Log 60: Real Conversations

The following is a real conversation I had with a customer at work today:

A middle aged guy walked up to the counter, where I was working the register. I greeted him and asked what he would like to order. 

“I’ll take a hamburger,” he said evenly. I was approaching the end of what had been a pretty long day - I figured I must have misheard him. Do we perhaps have a flavor that sounds like “hamburger”? 

“Sorry, could you say that again?” I asked him with a smile.

“I'll get a hamburger,” he repeated. Okay, he definitely said hamburger that time, I concluded. My mouth hung slightly open for a moment as I wondered how to explain to the man that this was a shave ice shop - and therefore did not serve hamburgers - as gently as possible. 

“Um... no, sir, this is just a shave ice shop,” I clarified, satisfied with my response. The customer nodded his head and held out his credit card to me.

“So can I get a hamburger here?” How is he still standing here?

“No, we don't have hamburgers,” I explained.

“Oh,” he harrumphed, walking away from the counter.

Highlight: Earlier in the week, one of my moped tires went flat and ended up getting jostled off of the inner wheel slightly, rendering my bike un-rideable. For a few days, I made my work commute either by bus or by asking a coworker for a ride.

I got in touch with a mechanic in Lahaina, who had a shop about 1.5 miles from Hakuna Matata. On my day off, I resolved to put my scooter in neutral and push it there.

The first few blocks were no problem. Then, my arms started to burn, my legs started to ache, and I was drenched in sweat. On the brink of giving up, I set the moped on its kick stand to rest for a moment.

“What’s wrong with it?” I turned around to see a couple of construction workers standing in front of a half finished house. I told them about the flat tire, and one of them nodded, disappeared into the house in progress, and returned with something I recognized all too well.

The guy fixed my bike with a pressurized air gun identical to the ones at Featherlite. I thanked him profusely, then went to the store and brought them back some cold drinks.