This came as a shocker last week when I went to this coffeeshop I frequent in the mornings when I'm not working: The barista who's been there for at least a decade, and I think has been there since I starting going there, is leaving. This is her last week, but since I go back to work Thursday, the last time I can see her is today (Wednesday).
My time seeing has been more infrequent the more I have found work. But whenever I had downtime I would fake going to work by going here, and nearly every morning she was there. She is from Indonesia, I think, and she grew into the culture the more she worked there. At first she got by with English that wasn't really broken but wasn't totally polished, so all she did was man the machines and make the drinks. Over the years her English improved to the point where, even though she was still at the back-end of service, she was able to speak enough of the language to take orders if need be. Now, her English is fine, just an accent, that's all.
She also slowly opened up as time went on. She was always kind, but initially she just kept to calling out the drink order and saying thank you. Later, I asked for a spoon (I always do here when I get my mochas) and we made small chit-chat, and then we got to know a little bit about each other. But not too much; it was only a few years ago that she told me she had a son. And it was only last week, when she told me she had to move, that she had a husband (they're moving because he apparently has been relocated). And I swear that, at least early on, she had a crush on me. I mean, she's cute, but I never was physically attracted to her.
No, she was just ... there, always. There's something to be had with consistency. I kind of feel that same way myself, sometimes to my chagrin, sort of like George Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life. But the guess here is that this barista was totally fine being a wife and mom and having as her vocation a barista, one who's been entrenched so long that people, rightly or wrongly, rely on her and even take her for granted. Hopefully she has never felt this way.
Sadly, though, circumstances necessitate this change. And I don't know if I'll ever see her again; although I will have one free day off today (Wednesday), I am doing an MRI study in the morning when I'll get out at approximately 10:30. My barista said last week that her shift ends at noon, but yesterday (Tuesday) she said that she asked to be cut an hour earlier. Therefore, there is a chance that I will miss her and that in fact yesterday (Tuesday) was in fact the last time I'll ever see her. To cover my bases, I hugged her and asked if we could still keep in touch. Unfortunately, she does not have Facebook or Twitter, and she may have an e-mail but she didn't give it to me.
So yes, there is a chance that I will never see the barista that has occupied a small but reliable part of my life for all these years ever again. And that's really, really sad. Besides the fact that someone who has been in my life will now be gone; frankly, I don't know if anyone else there will give me my mochas in a mug again, or know that I want a spoon to go with my drink. And that's change I don't want to believe in.
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