Nemo's Coffee - Odd Conversation #1

With me having a quirky sense of humor and all, it is not uncommon for odd conversations to occur here. Here is one typical conversation that seems to happen much too often:

CUSTOMER: Do you have any unique flavored drinks?
JD: We carry approximately 30 naturally flavored Monin syrups, but we also have several specialty drinks made with real ingredients. The most unusual is probably our cottage cheese-tuna fish latte.

Now, the conversation typically goes one of three ways:

1. Customer and/or innocent bystanders realize they are in the presence of a comical genius and laugh so hard they snort hot foamed latte milk out their nose, just like in 3rd grade lunch. There is nothing like a 2nd degree burn in your nasal passage.

2. Customer and/or innocent bystanders realize they are in the presence of a potentially dangerous mental ward escapee. They flash an uneasy smile just to indicate to me that they are playing along and cooperating. They secretly wonder what I did with the real people who are supposed to work here.

3. ...and on a few rare occasions, we get customers who actually believe that we offer a cottage cheese - tuna fish latte. Their face goes blank while they try to imagine what a tuna fish latte would taste like. They typically forget about the cottage cheese part because, frankly, cottage cheese would not be the dominant flavor in this drink. The conversation picks up something like this:

CUSTOMER: So, how many of those do you sell?
JD: Oh, not very many... In four months, I think we have sold approximately ZERO tuna fish lattes! Would you like to be the first to try it?
CUSTOMER: Uuummmmm... I think I'll go with the vanilla this time. I'll try that one some other time.

The #3 type customers, referred to as "The Believers" make being quirky worth-while. If you are one of them, I'm not making fun of you. All this laughing is WITH you, not AT you...

Today's Accomplishments:
Up at 6:00, got kids off to school.
Went to the shop and prepared a Sam's Club order worksheet (check inventory and determine needed products)
Went to Sam's Club for the fourth time this week.
Back to the shop.
Completed my weekly deposit summary sheet. Prepared a deposit for the bank. Counted the change bank (rolls of quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies as well as 1's and 5's).
Went to the bank and completed the deposit, with the typical issues. We have used our bank for approximately 11 years, but a different branch. There is another branch very close to our shop, and that is where we do our business deposits. They count it wrong about 75% of the time. One time when I did a change order they gave me too much $$. I told her that I had counted it as she put the rolls of coins in the box and that there was too much money. She insisted that she was correct. I suggested that she re-count it. She refused, saying she was absolutely sure that she gave me the right amount of money. OK, I realized that my options were to take the money, or challenge her to some sort of duel. She weighed more than me, and to be honest, she looked tougher than me. I decided against the duel, thanked her for the tip and left. I counted it back at the shop and I was correct, she gave me too much money. Oh well...

Getting back on track here...

Got the kids after school.

I then went home to pick up my matt cutter so I could cut a custom matt for a 16" x 24" print for a customer. I also got my video equipment so I could charge the batteries in preparation for tomorrow's wedding.

Came back to the shop and worked for awhile.
I haven't used the matt cutter for many months, and I kind of forgot some of the intricacies. I had to download the user manual from the Logan website. Isn't the internet awesome?? I read instructions (not an easy thing for a guy to do, let alone admit it). I cut a practice matt perfectly, then started measuring for the client work. My friend Shannon came in and talked to me about the wedding we are doing together tomorrow in Green Mountain Falls.

Shannon left and I realized it was almost closing time. I helped Michelle close the store, then spent 45 minutes cutting the matt and mounting the print for tomorrow.

Cooked 20 eggs in preparation for making breakfast burritos (sausage and potatoes already cooked).

Made 14 breakfast burritos.

Backed up my external 500GB hard drive to my other external 500GB hard drive (I keep two external copies of all of my client photography data and our business data. One hard drive stays at the shop, the other goes home with me each night).

Prepped Katie's senior photo session images for batch proofing.
Wrote an action in Photoshop CS2 to batch process her 300 images; ran the action...

Checked the paper for special lease opportunities for new vehicles. We currently need two reliable cars that can haul around three kids. I hate to say it, but my '69 Chevy needs some work. The alternator went out, so I have to charge the battery every few days. My Jeep Cherokee needs new brakes (not just pads, but drums/rotors, etc). The Jeep also overheats on trips longer than 20 minutes. The reason I got to thinking about this is because I have to drive to Green Mountain Falls tomorrow for a wedding, and I started wondering if I would make it. I decided to leave two hours early just in case. I ended up working it out for Shannon to pick me up instead... I'll be riding with him... Anyway, Subaru has a $159 a month lease on their new Impreza Sedan and a $239 a month lease on the Outback. Both are no money down lease options. We can do a business lease for a vehicle and have two reliable cars instead of one... Just a thought...

Wow, it is Midnight already...

OK, I have had very little sleep this week (4 hours Monday, six hours Tuesday, Four on Wed, four last night, and I'm in line for five tonight...)
I've got to run so I can get a little sleep and be functional tomorrow...

JD