This simple phrase pierces me through. It severely comes to the fore, bringing back the memories, which I hid somewhere deep in my mind.
Rag apron
There return unwanted times of Communistic Poland, accompanied by cold, not fresh herring and warm vodka.
I only associate them with violet, as a rag apron of a shop assistant of Paris blue (a common name for denaturated alcohol),
with beetroot spots and fastened with brown buttons. The color of her experienced face reminded me two red glowing balls on her cheeks, put on the layer of foundation, masking the uneven battle with the rushing time. Along with the move of a hand of the clock on the wall, faded pearls adorning the wrinkled neckline stopped to emphasize what used to delight local clients.
One semi-sincere smile
This is what suits a description of a small confectionary in Warsaw’s Praga, which I was a client once and this was enough for me not to go there anymore. „Anything else?” I heard this phrase that day there too many times. The phrase, which could have sounded completely different if it was accompanied by a kind voice or a delicate move of her lips, trying to make another semi-sincere smile. Naivety and blind confidence in people were always my weak side. Finally, you face a thin line of the absurd, thinking whether you did not travel in time when entering the place, leaving behind slightly clichéd but pleasant schemes of perfect service developed in the 21st century. You are preparing to the race over the trophy of the least kind person in the place, being afraid rather of winning than losing. And you don’t know if you’re in a confectionary or trying to be a petitioner, a pawn taken on the board of bureaucracy in a governmental office.
Drink milk to be great
Leaving such confectionary, you are wondering what could you do to get revenge for ominous looks you were trying to avoid. To enter a zebra crossing just ahead of an old car as its brakes scream. Or maybe to take a cigarette out of somebody’s lips to ironically throw it on the ground saying some cliché slogan like „drink milk to be great”. Or maybe it’s better to kill this will of revenge and act with the class. These can be thoughts of people with weak nerves who meet such assistants, spoiling the Fat Thursday. Should this be a feeling of a person spending money in a shop? Shouldn’t salesmen try to establish good relations? Isn’t building the links of understanding a priority in modern times? Isn’t it important to form invisible stable relations with those who buy not necessarily cheap products?
Satiny crime
What’s worst is that the influence of similar everyday situation reflects on the society. I did not notice that a cheap music lover, standing in front of me, pet his dog waiting for him outside the confectionary when he was leaving it.
I don’t think that the woman who was standing next to me, made her husband had a great day after going back home. She must have taken her frustration on somebody. It is said that if you quarrel with a woman and she is just holding a knife, you should take out the bread and butter and she will make you a sandwich because her instinct always wins. However, I haven’t had any situation to verify this theory. But the greatest crime is mine, defiling valuable sheets of the Branch Master’s satin paper, reporting to you my short and personal story about fifteen minutes spent at one of Warsaw confectionaries.
Standing there, I was feeling the same as you’re feeling now, my dear reader. You are probably thinking that you wasted about five minutes of your life reading what I wrote. You could have smoked a cigarette or to do a good deed and make a coffee, even if it would end on somebody’s pants.
This depends on you
In the last paragraph, I mentioned naivety and the blind belief in people so I will finish this article with a positive punch line, giving you a glimmer of hope for a better tomorrow. There is a simple advice which can change the life of each client spending money in confectionaries in this country. Each owner of such places should take care of a good customer service. It doesn’t have to professional from the very first day. It should be implemented slowly, one rule after another, as on the Fat Thursday next year, they could sweetly clear the bad experiences which should not even have place. The most valuable tip I can offer you now is… start today.
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