National Coffee Day
WAWA
East Coast, USA
September 29
Nothing derails my day more than National Coffee Day at WAWA, my favorite, favorite convenience store. The day always creeps up on my and I find myself driving by a store and I see the congestion in the parking lot. And then I see the free coffee banner. I immediately make an illegal u-turn or reverse too far or go out of my way with a series of left turns to get in to the parking lot. The crowd makes parking a challenge. All of us are trying so hard to get in, grab a free cup of coffee and get the hell out. So no one is paying enough attention in the parking lot.
Inside, it's every man for himself. We all start out with a degree of curtesy but then someone grabs the Half-and-Half just as someone else was grabbing it. That thoughtlessness is overlooked. But when the container is not returned within arm's reach of the other person, a few words may be exchanged.
Some people stretch the limits of a free coffee and make a large iced coffee drink to go. Getting this hot coffee to a temperature that will tolerate a 48 oz. plastic cup takes several wasted small cups and lots of ice machine mishaps.
Other people are stockpiling for the day. it is so evident when one person comes in by herself and fixes several large cups with the exact combination of sugars and creams. I saw an 85 year old woman come in. She was all dressed up and she straddled her cane against her hip and the counter and she fixed herself four coffees, put them in a container and walked out with her cane in one hand and four coffees in a cardboard container in another. I watched her walk down the street to her home.
I usually have a cup in the morning. Then I swing around again in the afternoon and if I am passing by in the late evening, I grab two cups, one for the moment and one to be reheated in the morning. And then the next day, I go back to my regular coffee consumption schedule and wait patiently for next year's great event.
