14 June 2021

Does this make sense to you?

I was sitting at a local Starbucks getting some work done. When I went to pick up my drink, something struck me in what I saw.

Do you see it?

There are two queues ostensibly for mobile pick up. They are separated by the starting letter of the customer’s name. So far so good.

Here is the problem – one has A-F and the other G-Z. That does not sound like a balanced queue load – unless Americans are overwhelming these days naming themselves in an alphabetically skewed fashion.

“Jason!”, I called out to the friendly gentleman who always helps me with my tea.
“Yes, Roy”.
“Come here. I have a question”.
Nobody was there in the store at that time. Jason came over and surveyed what I pointed at…

“Do you see the problem?”
“What problem?”
“Why do we have 6 letters in one queue and 20 in the other?”

Jason was truly flummoxed! He counted from A to F, looked at me, looked at the cards again and shook his head – “I have no idea. I just printed out the corporate templates!”.

Ah! The corporate templates! Bane of all our intelligence!!

Anyways, we had a great laugh together and I got a free cup of tea!!

Category: Travelogs | LEAVE A COMMENT
14 June 2021

“Papa Roy” !

As I lifted my eyes from the Zoom screen, I saw the young gentleman entering the shared office place I work from when in Atlanta. I recognized him immediately – but was on a call.

Once the call got over, I walked up to him and asked “Ben?”
“Yes, sir! I recognized you but was not sure what you were doing here”.

And that is how I ran into Ben Austin after a few years. Ben was part of Natasha’s close friends circle from middle school and they are still great friends. I remember him as the most level headed and responsible person in that group. Never shied from helping out his friends.

And he always called me “Papa Roy” !!

Ben also had great curiosity towards mixology. In fact, we reminisced about how, once he crossed 21, we had made an Old Fashioned together – with the cocktail smoker I had. He even remembered the wood chips we used that day!

Next time, I have an Old Fashioned – I will raise it to this young, aspiring medical professional!!

Category: Intersection Points | LEAVE A COMMENT