frapp du jour

I got the giggles at work tonight, in a bad way. First of all, we were of course crazy busy and it would have been so easy to get stressed out and cranky tonight. But there's no point in letting that happen, as it won't help matters. So I try to just get through it all and find things to laugh about in the meantime.

For example, a dorky college kid came up to the register and said, "I want that frappucino. What's it called, with the vanilla?"

I said, "You mean the cafe vanilla frappucino?"

"Yeah! It's the coffee and vanilla one, right? So what's in it?"

"Coffee and vanilla."

"Oh, really?! That sounds great! I'll have one of those."

Instead of irritating me, his earnest stupidity made me think of that scene in Dumb and Dumber, at the diner when Lloyd (Jim Carrey) asks the waitress, "What's the soup du jour?" And the waitress responds flatly, "It's the soup of the day." And Lloyd looks thrilled and says, "Mmmm. I'll have that!" (I tried to find that scene on YouTube to link here, but no such luck.)

As soon as this popped into my head, the giggling started, which might not have been a problem except for the fact that I was still trying to help this guy, and I couldn't let him know I was laughing at him for sounding like Lloyd Christmas. I kept it together until he was finished, but then for the rest of the night I'd think about the absurdity of the exchange he and I had and then I'd think about that movie scene, and I'd lose it. I don't mind, though, as that is definitely better than losing it the other way, like when the mean mean mean wicked woman made me cry last week.

Though I did have a few minutes earlier tonight when I thought I might go that way. I was trying desperately to make a couple of high-maintenance customers--who were together--happy, though they were so demanding and horrible that it was harder than hell to stay friendly and help them with what they needed, especially when a couple dozen drink orders I needed to make were backing up and people were getting restless. I did all I could and somehow stayed calm and friendly (or at least I pretended to), but I know they were still unsatisfied and I'm sure thought I was an idiot. Finally, when they were finished and on their way, I went back to work helping the other customers who'd been made to wait because of this previous couple, and I suppose despite my efforts and the not-completely-genuine smile plastered on my face, another customer tried to cheer me up and said all kinds of sweet things about how hard I was working and what a great job I was doing, etc. And then he tried to give me a tip--as opposed to putting it in the tip jar for the whole staff. I was so touched, though I put it in the tip jar anyway. Really, though, it was his kind words that touched me, not the tip.

Of course, then he also said something about how lucky my "future husband will be someday" and I laughed so hard and could only thank him for being sweet, rather than try to explain anything that he wasn't aware of. This was a young guy, maybe 25. He was there with his girlfriend, and they both seemed to be fairly alert, bright people, and tonight I was looking particurlarly--um, how should I say this--dykey. So I was a little surprised that he'd make such an innocent/blind/naive assumption. But oh well. It was funny, he was fun and sweet, and it more than made up for the jerks before him.

For every asshole I deal with, I encounter at least 100 sweethearts who make it worthwhile.