Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Starbucks and the elusive blueberry seed muffin

I happen to spot a Starbucks and decide to drop in to see what the chatter is all about...

….(looking at the muffins on display behind the glass at the counter)

- Do you have blueberry muffins?

- Yes

- Ok I’ll have a blueberry muffin with my coffee please

- Yes, sir!

I take my order, sit at a table, grab my knife and fork and slice a piece of my muffin. The muffin clearly turns out to be plain from the inside. I show it to the waiter, he apologizes for the mistake and takes it away to replace the plain muffin with a blueberry one.
(Waiting, looking back, I catch a glimpse of the make-shift kitchen and see someone at work making something, and imagine him to be preparing me a new blueberry muffin...)

...(moments later with my new plate, and a new slice at my new blueberry muffin.) Wave at the waiter...

- Yes, sir

- Ummm…there’s still no blueberry in my muffin

El mohem I’m content by now more or less with my order, and after some convincing back and forth with the waiters in the vicinity that I don’t intend to make a complaint against them, they finally agree to grant me access to speak to their manager

…(eating away at my muffin, the head waiter shows up minutes later at my table…)

- How can I help you, sir

- Hi…there are supposed to be blueberries in your muffins

- There are blueberries but mixed in the muffins..."asl fih nas ma bet7ebbesh, lamo2aghza – tondogh!"

…(utters the last word with a projectile particle of saliva from his mouth shining in the air towards me against the backdrop of the sunlit room, landing thankfully away from my plate)

To be fair there were some blueberry seeds that could be spotted here and there, if you looked hard, in my muffin. And I was lucky to find one 3mm, and two 1mm by 1/2mm chunks of blueberry as I finally reached the last third of my muffin.

My only advice to you is that if you do go to your local Starbucks, just save your money and don't order the extra blueberries on your muffin. And the lesson learned, in hindsight, when reflecting on this enriching experience, is that I should have known better when I couldn't spot any sign of blueberries in the identical muffins displayed next to each other at the counter.

1 comment:

Seneferu said...

Regarding the spitting incident; if you notice the sequence of the words, it was a "khhh" (in 'lamo2akhza') followed by a "tu!" (in 'tondogh')...'Twas aligned in the stars, and it has been written.