Oops…

This entry is about such a small interaction I had recently and I’m writing about it because even though it didn’t bother me too much, I wanted to share.

I recently went on a quick business trip to New York and I got in on the day I had the event. I arrived at my hotel much later than I had planned and only had an hour to grab some essentials from the nearby Target, a coffee, and something to eat, as I hadn’t had the chance to yet. Picking up my food and the essentials went quickly but the coffee was proving harder to get.

I first stopped at the Starbucks inside the Target since I was really short on time. Apparently, though, because it’s summer and kids are out of school, a huge family got in line ahead of me and all of the children either couldn’t make up their minds or had very specific orders. I had to cut my loss and leave. Thankfully on my way back to my hotel I noticed another coffee shop so I thanked whatever higher power there might be, and went inside.

Even better this place had no line, just one or two people. I ordered my coffee and then stood aside to wait. Here’s where the oops comes in. I know now that the guy who ordered right before me ordered almost the exact same thing I did with only one tiny difference. When the barista announced an order, I heard what I thought was my order and since I was in a huge hurry I ran up to the counter and snatched the coffee.

As I was heading to the door, I looked at the label order on the cup and it said brown sugar instead of hazelnut (I like to flavor my coffee with hazelnut.) I was about to just say fuck it they must have messed up my order and begin to drink the coffee when I realized this might not have been my coffee. As soon as that thought occurred to me, I looked up from the cup to see the guy who had ordered before me walking up to me. He had a kind smile and l felt super embarrassed and said “oh this is probably yours” to which he said, “yeah, I think so.”

I handed it to him and immediately apologized. He laughed it off and left and I turned to wait for my actual coffee. I’m so so glad I had the foresight to look at the label before drinking it because of course I would’ve offered to buy the guy a new one and I really was short on time.

It also would’ve prolonged the embarrassing situation in which I would be forced to make small talk with the guy whose drink I stole, if he took me up on the offer. Needless to say, even though I very much embarrassed myself, it could’ve been so much worse.

Oops.