Luxury Cafe Owner - Chapter 8 Rules Are Rules
Alan stood behind the counter in the cafe. A week had already gone by since he started working here. Though the system had issued it’s new mission five days ago, Alan had not taken any action on it yet. Frankly, his life was already going pretty well. The number of regular customers increased, and his tips managed to hold steady around $200 per day.
If he kept this up, he could afford to rent his own place next month.
Alan looked at his watch and saw the cafe was about to open. He began making a cup of coffee. As he finished it, almost as if on cue, the bell rang as the door opened and Tom walked in.
“Good morning Alan,” Tom nodded.
Alan nodded back. “Morning.” He handed the cup of coffee to Tom.
Tom smiled in anticipation as he reached for it and quickly began to sip it.
Even though the coffee was still scalding hot, Tom gave a smile of satisfaction as it hit his taste buds.
However, then his smile faded and he sighed. Alan looked at him, mildly curious. “What’s wrong? Is the coffee not to your liking today?”
“No, no,” Tom shook his head, reassuring him. “The coffee is great, as always. I’m just bummed that I won’t be able to have it in the afternoon.”
Alan thought about it and said, “You could come back here.” If he came back in the afternoon, most likely more than 6 hours would have passed, so Alan could serve him another ultimate cup of joe.
Tom sighed. “I wish I could, but this is so far from my office. It’s fine in the morning because it’s on the way on my commute, but during the day I don’t have the time to come all the way over here just for coffee. My company won’t run itself.”
Over the past week, Tom and Alan had gotten to know each other a bit better. Alan now knew that Tom was the majority stakeholder and CEO of his own real estate development company. Furthermore, it was the biggest real estate development company in the city.
Alan shrugged. “Well, I guess you’ll have to put up with bad coffee then.”
Tom sighed mournfully before accusing Alan, “This is all your fault. I didn’t care about the taste of coffee in the past, but since I started drinking your coffee I can’t stand to drink anything else. I always end up tired at the end of the day because I can’t get my second cup of coffee anymore.”
Alan smiled insincerely, “Thank you for the compliment.”
Tom looked at him balefully. “It wasn’t meant to be a compliment, it was a complaint, you understand? A complaint!”
Tom eventually had his coffee and left.
John had come out to observe this interaction. Though business had picked up, John couldn’t identify anything Alan in particular was doing to make the coffee great. Thus, he decided it must just be the coffee itself. Even though it was pre-ground, whatever beans were chosen by Alexander Willington must have been superior beans. He thought it was quite shameless of Alan to take credit for it. Still, so long as the customers were happy there was no reason for him to take any action.
The day proceeded normally until around the lunch hour.
At that point a woman came in.
She seemed to be impatient, tapping her foot as she waited behind people.
When her turn arrived, she grunted, saying, “Finally.” She stepped up and ordered a coffee.
Alan turned to make it when a notification suddenly went off.
“Host, please be advised, you served this woman an ultimate cup of joe 5 hours ago. You cannot serve her one again for another hour.”
Alan did a double take. “Wait, system are you serious? How am I supposed to refuse this woman?”
“Host, as the future owner of the world’s most luxurious cafe, how can you capitulate to the demands of your customers? Show your pride young man!”
Alan felt incredulous. “What pride? She just wanted a second cup of coffee? Plus she was going to pay for it.” However, no matter how he insisted the system refused to back down. Finally, he sighed, and turned to face the woman reluctantly.
“Excuse me ma’am, but I’m afraid I can’t serve you.”
The woman stared at him in shock before raising her voice shrilly and exclaiming, “What do you mean you can’t serve me? What sort of discrimination is this? Do your job and get me a cup of coffee this instant!”
Alan remained calm. “Ma’am, it is my personal rule not to serve my coffee to any customer more than once every 6 hours. You had coffee this morning, only 5 hours ago. Thus, I cannot serve you more.”
She continued to shout shrilly at him. John, hearing the commotion, came out of his office.
“What seems to be the problem?” He said, as he hurried over sweatily.
“Your barista is refusing to serve me coffee! What sort of cafe is this? What business of yours is it how many times I drink coffee per day?”
Alan felt a headache coming on as John turned to him. “What’s the problem? Hurry and apologize to the customer and go make her her coffee.” Turning back to the woman he said, “My apologies ma’am, the coffee will be on us.”
Alan really wanted to just go make the coffee, but he knew the system wouldn’t let him so he spoke to John. “As a cafe, we should not be in the habit of over serving our customers. The caffeine in coffee has an addictive property. Without proper management of caffeine intake it is possible to develop withdrawal symptoms such as headaches and fatigue. It’s a rule of mine to never serve any customer my coffee more than once every 6 hours.”
Alan gasped in admiration at his own ability to speak bull****. Somehow creating a health concern out of drinking coffee, who else could come up with such an excuse. He patted himself on the back as he looked to see how John reacted.
John was less impressed. He looked at Alan angrily, exclaiming, “Nonsense! It’s none of our business how much caffeine the customer chooses to consume during the day. Hurry up and apologize right this minute and then get this woman her coffee. If you keep this up, I will fire you.”
Truth be told, John initially had some reservations about his new employee. Since Alan claimed to be sent by Alexander Willington, he felt almost trapped, like he had to walk on eggshells for fear of upsetting Alan. However, Alexander Willington had never once called or stopped by. Frankly, there was no indication that Alan’s story had any truth to it. Maybe he just used the name to get his foot in the door.
Reassuring himself with this thought, John attempted to stare down Alan.
Alan, though calm on the outside, was frantically arguing with the system. “Hey, system, come on. It’s one thing to have that rule when I own my own business, but to have the rule now? You want me to become the owner of the world’s most luxurious cafe don’t you? How can I do that if I get fired?”
The system replied, “Correction, Host. As the future owner of the world’s most luxurious cafe, how can you let the threat of being fired usurp your pride. Stand tall young man!”
Alan felt like crying, but he was helpless to do anything.
He took a deep breath and said to John, “Then I guess you’ll have to fire me. I can’t serve her another coffee for at least one more hour.”
John looked at him in disbelief before shaking his head. “Collect your check at the end of the day. You’re done here.”
Just like that, Alan was back to being unemployed.