This might have happened with you if you work in a building with at least three floors having elevator facility and of course if you are too lazy to use stairs to go to the your floor. But remember that all the people involved in this short tidbit are fictional and any relation with a living being or a place is entirely coincidental. Hope you believe in coincidences. I do.
It was year 2007 when Mike used to live in Chicago and was working for an insurance company for its identity and access management portfolio. They had a team of around 10 people working together closely for that particular project. Even within that small team, he particularly has to work with an Indian lady who was a contractor and mostly used to co-ordinate with her offshore counterparts.
The building was a typical American office building with some added facilities in it's top floor. It was a four story building and part of top floor comprised of a cafeteria, which used to provide food from different cuisines involving American, Italian, Mexican, Asian, etc. You could see a big rush during lunch time, but there was relative silence at all other times with the exception of continuous arrivals and departures in one shop.
This shop was on the right corner and the first one when you come out of elevator. It has plenty of green colors and an aroma which can even faint the people with no nose. That aroma used to pull many people into the shop in morning and afternoon hours. Mike's and his Indian friend's favorite time was around 3 PM central standard time. Not a great learning was needed to understand the meaning of Tall, Grande, and Venti. Initially, Tall was a long cup, while Grande was a grand one, and of course Venti was a cup with lots of ventilation. Slowly, when each one was tried on different days, the realization turned into a discovery that Tall means Small, Grande means Medium, and Venti means Large. So great the similarity was between two languages, still the shop was called the same in any language - Starbucks.
Mike's personal favorite those days used to be Cappuccino while his Indian friend's favorite used to be Mocha with whipped cream. Espresso was the one which used to give headache. But all in all, this was the real start of caffeine in their life. Now the story turns around from the coffee shop to the transport medium required to reach the starbucks.
Elevators in the building were nice and clean cabins with capacity of holding approx 15 people at the same time, however, anything more than 6 means you will run for some fresh air as soon as the elevator stops in your floor. But the good side for a man is that the elevator always comes with the fantasy of finding a beautiful lady alone spreading aroma of lovely flowers. Mike was in a different league of men though; for him, along with that aroma, it always came with total absence of mind. Here are some classic cases:
i) Mike starts from ground floor and wants to go to top floor (say, floor 4). He forgets to press the button, and suddenly finds himself reached at ground floor (oh yeah, as if elevator ever started) and goes out thinking he has reached top floor. Same case happens when trying to go to ground floor from top floor.
ii) Mike starts from ground floor and presses button of floor 4. The elevator starts, and stops at floor 2 (or floor 3) so that others can join. As soon as elevator stops at floor 2, Mike goes out with speed of a rocket thinking he reached floor 4.
iii) This peculiar phenomenon spreads to his Indian friend as well, and as soon as Mike goes out of elevator in any floor, she also follows him with the speed of a rocket.
iv) Different combinations or permutations of case i, ii, iii doesn't happen occasionally; Mike religiously performs them 4 days in a week, sometimes 3 times a day in the same building, in the same set of elevators.
Do these cases sound familiar? Well, you (or you friends) must have experienced the first three cases now and then, but the fourth one belongs to a special breed of human being. The breed with a great thinking, "The elevator always stops at your floor !"
Anyway, Starbucks and Elevator's phenomenon has been a very close part of life since. The starbucks has come to life in different flavors such as Cappuccino, Mocha, Frappuccino, Espresso, Latte, etc. Mike still likes a Tall Cappuccino (winter's choice) or Frappuccino (summer's choice) now and then, and enjoys the sips with his wife. His Indian friend, though, has moved to filter coffee famous in southern parts of India. And oh well, Mike faces the elevator dilemma only on few days in his new office. The rescuer is the elevator which speaks in a nice mechanical voice loudly telling which floor it is.
You must be thinking how Starbucks coffee was an interesting and surprising experience even for Mike, specially with him being an American. But folks, didn't I tell you earlier that he is a fictional character! I swear.
- Neeraj Mathpal
July 23, 2012
It was year 2007 when Mike used to live in Chicago and was working for an insurance company for its identity and access management portfolio. They had a team of around 10 people working together closely for that particular project. Even within that small team, he particularly has to work with an Indian lady who was a contractor and mostly used to co-ordinate with her offshore counterparts.
The building was a typical American office building with some added facilities in it's top floor. It was a four story building and part of top floor comprised of a cafeteria, which used to provide food from different cuisines involving American, Italian, Mexican, Asian, etc. You could see a big rush during lunch time, but there was relative silence at all other times with the exception of continuous arrivals and departures in one shop.
This shop was on the right corner and the first one when you come out of elevator. It has plenty of green colors and an aroma which can even faint the people with no nose. That aroma used to pull many people into the shop in morning and afternoon hours. Mike's and his Indian friend's favorite time was around 3 PM central standard time. Not a great learning was needed to understand the meaning of Tall, Grande, and Venti. Initially, Tall was a long cup, while Grande was a grand one, and of course Venti was a cup with lots of ventilation. Slowly, when each one was tried on different days, the realization turned into a discovery that Tall means Small, Grande means Medium, and Venti means Large. So great the similarity was between two languages, still the shop was called the same in any language - Starbucks.
Mike's personal favorite those days used to be Cappuccino while his Indian friend's favorite used to be Mocha with whipped cream. Espresso was the one which used to give headache. But all in all, this was the real start of caffeine in their life. Now the story turns around from the coffee shop to the transport medium required to reach the starbucks.
Elevators in the building were nice and clean cabins with capacity of holding approx 15 people at the same time, however, anything more than 6 means you will run for some fresh air as soon as the elevator stops in your floor. But the good side for a man is that the elevator always comes with the fantasy of finding a beautiful lady alone spreading aroma of lovely flowers. Mike was in a different league of men though; for him, along with that aroma, it always came with total absence of mind. Here are some classic cases:
i) Mike starts from ground floor and wants to go to top floor (say, floor 4). He forgets to press the button, and suddenly finds himself reached at ground floor (oh yeah, as if elevator ever started) and goes out thinking he has reached top floor. Same case happens when trying to go to ground floor from top floor.
ii) Mike starts from ground floor and presses button of floor 4. The elevator starts, and stops at floor 2 (or floor 3) so that others can join. As soon as elevator stops at floor 2, Mike goes out with speed of a rocket thinking he reached floor 4.
iii) This peculiar phenomenon spreads to his Indian friend as well, and as soon as Mike goes out of elevator in any floor, she also follows him with the speed of a rocket.
iv) Different combinations or permutations of case i, ii, iii doesn't happen occasionally; Mike religiously performs them 4 days in a week, sometimes 3 times a day in the same building, in the same set of elevators.
Do these cases sound familiar? Well, you (or you friends) must have experienced the first three cases now and then, but the fourth one belongs to a special breed of human being. The breed with a great thinking, "The elevator always stops at your floor !"
Anyway, Starbucks and Elevator's phenomenon has been a very close part of life since. The starbucks has come to life in different flavors such as Cappuccino, Mocha, Frappuccino, Espresso, Latte, etc. Mike still likes a Tall Cappuccino (winter's choice) or Frappuccino (summer's choice) now and then, and enjoys the sips with his wife. His Indian friend, though, has moved to filter coffee famous in southern parts of India. And oh well, Mike faces the elevator dilemma only on few days in his new office. The rescuer is the elevator which speaks in a nice mechanical voice loudly telling which floor it is.
You must be thinking how Starbucks coffee was an interesting and surprising experience even for Mike, specially with him being an American. But folks, didn't I tell you earlier that he is a fictional character! I swear.
- Neeraj Mathpal
July 23, 2012
