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“Good for you,” he said, then nodded toward his empty hand. “My coffee.” He looked me up and down, and I could feel my face growing red.
“Jackass,” I muttered.
I reached for one of the Styrofoam cups and headed toward the back. I grabbed the Dunkin’ Donuts pod, popped it into the Keurig, and placed the cup underneath. I put in another pod when that one was done and then another. I stared at the coffee. It didn’t look like anything special, but hopefully, it would taste good.
I looked around for some oat milk and realized that we were out. Was he really going to be able to tell the difference from regular milk? I paused as I was about to pour the whole milk in. There was definitely a different taste between whole milk and oat milk. I wasn’t going to risk it. I headed back with the cup and stared at him.
“Sir, I’m afraid we’ve run out of oat milk.”
He let out a deep sigh. “Do you have almond milk?”
“Yes, sir. I’m pretty sure we do have almond milk.”
“Then I’ll have a splash of almond milk, please.”
“Yes, sir; no, sir. Three bags full, sir,” I said, nodding my head.
His eyes narrowed, and I knew he was getting ready to make another rude comment. I was about to say something else but knew I couldn’t push my luck. I was already the one in the wrong. I knew that. I knew that I was being rude and out of line. But he represented everything that was going wrong in Port Sunshine. He was an out-of-towner with a lot of money and attitude, and he was ruining our small city. Who wore a suit to the coffee shop near the beach and had a loud, obnoxious conversation while the barista was waiting on him? Only a self-important jerk. I knew I shouldn’t let my personal biases take over my natural Southern charm and hospitality, but something about this man was rubbing me the wrong way.
I grabbed the almond milk, poured a smidgeon in, and then handed it to him. He took one sip and started wrinkling his nose. He spat it back into his cup, and I tried not to laugh. The action was almost comical.
“What the hell is this shit?” he said, and my jaw dropped.
“What?”
“What the hell is this crap you’ve given me to drink?” he said. “This is not Rwandan coffee. This doesn’t even taste like freshly ground coffee.”
“Well, it is. Maybe you don’t know your coffee as well as you think you do,” I said. I folded my arms and glared at him. “You know, maybe, just maybe, if you…”
The door opened, and the bell rang, and I looked up. I could see Charlotte, my boss, walking in, and I pressed my lips together. The last thing I needed her to see was me going off on a customer, especially one well-dressed like this. Charlotte was the sort of woman that was impressed by men in suits.
“You are insolent and rude, and you should not be in the customer service business,” he shouted, and my jaw dropped again. He had not gone there.
Charlotte hurried over to us. “Excuse me, sir. What’s going on? I’m Charlotte, the owner.” She beamed at him in a way that told me she wasn’t immune to his good looks either.
“Charlotte, this employee of yours should not be making coffee. She charged me twenty dollars for a cup of Rwandan beans, and this tastes like horse shit.”
He slammed the cup down, spilling it all over the countertop. My jaw dropped at his sudden dramatics.
“Go and show me the beans that you used for this,” he demanded.
“What?” I squeaked out. I knew I was in trouble. I bit down on my lower lip. I could see Delilah looking nervous in the corner. She knew that if I wanted to, I could rat her out and get us both in trouble, but I wasn’t that sort of person.
“Rwandan beans?” Charlotte blinked. “What Rwandan beans? We don’t have any Rwandan beans.”
“I, well, you see at the back I…” I stammered. FML.
The man crossed his arms. “This is unacceptable. I want my money back.”
“I am so sorry, sir. Harriet,” Charlotte crossed her arms and shook her head, “you’re fired.”
“What?” I squealed. “But…”
“Pack up your stuff and leave, please.”
I swallowed hard and licked my lips. I could feel tears coming. Not because I cared about this job so much. The job sucked. The money sucked, but at least it was a paycheck. And at that moment, I couldn’t afford to give up a paycheck. Also, I was embarrassed to have been fired in front of this insolent, horrible man. I saw him staring at me, a small smirk on his face.
“Have a good day.” He licked his lips. “Do you want me to see if I have anyspare change?”
