Keep Asking

Keep asking the question until you get the answer you want. NO, not on the same day. I mean spaced out....
Bob and I like to hang out at Barnes and Noble on our days out sometimes. We are there for an hour about once or twice a month. We go our separate ways to check out what we want (him History, me Bargains and later Mystery), and we meet back at the Barnes and Noble Cafe. I am usually done first, because I scoop up everything I think I want, and then sort what I don't at the cafe. Yes, I am one of those horrid people who will pick up seven books, look through them all, then select two and let the people who work their put them back. I consider it a service to them: helping them keep their job in todays economy. If you work for Barnes and Noble and are reading this, there is no need to thank me. We got to look out for one another. Just pay it forward is what I say...
Anyways, Barnes and Noble Cafe has signs up that if you sit there, you need to be a customer, otherwise find other seating around the store (which may be taken, and therefore more difficult to decide where to meet up). I don't blame them, though. The cafe is a business, and few businesses encourage loitering. Okay, coffee shops do encourage loitering, but want you to do it with a coffee and sweet roll bought from them. So, wanting the easy peasy seating, I always order a cup of coffee. But, knowing me, do you think I make it easy. But then, there is a different barrista each time I go, so neither do they!

Barrista: Hello, can I help you? (It should be "May I help you?", but I stopped being the grammar police when I stopped teaching and started a blog. Making my own errors here is a bit humbling out there, you know?)
HRM: I'm looking......What do you have that's sweet and sugarfree? (I'm still working with the Atkins. I'm not perfect. I had a cookie yesterday. Two cookies. Okay, three cookies and that's my final offer..Wait, what was I saying?)
Barrista: You can add as much equal to your coffee as you like when I hand you your plain coffee.
HRM: No sugarfree flavors, huh? Okay then....I'll take a small plain coffee. (Then I don't add equal. Unless it's a flavored coffee, I like it with cream, and unsweetened. I know. Weird. Who would have thought I'd be weird about coffee? Only everyone....)

And that is the conversation I have been having with Barnes and Noble Cafe barristas at least once a month for almost a year (since Bob and I found someone to watch mom for a few hours once a week). That is until Saturday.

Barrista: Hello, what would you like? (Oooo, I different approach. I feel hopeful already.)
HRM: What do you have that's sweet and sugarfree?
Barrista: We have sugarfree carmel shot, and sugarfree vanilla shot.
HRM: Really? You have something sweet and sugarfree? Because you didn't always?
Barrista: I know, but we have been getting a lot of requests for sugarfree flavored coffee for a while now.
HRM: That's beautiful. (I sniffle). I'll take a large sugarfree carmel....


So that's what I learned this week. Keep asking. One day the answer might be different. In case you haven't thought of it yet, your children already know this. If I had been a smarter teacher, I could have learned it from them. But then, I was stubborn. Yes, I mean the double meaning: to stubborn to learn it then, and too stubborn to give them their way just because they were being annoying. Anyways, if your grocery store, coffee shop, or whatever doesn't have what you want, keep asking anyways. (People who want sugarfree coolwhip, take note). The answer may change. Then again...




So this duck walks into a pet store and says to the clerk, "Got any duck food?"
"No", says the clerk, "we only sell dog food and cat food."
"OK", says the duck and walks out.
The next day the duck walks in the store and says "Uh, got any duck food?"
The clerk once again replies, "No, like I told you, we only sell cat food and dog food."
"OK", says the duck and walks out.
The next day the duck walks in the store and says "Uh, got any duck food?"
The clerk says "Hey look, I told you two times already that we only sell cat food and dog food!"
"OK", says the duck and walks out.
The next day the duck walks in the store and says "Uh, got any duck food?"
This time the clerk yells "We don't sell any duck food and if you come in here one more time asking, I am going to nail your little webbed feet to the ground!"
"OK", says the duck and walks out.
The next day the duck walks in the store and says "Uh, got any nails?"
"No", says the confused clerk.
The duck says, "Got any duck food?"