Grande ke Regular ni Pah Bedah?

Ever been to the New Kelana Jaya Giant Hypermarket? The one near the Kelana Parkview Condo. There's a Starbucks in the same building. I went there yesterday, with tinker. She favours Coffee Bean over Starbucks, but I like frap at Starbucks better. As we were walking towards the counter, we began discussing what to buy, which size etc. The barista said hello, and we replied politely. I was busy talking to tinker, when she, the barista, out of the blue, interrupted our conversation and asked:

"Miss, you nak guna your redemption card ke. Sorry, card tu dah expired"

Tinker: Oh..ye ke. It's ok, we're still buying.

Barista: (asking her friend) Kak, boleh guna lagi ke, penuh ni!

The Kakak: Dah lama sangat la expired, 31 Dec 04

Tinker: It's ok.

Barista: Sorry lah korang, memang tak boleh guna lah

And then, Tinker and I "discussed" about the beverages lagi.

Barista: Miss, I can't hear you, can you speak louder so that I can take the orders.

(tinker and I smiled - "sibuk jer! sape cakap dengan dia!" )

Alia: Oh, kejap...we're discussing. (put a smile on face again)

Tinker started ordering:

"Three caramel rhumba grande which is regular (explaining to me), two caramel rhumba

venti...eih, ko nak ape tadi?"

Alia: Vanila frap lah!

Tinker: Ok, vanilla frap regular, and one hot choc grande...

Barista: Excuse me, grande dengan regular tu SAMA lah korang! (over-friendly huh?)

Tinker: Yeah...I said grande which is regular!

Tinker: and...I want extra caramel for rhumba, ya.

Barista: (undermining, sheepish smile - imagine yourself lah!) Korang, kalau nak add

caramel, KENA BAYAR EXTRA TAU!

Alia & Tinker: Tauuuuuuuuuuu...(ingat aku ini orang kampung ponorogo ke!!)

(Tinker: L**, jangan cakap BM, cakap English jer, biar dia tau sket!

Alia: Alah...kalau setakat dengan dia ni, buang masa jer nak tunjuk ketereran aku

lah!)

Barista: Cream...or syrup?

Tinker: Huh? Syrup, of course.

(Tinker: L**, tak pernah aku dengar orang add caramel cream dalam rhumba.

Alia: Lantak dia lah W** !)

And then she repeated our order (with a berlagak tone) and calculated:

"Two venti caramel rhumba...bla, bla...semua sekali..."

Alia: Jap, extra caramel dah kira? Vanilla frap dah masuk?

Barista: Oo...lupa

Barista: Ok...take go ke dine in?

Alia: (gelakkan dia hahahaha!)

Tinker: Take away, please.

Barista: Alright, semua sekali - RM9*.**

I gave her RM100, and her comment was:

"Owh...korang dah kira siap2 ek sebelum datang. Bagus ek!"

(if it's not because of our longing for the smooth taste of rhumba and vanilla frap, dah lama aku blah!)

The best part was that, the guy who helped this lady barista, actually blended the wrong beverage. Dia buat vanilla frap for five grande(s)! Padan muka! Ko minum la Vanilla tu sampai kembong!

On the way back:

Tinker: Next time, we better go to Sect. 14! Dia ingat kita ni ape? Batak sangat sampai tak tau extra caramel kena bayar. Tak tau grande tu regular. Ingat kita ni takde duit sangat, pastu nak gi Starbucks siap dah kira dengan sen-sen nyer sekali, venti rhumba berapa ringgit, tall berapa, grande berapa? Ingat takde duit ke!

Alia: Biasa la tu. Ko tengok la kita pakai macam mane! Derang ingat kalau pakai track bottom ke jeans ngan t-shirt, sempoi giler, mesti takde duit arr tuh. Ngok betul!!

***

Moral of the story:

- when you feel like buying and "take go" (hahaha!) coffee at Starbucks, make sure you wear a well ironed suit, if can, carry an expensive looking laptop (in its bag lah), wear sleek stylish glasses (an educated orang kaya must-have item) and flip your purse/wallet that contains your Visa or MasterCard. (stupid!)

- don't try to explain what is grande/venti/tall to your friend, you might end up regretting your effort of making things easier for the barista, as she (referring only to the barista that I met yesterday - no overgeneralization!) will complicate it further.

- don't buy too many, they'll think you're staying in an overcrowded flat with your financially troubled friends. (but I can't help it, I have more than four siblings, and everybody enjoys good coffee!!)

- is it wrong if a minah kilang decides that she wants to have a coffee at Starbucks today?? We have to learn how to respect people and treat them equally, tak kisah lah whether you work in a kilang or a big shot in the film industry. If we fail to acknowledge people to be equal to each other, if we can't recognize human beings as ONE nation, despite of their different colours, identities, cultures and so on...then, we will never be able to free ourselves and we shouldn't regard ourselves as the so-called civilized people!!