Java on Steroids

The pace was starting to slow down and Kasana always looked forward to this, when she could get off her feet for at least fifteen minutes without the press of the machine, the whirring of the drink, the incessant calling of name after name for drink after drink.

The atmosphere was doused in the strong stimulant, you could probably smell it from two blocks away. Something fresh, strong and black - what her father had always smelt like when he came home. Somehow, that made the place more inviting, gave it more purpose and seriousness beyond the name ‘Brews’ Cues’. 

The setting was now growing familiar; the open shelves behind the counter that housed all the fancy mismatched mugs, the assorted display of beans that lined one half of the counter (they also had snacks but were always out by midday), the three booths by the windows, and then the bistro table set arrangements sprinkled all over the rest of the shop.

Because the day was drawing to a steady close, the music set the scene too. Light jazz music that blended well with the three different conversations taking place. The view outside was unobstructed and Kasana liked that she could see the yellow and blue give way to the purple and red.

The word that came to mind whenever Kasana saw this space was 'potential'. There was more to do with everything. The decor (the white and black was bland. It needed more colour), the clientele (they needed to diversify and attract more students, more happy people outside the workaholics), the drinks (not everybody was obsessed with getting high on caffeine).

Kasana took a bite of her soggy sandwich as she thought of all the things she needed to do to improve the place. It’s true she understood coffee, it practically ran through her veins, but her heart beat for photography. There was no reason for her not to do both - except the 5-foot-10, 600-pound, hoarse-voiced monster named Tania. 

Her success was riding on today’s event. She sighed and hung her head at the thought of what lay ahead of her. Decor, arranging seats as Tania liked, setting up the platform, wiping down the counter and table, cleaning the cups (because Tania didn’t want to do disposables since she was after a certain vibe). 

The idea, honestly, had been ambitious. ‘Brews’ Cues’ had only been open for two months but Kasana believed in her work and thought in the age of digital marketing, Tania was delusional to think word of mouth would get her as far as her end-of-year targets, especially when she had the shop closed by 7pm.

But Kasana's mother had raised her with the belief that she needed to add value to a place, not just sit on her good ideas, even though every interaction with Tania for the past 5 weeks had given her pause.

6:53. If the sparse customers stayed buried in their conversations, she had at least fifteen more minutes before she needed to set up for the event. 

Time ran away from her such that at 7:30, there was still more to lay out. It made sense to prepare for a small group - they had sent out the invitations late, Friday at 8 p.m. was a bad time to gather people to talk about coffee even though it had a humor spin to it. It was also a little demoralising to prepare for this particular event since it was not exactly what she had suggested.

She wanted to do something fun, like a live band for an up-and-coming garage band, game night, quiz night, karaoke - whatever else most cafes were doing. Then once they had gained traction, they could do these other things, an educational movie…on coffee, a discussion…on coffee. But Tania was resolute, an absolute mountain in her beliefs that coffee was to a cafe as everything else was not.

Kasana chose the far end of the cafe and slaved away anyway - chairs, floor, tables - no speck of dirt was going to escape her. Her job depended on it. She tried her art on the chalkboard and moved it to the front. Tania had insisted on decor but there was hardly anything to use. Even getting creative was proving difficult after the kind of day she had had. Kasana decided to keep it simple, make it look conversational.

She smiled at the overall display. Could it have been better? Yes. But was it good enough given the time, space and resources? She gave a half-shrug and snapped a few shots of it. The lighting was good, the angles were great, and the pictures were telling a story - ‘Brew’s Cues’ is inviting and its employee will bend over backward to make sure your event goes great.

The customers from before didn't seem to want to hang around for some coffee jokes but it was clear that they liked to linger beyond 7. Another thing she would bring to Tania's attention.

8:05 and no one had shown up.

She lowered her expectation to at least two people showing up, even though she had set up for thirty, practically using all the chairs in the coffee shop to make it happen. She mumbled her prayer, ‘If two people, just two people show up, I will make it to church this Sunday.’

The bell above the door announced her answer.

She turned to see Tania, looking horrendous in an unflattering shade of green and purple crochet braids. She tut-tutted at the place, most likely over the emptiness of it all. Kasana wished the ground would swallow her.

From behind Tania’s big frame stepped out a petite woman, stealing the show with neat gray pants and a white tank top. A big black purse and designer glasses on her side screamed her financial status. Maybe this was one of the potential investors Tania had been talking about. Kasana’s stomach plummeted to the floor. It took all the fading strength in her legs to walk over and welcome them.

They granted their replies, with Tania throwing her a look that could raise the dead, and walked to the seats.

“Is this it, Tania darling? Are we late? Why was I expecting something more…caffeinated?” She chuckled at her lame joke. 

Kasana whispered her thoughts, ‘If these are my two people, we need to work on that sense of humour.’

She decided to play it cool. Like this was expected. Take charge of the situation like they had told her in her Business Management classes. Own it.

She asked for their poison - a decaf for the guest and a large mocha for Tania. She felt Tania’s judgmental eyes throwing daggers at her back the entire time she worked. Finally, she brought the brew and sat as far from them as she could in the small space.

8:23. Now was as good a time to break out in a sweat and fake a panic attack. Kasana could practically see the wires in Tania’s head going off. Most of this was Kasana’s fault. She had pushed and pushed for an event. She had insisted and insisted she be in charge. She had assured and assured that it would go off without a hitch. She had ignored and ignored that she could be wrong. Tania was fully justified for enjoying the firing conversation that was bound to happen in her head.

“Do you want to start us off?” Tania offered, her voice dripping with honey that was going to stick Kasana to her pending unemployed status.

“Umm…yes…sure.” She stood up and sat down and then decided she wanted to face this standing up.  

“Right,” Kasana cleared her throat, “This is the first of hopefully many,” Tania winced, “Java on Steroids. Very briefly.” She had prepped for this but she couldn’t quite grasp the words. She fumbled with her phone to get her notes, shooting Tania an apologetic look for messing this up and also using her phone at work.

“Java on Steroids is Brew’s Cues' laughter night. We believe that laughter, after coffee, of course, is the best medicine. Hence the on steroids bit. Because…you know medicine, steroids, coffee…coffee is a drug.” Tania rolled her eyes and the guest got to her phone.

“Anyway, the jokes. Before the jokes, I thought we would get to know each other and share a funny coffee-related story. A personal funny coffee story. Uh…I’ll go first. I’m Kas Jewel. Kas being short for Kasana. I work here as the coffee maker’s right hand.” The silence was sobering.

“Okaaay. Funny story. I have worked as a barista for a few years now. So, I was on a date. A coffee date with someone and I was so unimpressed with the coffee and said they should be sued for the coffee. Guy said I didn’t know what I was talking about. I said I did. I’m a barista. He must have thought I meant the other barrister because he started peppering me with all these legal questions and I just made up some answers.” Crickets. “Anyway, it was so sad it was funny. But at least I know my coffee and won’t be defrauded.” Kasana laughed, a sad miserable thing that was just trying to save face.

“Jewel, darling,” the guest started, “I think you have done enough and I have seen enough. Tania, I guess, I will be going.”

They both sat in silence as the guest exited. Tania sighed long and loud.

“I’ll go pack my things.” 

Kasana emptied out her petty drawer that she had thought she had been personalising all along. 

All in a day’s work, she had embarrassed herself, told some lies, worked her fingers to the bone and lost her job and all before midnight. She blinked back the tears and hoped the day would end better.

It had started out with so much promise! That’s what she couldn’t wrap her mind around. There had been no grey clouds, no black birds hovering as she made the long walk to the cafe, no overspill even during the rush hour. Nothing that announced the doom she was experiencing.

Tania walked into their small staff room just as the first teardrops fell.

“Kasana.” She called her name the same way her mother did when Kasana was in the thick of the consequences of things she had been advised against. Like she was caught between wanting to be the reprimanding employer and a comforting mother. And that made her cry all the more.

“Today was very ambitious.” Kasana huffed and puffed through her tears. “But also very promising. I like that you are excited about work and seeing it grow. But growth is a process. I’ve been trying to tell you all along. Let’s shake this off and regroup, early Monday morning. Take the weekend off, take some photos. Today is not the end of the world.”

“You are not firing me?” Kasana choked out.

“Not today.” Tania retorted as she walked out. The monster was back to her fangs. But at least Kasana had her job, and now, her weekend. She could take on some gigs and rethink all the social events she wanted to do at the cafe. Tania didn’t seem so mad. 

Maybe she could be talked into another. 

Next week, they would run a photo challenge. It didn’t matter that she didn’t have all the basics down of how to work it. Tania would be impressed. And this tied both the coffee of her hands and the photography of her heart together.

Java on Steroids was only the beginning.