(no subject)
Oct. 4th, 2002 01:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quislibet[Transcription of entry written by hand about 14 hours ago]
I'm writing this with a green gel pen at Logan Airport; apparently the work-a-day black ballpoints I usually keep in my bag are not there at the moment. I could also use an eyeliner pencil, I suppose, kept in case of emergency goth-clubbing, but really it is too small for clubbing goths and I suppose there isn't much need for it.
Travel is vexing. Being places is pretty cool, but going to them is not. The Salem-to-Boston-via-Logan bus took a little longer than I had expected, but at least it bothered to show up on time, something the North Shore buses are not always good at.
I had a pleasant read on the way -- beginning book 2 of P. Pullman's His Dark Materials -- and at last we arrived at Terminal C. I needed to get to Terminal B, and perhaps it is a short walk, but it is not easy to tell with all of the construction. It was a while before the shuttle came, and then it took a circuitous route, so that I had been at the airport for 30 minutes before I came to Terminal B.
Eventually I found my check-in counter -- signs misled -- and noted that my flight was not on the departures list. There was no line, and the check-in guy assured me that my flight would depart as scheduled and would be boarding a half hour hence.
As the gate area has no restrooms or other amenities I went in search of iced coffee on the plebeian side of the metal detectors and found a Dunkin' Donuts counter with a long line. It was slow-moving, and I was feeling agitated until it occurred to me that if my plane crashed I would have spent my last few hours on this earth mad at buses and donuts.
My relaxation efforts were, however, challenged.
There is really only one way that a Dunkin' Donuts iced coffee can be potable, in my opinion. It must not be flavored; it must not be watered down with too much ice; it must have milk instead of cream; it must have but one small scoop or packet of sugar. Getting regular coffee-flavored iced coffee usually isn't too difficult, so I concentrate on the other three. As the default for D.D. is to serve their iced coffee with about three inches of cream and 8 - 10 scoops of sugar, and then to fill the remainder of the cup with ice, leaving room for only the barest suggestion of the coffee itself, it is a constant struggle -- on those occasions where it is D.D. or nothing -- to obtain the stuff properly formatted. Certainly when I order "iced coffee, MILK and ONE sugar, not much ice," it is unavoidable that the average D.D. employee will fail to remember all three conditions. This conclusion is, admittedly, based solely on anecdotal evidence.
I chose in this case to make it a little easier, packets of sugar being available at the counter: I would add my own sugar. When at last the time came, I spake: "Medium iced coffee --" "Cream and sugar?" the woman interrupted. "Just milk, not cream, and not much ice." "No sugar?" "Right. Just milk, and not too much ice."
Her first action was to take a cold-cup and put 8 scoops of sugar in it, dissolving it with a splash of hot coffee before turning to the ice bin -- very clever, except in one key respect.
"Is that for me?" I said. "I asked for no sugar -- I thought you understood that."
She looked quite put upon, but started over. I ordered a coffee roll to accompany the beverage. The price was lower than expected -- considerably so. I gave her my fiver and she said, "Oh, I forgot the iced coffee," ringing that up as a separate transaction.
The coffee is too bitter; I suppose it could use more ice or more sugar.
---
Just before writing the words "properly formatted" above, I boarded my plane, which exists after all as promised. It's one of those smallish ones with only two seats on one side and one on the other. As I write this, we are now in the air, in those frightening few moments when gravity must take notice of us or else let us go. But soon we will be above the cloud cover where gravity can't see us, and where it will be shockingly sunny, unlike the gray day I have -- at least temporarily -- left behind
I'm writing this with a green gel pen at Logan Airport; apparently the work-a-day black ballpoints I usually keep in my bag are not there at the moment. I could also use an eyeliner pencil, I suppose, kept in case of emergency goth-clubbing, but really it is too small for clubbing goths and I suppose there isn't much need for it.
Travel is vexing. Being places is pretty cool, but going to them is not. The Salem-to-Boston-via-Logan bus took a little longer than I had expected, but at least it bothered to show up on time, something the North Shore buses are not always good at.
I had a pleasant read on the way -- beginning book 2 of P. Pullman's His Dark Materials -- and at last we arrived at Terminal C. I needed to get to Terminal B, and perhaps it is a short walk, but it is not easy to tell with all of the construction. It was a while before the shuttle came, and then it took a circuitous route, so that I had been at the airport for 30 minutes before I came to Terminal B.
Eventually I found my check-in counter -- signs misled -- and noted that my flight was not on the departures list. There was no line, and the check-in guy assured me that my flight would depart as scheduled and would be boarding a half hour hence.
As the gate area has no restrooms or other amenities I went in search of iced coffee on the plebeian side of the metal detectors and found a Dunkin' Donuts counter with a long line. It was slow-moving, and I was feeling agitated until it occurred to me that if my plane crashed I would have spent my last few hours on this earth mad at buses and donuts.
My relaxation efforts were, however, challenged.
There is really only one way that a Dunkin' Donuts iced coffee can be potable, in my opinion. It must not be flavored; it must not be watered down with too much ice; it must have milk instead of cream; it must have but one small scoop or packet of sugar. Getting regular coffee-flavored iced coffee usually isn't too difficult, so I concentrate on the other three. As the default for D.D. is to serve their iced coffee with about three inches of cream and 8 - 10 scoops of sugar, and then to fill the remainder of the cup with ice, leaving room for only the barest suggestion of the coffee itself, it is a constant struggle -- on those occasions where it is D.D. or nothing -- to obtain the stuff properly formatted. Certainly when I order "iced coffee, MILK and ONE sugar, not much ice," it is unavoidable that the average D.D. employee will fail to remember all three conditions. This conclusion is, admittedly, based solely on anecdotal evidence.
I chose in this case to make it a little easier, packets of sugar being available at the counter: I would add my own sugar. When at last the time came, I spake: "Medium iced coffee --" "Cream and sugar?" the woman interrupted. "Just milk, not cream, and not much ice." "No sugar?" "Right. Just milk, and not too much ice."
Her first action was to take a cold-cup and put 8 scoops of sugar in it, dissolving it with a splash of hot coffee before turning to the ice bin -- very clever, except in one key respect.
"Is that for me?" I said. "I asked for no sugar -- I thought you understood that."
She looked quite put upon, but started over. I ordered a coffee roll to accompany the beverage. The price was lower than expected -- considerably so. I gave her my fiver and she said, "Oh, I forgot the iced coffee," ringing that up as a separate transaction.
The coffee is too bitter; I suppose it could use more ice or more sugar.
---
Just before writing the words "properly formatted" above, I boarded my plane, which exists after all as promised. It's one of those smallish ones with only two seats on one side and one on the other. As I write this, we are now in the air, in those frightening few moments when gravity must take notice of us or else let us go. But soon we will be above the cloud cover where gravity can't see us, and where it will be shockingly sunny, unlike the gray day I have -- at least temporarily -- left behind
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no subject
Date: 2002-10-04 09:22 am (UTC)I have this problem all of the time. I like my iced coffee with milk (or cream) and NO sugar. I can't stand it when it's all gritty. Invariably, I am forced to watch the DD employees like a hawk, because no matter how clearly I enunciate "iced coffee with milk and NO sugar, please" they usually still try to dump gobs of it in there. Now I tend to go for chai or tea (not a DD), and this is much less stressful to order.
no subject
Date: 2002-10-08 01:39 pm (UTC)At least in my Central Square days I was able to use my knowledge of the Greek terms for degrees of coffee sweetness.