Friday, January 07, 2005
It's All in the Tone!
One of the editors has been in a quandry all day. You see, yesterday he was at Starbucks for his morning coffee, going through the daily routine. At this particular Starbucks, during rush hour the coffee is self-service, with two stations set-up (one on either side of where they make the expresso drinks). The editor likes to put a little half-and-half in his cup, then move over to the coffee, fill 'er up, and secure the lid. Yesterday, however, there was no half-and-half at the left-side station. So the editor worked through the order lines to the right-side station where he counted 1, 2, 3, 4, --5-- half-and-half's! Having empathy for his fellow half-n-half fans, instead of simply preparing his own coffee, he took one of the half-and-half's and called out to one of the baristas behind the counter "hey, there's no half-and-half's over there so I'm going to drag this one over, ok?" The barista says "yeah, thanks!" Fast-foward to this morning. The editor walks up to order his coffee and the smiling cashier takes his order, then says "hey, thanks for bringing over the half-and-half." The editor recognizes that this particular cashiere frequently is in-charge of "keeping the accouterments (sp?) filled" and was likely the person in-charge yesterday. Is he seriously thankful? Or is he saying "hey a******, thanks for making me look bad!" We think he meant the former, but you never know. It's all in the tone. Now the Monz didn't have to deal with this today because Vicki placed the order, but from our own experience we know the tone is friendly at the China Chef! Ma Po Tofu and hularice, with free egg roll and an extra-special joyous gift, two bamboo scroll hangings (they gave us one too!)..
One of the editors has been in a quandry all day. You see, yesterday he was at Starbucks for his morning coffee, going through the daily routine. At this particular Starbucks, during rush hour the coffee is self-service, with two stations set-up (one on either side of where they make the expresso drinks). The editor likes to put a little half-and-half in his cup, then move over to the coffee, fill 'er up, and secure the lid. Yesterday, however, there was no half-and-half at the left-side station. So the editor worked through the order lines to the right-side station where he counted 1, 2, 3, 4, --5-- half-and-half's! Having empathy for his fellow half-n-half fans, instead of simply preparing his own coffee, he took one of the half-and-half's and called out to one of the baristas behind the counter "hey, there's no half-and-half's over there so I'm going to drag this one over, ok?" The barista says "yeah, thanks!" Fast-foward to this morning. The editor walks up to order his coffee and the smiling cashier takes his order, then says "hey, thanks for bringing over the half-and-half." The editor recognizes that this particular cashiere frequently is in-charge of "keeping the accouterments (sp?) filled" and was likely the person in-charge yesterday. Is he seriously thankful? Or is he saying "hey a******, thanks for making me look bad!" We think he meant the former, but you never know. It's all in the tone. Now the Monz didn't have to deal with this today because Vicki placed the order, but from our own experience we know the tone is friendly at the China Chef! Ma Po Tofu and hularice, with free egg roll and an extra-special joyous gift, two bamboo scroll hangings (they gave us one too!)..
Comments:
0 comments
