The Comfy Corner

So it is tradition at this coffee shop for the baristas to get to know the first names of their regulars so that they can be all cute like, "Would you like that sweetened Sarah?" And since I'm a regular, they all know my name. But there is only one barista that I have personally deemed worthy of learning her name. Her name is Marilyn. Every time I go and Marilyn is working, I'll have a conversation with her about the customers or coffee or some other highly invigorating conversation bit. This has been going on for about four or five months now.

Last week, I walked in and for the first time in forever I paid with a credit card (I normally have cash because of waiting the tables, but I haven't worked in a while, so my cash supply was depleted). Marilyn grabbed the credit card out of my hands and furiously looked at it, looked up at me and said, "NATHAN!" Confused, I was like, "Yes, Marilyn?" and she was like, "I've been so stressed out for so long cause I didn't know what your name was! I thought it was like Chris or something, but I didn't want to ask." This was one of those awkward moments for me when I laughed nervously and tried to act like I didn't care, because... I didn't care... but maybe a part of me sort of cared so I fumbled around saying things like, "Oh no...don't worry about it. Hate it when that happens." But then I started feeling bad because I never paid with a credit card. It's amazing how something can get so awkward so quickly. Why didn't she just discreetly look at the credit card and go about her life knowing my name, but not telling me she didn't know it. Way to go, Marilyn.