The Old Coot gets a warm-up

By Merlin Lessler —

I was in a brand new Starbucks near Disney World the other morning. It was early, and I was one of only three people inside. Everyone else was at the drive-thru window.

I cashed in some “stars” for a free Grande dark roast coffee (that’s medium in the rest of the world) plus a sort of toasted bagel with a sort of cream cheese. I sat there reading the Wall Street Journal on my iPad, a gift from my daughter and son-in-law in 2016. It’s a gift that keeps on giving.

Anyhow, after half an hour, I had a quarter cup of cold coffee left. I went to the counter to get a “warm up.” I asked the server to add a splash of hot coffee to the remnants in my cup. Refills are free if you are a gold card member, which I am.

He gave me a puzzled look, then turned to the new coffee making mechanism. It grinds, it perks, and it dispenses, all by itself. It’s a gadget that was developed to make the process brainless, run by artificial intelligence, the craze that has taken over the world. It gurgled, growled, hissed a bit, and poured the dark liquid I’m addicted to into my cup.

Not a warm up! But an overflowing fill up. He handed the overflowing cup to me and apologized for the results. I thanked him for trying, went to the restroom, and poured half the contents down the sink, leaving a trail of spillage along my route.

How different the world has become. It constantly makes me reminisce about the good old days when you went to a diner for coffee and toast, or whatever, and the waitress came around with a pot of hot coffee to give customers a warm-up. It still goes on at diners like the Harris Diner in Owego, New York. Sometimes, it’s not the waitress who comes around, it’s a customer who goes behind the counter, grabs a pot, and wanders table to table giving people a splash of hot coffee. I’m a lucky guy to have a foot in both worlds. One, where the machine is not as intelligent as portrayed and gives me a chuckle, and the other, where people are better at the task.

Comments? Complaints? Send to mlessler7@gmail.com.