Bull in a China Shop
Man comes in alone, looked to be in his late 50s or early 60s, and snaps at me to get my attention. Before I can speak he says, “Coke. With a lemon wedge.”
We were a tiny little cafe without the funding for a machine or the attention for a sponsership, so we didn’t serve soda.
I told him so, and he said, “I don’t think you heard me. I want a coke with a lemon wedge.” I was pretty confused, because I made it pretty clear we didn’t have coke.
Turns out, he actually wanted me to walk next door, buy him a coke, and then bring it in and serve it to him.
I told him as politely as I could that this was absolutely not happening, and he picked up the China tea cups we put at each place setting and threw it on the ground, shattering it and cutting open my ankle just a bit. (I didn’t notice until way later)
The whole cafe went very quiet, and I just kind of stood there looking at the mess of broken china. These were beautiful, rare cups that were all but impossible to replace, and I just didn’t know what to do being an 18-year-old facing up against an aggressive older man.
Fortunately, just literally a few second after the China hit the floor, a man got up from his table across the cafe and walked over.
He then reached in his back pocket and showed the man his police badge, because he was an off-duty cop.
China throwing guy did not get his coke with a lemon wedge or any food, but he did get arrested and a ticket for making threats and breaking public property. The fun part? “I JUST WANTED A COKE! IF THIS LITTLE GIRL KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT SERVICE I WOULDN’T HAVE HAD TO SET HER STRAIGHT.”
I still have the scar from the piece of China that cut my ankle. NotReady2Adult