Monday 21 March 2011, 8am
Starbucks, Wisma Mulia
The badges on his apron said that my coffee was being prepared by Charlee, the Barista in Training.
Charlee's sniffling and nose wiping indicated a mild cold.
He seemed to be working at slow motion, fondle all conceivable parts of a cup or lid that may one day come into contact with a customer's mouth. I figured it was part of his training and imagined that the frequent nose wipes are a kind of snot top-up, metered out to ensure that no customer missed out.
As is customary in Indonesia, the entire process was carefully supervised by a gormless colleague with nothing else to do. She seemed friendly and bored and I named her Gladys.
I gave Charlee some feedback as he handed me the coffee. I tried to speak discretely but the language barrier required me to perform a reenactment:
"It's not good to touch the nose like this [wipe, snort] and the cups like this [fondle fondle] then to the customers mouth [gulp gulp]".
Nevertheless, Charlee seemed quite receptive. So did Gladys, who maintained eye contact with me throughout the proceedings ... smiling warmly while picking her nose.
