffee to go back on the train.”

“Hey! Aren't you not supposed to have drinks on the train?”

“Oh? Are you going to tattle on me? After all the crap I see you do at your job?”

“You mean I don't do a good job? I work tonight, come by and I'll make you a much better Frappachino.”

“Uh Oh. No adding any of your sugar-free arsenic syrup though.”

“Would I do that? Don't come by at six though, some buddies are stopping by with something I need to take care of.”

“I'm not sure I even want to know. I'll stop by in the evening.”