They call it the magic box. It's sits at the end of the counter. It looks like a normal receipt printer but it isn't attached directly to any other machine. There are wires but they run quickly and cowardly away under the counter. If you stare at it long enough it will eventually print up a message. The message will read something like this:
Grande Latte w/ 2 raw sugars for Matthew.
Now this is a great deal if you like to order stuff from your phone and go pick it up. You take advantage of what life gives you, in this case it gives you the ability to cut in line. Yep, cut.
Now I have spent many years on this planet, and in doing so have spent many years waiting in lines. In fact we spend so much time waiting in lines, we have evolved to particularly dislike those that try to cut their way into a long line.
So needless to say when I see that little magic box start to quiver, and I'm waiting in line, and I haven't had any coffee yet, I want to pick it up and throw it against the wall.
But wait, this is just the second, of what may be many, attempts by my beloved big green coffee machine to really work me up by making me wait longer in a line. The first attempt was last year when the pastries were swapped out with tastier, healthier options.
I have nothing against tastier or healthier, but the new pastries came with an additional cost, they needed to be heated. I suppose heating them gives people that just out the bakery experience that most of us never experience anyway. But mostly it just made the lines slower in the drive through.
Do you want that heated? No I don't want that heated and the next time I'm in line please do not heat any pastries for the people in front of me. Thanks.
So the message is please don't come in unless you are picking something up. Please order and pay through your phone and stop clogging up our stores with your silly body things.
That's the message, got it.