Table Four

Tales from the coffee world continue....

           Table Four

 While in the coffee industry there are not really tables to be served, every now and then there is a rare customer who comes along, who is regular enough to get the title 'Table Four'. 
  In this case,  Table Four is Kal. 

Kal brought table four to life with flare. 
  Kal and Heather were down to the coffee shop every day at the same time, generally 10:30 am. I nearly could plan my watch by their visits.  I also could plan a moment of sheer entertainment with our conversations.
  Somehow, Kal came to be one who could get away with pretending to be part of the cashier staff. Hence, I say, Table Four.
 On days I was extremely busy, Kal would lighten the moment by shouting down the line a little to me, "Rachael, Table Four needs napkins! I'll help them out..." And even though we had no tables, the point was made and the mood lightened by Kal's spirit. And thus, Table Four was born and became our theme. 
   Kal always had an entertaining conversation, in which he would walk in and include me as if I'd been in on the conversation the entire time. 
  "So here's what we're discussing today..." he would say. Then he'd proceed to endeavor into the daily topic. Many days, he was discussing the latest celebrity talk. About those things, I was always clueless, so he'd fill me in. Some days he was referring to some crazy life topic up for debate. 
   Kal did not have a clue as to what he drank, he merely walked up to the counter, told me hot or cold,  and paid and I made it. Heather, his daily "date" for coffee, would so often come along with him and shake her head and laugh and tell him to just order already instead of going on about whatever the daily topic was. Everyone knows Kal, I'd say. 
    
 We began a program within the space that incorporated veggies to our smoothies. When Kal first saw beets in our smoothie case, he could not get over that...and then I made him try one. Or rather, he broke down and agreed to getting one. He came to call it the "Earth" drink because that's what he said the beets did to it. They tasted like the earth. From that point on, he then would let me know he took care of taking beets off our order; and when they appeared back in the case, he would let me say he made a mistake and the beets should not have been in the case... Kal always had an entertaining comment, no matter what was going on in the day. 
   Like I said , Kal became one who could say to me and Tiffany that he was helping us out as part of our staff.  Usually he did this when we were silly busy and he wanted to help lighten the moment. One day he said , "Table four got upset with me and so I quit. I couldn't handle their attitudes." Again, table four was the theme. Tiffany and I would laugh about this. He'd say he would come back on to help after Table Four would leave . We'd laugh and tell him he was no longer part of our staff.  
 He pushed buttons to make my register beep because he liked the beeping noise; he pretended to do things that would be a help  but was to make us laugh, and he really always had something encouraging to say. When I told him I was leaving, he was extremely excited for my endeavors. 
  Kal became Table Four. That was always the number he chose when pretending to help us out, and thus, I told him he would be table four forever. 
 Not a drink title: A table title. A customer who brought a lot of laughs to the moment, and entertainment to the day. He also brought smiles to all the customers in line who needed that extra boost to get them through the stressful moment of waiting. I always counted on a story or a laugh with Kal. 
  Because that was Table Four to our day- fun and bubbly and always ready with a silly moment.