Friday, February 13, 2015

Warming up to a Customer

People have asked me if I get tips when I deliver laundry. The answer is yes! In fact, several people gave me the same exact tip today: Stay warm out there.

Thanks. That's not really a tip because they didn't suggest how to stay warm. All joking aside, I do encounter my fair share of customers that are generous enough to tip. This morning, however, was rough...no tips to be had on what seemed like the coldest day ever.

I've never seen anything like this before. Combined with the low temperatures, the high wind gusts made pedaling that much more difficult and froze everything liquid almost instantly. The sweat that accumulated in my jacket was solidifying in the pockets, and even my insulated travel mug was incapable of preventing my hot coffee from freezing. I guess I need a thermos. Otherwise, I was well prepared, layered in thermals, double wool socks, double gloves and feet warmers. It still was just barely enough.

At about 9:00, I stopped at an apartment complex in Old City. The woman I spoke with said she needed some time to get her things together. I was doing alright at this point, but there was no denying that I was cold. So she said "I know it's against my building's policy, but here's the door code. Come inside while I get things ready."

And suddenly everything was alright. Days like these, my best friends are the gracious coffee shop owners and customers like her who will let me step inside for 5 minutes until I get the feeling back in my extremities.

Money? Who needs it?

Happy Friday.

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