I want my muffin. please.

I have been working lately... doing a great deal of work actually... and it seems that no matter how much of this work I finish, there is still work to be done. Been there before? Everyone has their own experience with this, for me and my English Literature comrades it is now the few weeks before our essay deadline. My essays, one for each of my modules, 4000 words each... are due on May 11Th. That is two weeks from yesterday!! not a lot of time. Essays alone would be fine, but coupled with completing reports from my work in Connecticut, researching my thesis, course work for my modules, revising my resume (Brit: reviewing my CV) writing cover letters and applying for jobs... all this has necessitated that I am more efficient than usual with my time management.

Which means, when I stop in the coffee shop for a muffin and juice, I am not looking for a laugh. I am looking for a muffin. food. hungry. am in library for hours on end. Just sell me the muffin as quickly possible please. Yesterday when I went to buy this muffin and juice I came across someone who thought it would be fun and playful to joke with me whilst withholding my food. Anyone who has ever met me knows that this is a bad idea in general, the withholding of food, but especially these days. Turns, out, it isn't funny. It caught me off guard because I am not used to banter or much customer service in England, you ask for it, they give it to you, you pay and say thank you and goodbye. perfect. But NO.

Here is an approximation of the exchange I had yesterday with Mr. Funny Man:

me: Can I have a blueberry muffin please?
man behind the counter puts the muffin on a plate
me: I would actually like that muffin to go please.
man behind counter puts muffin in bag and says: that is 2.00 for the bag
me: then I don't want the bag
man: is too late
me: are you serious
man: yes it is 2.00 pound for the bag and 1.95 for the muffin
me: (blank stare)
man: I am just kidding
me: don't do that. not when people have essays due. I can't process that right now.
man: Are you from Germany?
me: no, i just have blonde hair.
man: really? huh.. most people from Germany don't get that joke. are you German?
me: yes
man: see, I can tell.

I mean REALLY? The thing is, that in this country, they do have different prices for to-go and to eat in, so it is not out of the question. But Tim pointed out that the joke he may have been trying to make was the whole, "oh that's 2 pounds for the bag but we'll give you the muffin free" key to that joke, is to not raise the price. I think also it was a factor that he was a non-native speaker of English, so the tone of the joke was not brilliantly presented. To be fair, making jokes in a second language is one of the more difficult levels of language acquisition.

Good news is that the muffin was tasty but I will most likely wait until I am under less pressure to eat in that cafe again.

Okay. Off to do those essays that I previously mentioned. hugs.

update one week later: I reluctantly brave this same cafe where the muffin fiasco took place the previous week, and the same muffin man was working. I ventured forward to obtain some much needed coffee and was greeted with "Guten Tag!"

I don't know much German, but neither does he,; I know enough to respond to basic greetings and make small talk... he thinks I am German, and so I am. That is very amusing to me.