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The convenient store--somewhat less than a block away, though it involves crossing two small streets--has free brewed coffee and donuts. In theory these are only free before noon, but in practice they're both freely available for as long as they last, though they stop refilling the coffee in the mid-afternoon or so. It's a cramped little store, about 50% booze and 50% everything they could jam in there that a college student might need. (Cat litter, painkillers, milk, bread, cookies, ice cream, bottle openers, notebooks, detergent. The usual.) It's open 24 hours, and stayed open all through the break, aside from Christmas day.
And...well. It's run by neat people. There's the guy who I think is in charge, though I'm not sure if he's owner or manager or what, who will stock what customers request--there's one flavor of energy drink he keeps on hand specifically for the spouse--and find a place to jam it in somewhere. He started stocking tiny ice cream cups after I asked about them, special ordered Woodchuck seasonals for me more than once...
When I came in today, looking for hamburger buns ("We usually have them," he said, looking at the six varieties of bread, two types of bagels, English muffins, and three tortilla variants on the display, "so I guess we need to restock"), after he showed me a new apricot wheat beer that I might like, we got to talking about the Woodchuck Special Reserve Pumpkin. They only did a two-week run of that stuff, and for a while it was nigh impossible to find. He special ordered it for me--and then grabbed as much as he could again, when that sold out--with one customer swinging in to buy 18 of the 20 six-packs that he'd managed to get his hands on.
(I came in later that day, and he told me about the remaining two packs. I grabbed them at the time.)
It was established that he had never actually had a chance to try the pumpkin himself, though he'd heard a lot about it. So I ran back home, grabbed one of my bottles (four left!), and delivered it to him. He promised to order it again next fall, encouraged me to grab another donut, and I went home with my tortillas (they're like hamburger buns!), free donut, and free coffee.
One of these days, we're going to move to another neighborhood. Maybe another city, even. A quieter neighborhood, where we can get a larger house and a real yard, and maybe not have so many neighbors who like drunken shouting at 3am or to smoke (or vomit) at our doorsteps.
But damn it all, I'm going to miss that convenience store when we do.
And...well. It's run by neat people. There's the guy who I think is in charge, though I'm not sure if he's owner or manager or what, who will stock what customers request--there's one flavor of energy drink he keeps on hand specifically for the spouse--and find a place to jam it in somewhere. He started stocking tiny ice cream cups after I asked about them, special ordered Woodchuck seasonals for me more than once...
When I came in today, looking for hamburger buns ("We usually have them," he said, looking at the six varieties of bread, two types of bagels, English muffins, and three tortilla variants on the display, "so I guess we need to restock"), after he showed me a new apricot wheat beer that I might like, we got to talking about the Woodchuck Special Reserve Pumpkin. They only did a two-week run of that stuff, and for a while it was nigh impossible to find. He special ordered it for me--and then grabbed as much as he could again, when that sold out--with one customer swinging in to buy 18 of the 20 six-packs that he'd managed to get his hands on.
(I came in later that day, and he told me about the remaining two packs. I grabbed them at the time.)
It was established that he had never actually had a chance to try the pumpkin himself, though he'd heard a lot about it. So I ran back home, grabbed one of my bottles (four left!), and delivered it to him. He promised to order it again next fall, encouraged me to grab another donut, and I went home with my tortillas (they're like hamburger buns!), free donut, and free coffee.
One of these days, we're going to move to another neighborhood. Maybe another city, even. A quieter neighborhood, where we can get a larger house and a real yard, and maybe not have so many neighbors who like drunken shouting at 3am or to smoke (or vomit) at our doorsteps.
But damn it all, I'm going to miss that convenience store when we do.