I was in Starbuck’s recently (shocking I know) and there was a huge line. Everyone behind the counter was rushing around…it was total chaos. When the man in front of me got to the head of the line, the counterperson asked the usual “what can I start for you today?”

He stood there for a few seconds and then he said “how are you this morning?”

The girl froze…everything came to a complete stand still…you could almost hear the screeching of brakes. (Because of course the coffee tender can’t do anything without an order, and the pastry chick doesn’t know what to grab out of the case.) Picture a deer in headlights…times three.

She looked totally blank for a few seconds and then finally said “I’m good. How are you?”

“Great, thanks…it’s such a nice day out,” he replied. She smiled (this smalltalk was totally killing her…she almost looked like she was in pain). After a brief silence, he gave his order and everything got back to normal.

Then he turned to me (because I was laughing out loud) and said “that ALWAYS makes my day.”

Now why didn’t I think of that?