I didn't mean to queue jump. I didn't see that the line stretched to the right of the store behind the sweets aisle where colourful packets of sweets tempt young children. I was thinking of getting out of the city as soon as I could fuel my blood with caffeine - it had been a hot and sleepless night.
The barista wasn't paying much attention either, prioritising who was in front of her and switching between writing abbreviated orders on post it notes and sliding over to the machine, clearly overworked. After ordering my oat milk latte and taking a table number, I almost collided with the woman behind me who I failed to notice giving me the evil eye. She was fuming. I've seen people affected by low caffeine before but sheesh, she was next level. 'I hope you spill the fucking thing right down your top' she hissed.
'Okay Karen,' I retaliated, so confronted that I had to spit barbs right back at her. An apology would have been more adult, but sometimes when I'm cornered I don't behave as I should. 'Calm ya farm'. I probably looked a little smug as well, especially after seeing the queue I'd jumped.
I suppose Karen's farm was a little calmed when she saw me take the first sip and spill it right down my white blouse. She was positively beaming. 'I hope every cup is a nightmare for you' she smiled sweetly as I exited. There was no way I was going to hang around and order again - she was making my blood boil. Instead, I headed for the drive through on the highway on the way down the coast. The coffee isn't quite as good, but at least it would be obvious what queue to be in.
'That'll be 5.90' said the girl serving me, holding out the machine for the phone tap, only to receive a disagreeable beep. 'Sorry, it saids funds not available' she smiled. They weren't. My savings account was unexpectedly dry, perhaps a screw up by work who were often late paying me. The other card had expired and I couldn't recall a pin to the other. It was fast looking as if a coffee was out of reach at all.
Twenty kilometres down the road though, I was in luck. 'Drowsy drivers die!' read the first sign. 'Free coffee!' said the second. Now that was my kind of sign, though I wasn't sure what kind of tepid and bitter brew would be served up by the State Emergency Services highway coffee stand. Steve, as his name tag said, was all smiles. 'Bad day love?' he grins, seeing the state of my blouse. 'Don't worry, a cup of coffee will see ya right!'.
As I gratefully took the cup out of his hands and took one long and self satisfied sip, I found myself dealing with that oh so familiar situation an Aussie knows oh too well. A fly was buzzing violently inside my mouth, swept in with the tide of a cold coffee 'What the fuuuuc...' I started. 'What the actual, Steve?'. The contents of my mouth, winged demon and all, hit the grass. Steve shrugged. It was clear that free coffees could not be complained about.
On the coast, I pulled into the first cafe I could find. Summer holidays had inflated the population somewhat, and the usually quiet places were thrumming and teaming with surfers with bare sandy feet, pretty influencers in linen, families, busloads of international tourists, bogans in bikinis, surf life savers in budgie smugglers, and the occasional tradie that wasn't on holiday.
The queue was long.
My patience was thin.
Yet, finding myself juggling for a space at the end of the line, I stepped aside for a woman who looked as if she needed a coffee even more than I did. 'After you!' I smiled.
'Oh gosh thanks!' she gushes. 'I've had one of those mornings!'
'I hear ya' I say. 'I almost feel cursed!'.
At the counter, I'm surprised to find my coffee already paid for. Good deeds, it seems, have their rewards. Perhaps it had been enough to lift the Karen Coffee Curse, as I had come to think of it.
Turned out it was the most delicious mug of coffee I've ever had, incident free and all. Hallelujah, my friends. Halle-faaarken-looya.
With Love,
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Just one of those days. Not often they get turned around…
You know it was fiction, right? The coffee club asked for 'mundane' inconveniences for a curse - I did write a big truck explosion which would have made it less real life haha - but it wasn't mundane so I had to delete and rewrite the bank fail haha!
Duh! I’m not on the top of my game after yesterday, so it went right over my head. Ok, fiction… LOL
Don't worry, most people didn't realise that either... :P
Some cool experience at the cafe! Glad you got it paid for at the end. Greetings from here dear River, I have missed those amazing story of yours.
Much love,
Zeegirl 🌻.
LOL - all's good that ends well. What a morning you had... I'm sure I enjoyed reading about it much more than you did when it happened. I hope you went surfing after and it made up for the Karen moment.
It was fiction, hope you know! But it could equally have been real life! Surfing always fixes the Karen moments.
LOL - oops, no, I didn't. I thought if it were fiction you would have posted in one of the writer communities - hahaha - still or maybe especially good though!🤣
Haha next time I will say! Cinnamon Cup Coffee community does run a writing prompt which is often fiction. Every week! For ages! It's good fun!
It started out as a bad day, good thing it all got better, I know the intention was not to jump the line, the person who came in your place could have said it politely and avoided that whole drama, some times it takes five or twenty deep breath, in the end I'm glad you got a good cup of coffee.
Hahah it was fiction! I hope you know that. I should have made it clear in the post.
😅 I really though you had an argument with someone, its just so common now days I usually just ignore people even let them go on if it doesnt bother me that much
Oh you kept your cool way better than I could have 🤣
In the end, though, it's those little acts of kindness, like letting someone jump ahead in line, that can turn the day around. And it's true, what goes around comes around—your coffee getting paid forward was the universe winking at you, saying, "Chill, I got you."... I think...
You are a reminder that even on the cursed days, there's some magic brewing just around the corner. Cheers! ☕
Hahahaha what a string of awful mishaps! That Karen did you in proper 😂
Thankfully karma shifted in the end, and hopefully the rest of the day was much better! Thanks for the fun read 😁
I must admit I had to delete a scene that involved a runaway truck as I remembered the prompt called for "mundane' 🤣
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
It's been a while I read your story. This is sooo good I must confess.
🤣 Thanks @teknon - haven't written one for a while. I must admit I enjoyed that final word too.
Good deeds sure have their reward.
A gesture of good sure broke the Karen curse as the day seemed to drag on with loads of negativity. A lovely read🤩✨
Glad you enjoyed my short story.
NO! Why would the universe help a Karen's curse come true! But then again, it didn't take much to break it either. Always good to be nice, even better if it gives a free cup of delicious coffee.
Hahah! Yes, I think that's the lesson. This could have happened in real life - and I think being nice to people has it's own rewards. Maybe because we're just focussed on goodness, but maybe there's something to karma in the grand scheme of things.
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