For all the chatter I put up on here about Starbucks, you'd think I was a card-carrying member. Oh wait, I kind of am. Gold Card! Ehem. OK, so you'd think I held stock. Or marketed for them. Now there's a good (bad) idea!
Today is Friday, and as such, I treated myself to the usual Americano (yes, I'm aware that I appear to be an addict) and a happy-Friday-to-me-plus-I-ran-out-of-time-for-breakfast-'cause-I-couldn't-get-moving-this-morning cinnamon coffee cake. I walked to the good Starbucks and paused in the entrance as I finished a phone call. In that minute or so, a blind woman and her Seeing Eye dog passed me and entered the building.
She was just in front of me when I got in line. I had to fight the urge to pet her insanely-well-behaved dog (it looked so cute just sitting there nicely and patiently in the Starbucks line). It wasn't the first time I've considered what it might be like to live in the city or attend college with the extra challenging element of being blind. I wondered if someone previously had to help her find her way to the counter (surely seeing eye dogs can get you places and keep you from being run over in traffic, but they can't interpret the purpose of your entering a building (i.e. take you to the counter to order), or can they?).
She stated her order and the man behind the counter smiled, put the cup on the counter and said, "it's already set!" She laughed, "you made me say all of that first?" And he responded, "I wanted to make sure I'd gotten it right."
Just as I was internally debating if it was easier for someone who is blind to pay for things via credit card or cash, she pulled out her wallet and felt for the cash. I immediately noticed how organized her wallet was. Where my wallet's numerous slots hold various cards and photographs and slips of paper and receipts, hers remained cleanly empty. Her wallet was for cash and coin and nothing else.
The Starbucks woman handed her the change, paused, and then handed her the bills, stating clearly how she had ordered the currency so the girl knew. She then waited for the wallet to be put away, scooted the cup so the girl could grab it, and passed her a pastry bag.
Maybe I'm just feeling overly mushy, but I was touched by how kind (but not overtly so. They were not sickeningly babying) the Starbucks staff was to this patron. I felt a little mesmerized, observing how smoothly and nicely the whole interaction had gone. Then I snapped back to reality when the man asked me for my order. Hopefully I didn't come off as one of those crazy people who fixates on the disabled. I should have said, "oh, don't worry. I'm not being rude, I'm a writer. My job is to observe!" I think the guy knows me well enough, since I tend to frequent... I mean, what? I'll now distract you with Seeing Eye puppies!
Happy Friday. Happy weekends to you all!
x Andrle x
Friday, May 14, 2010
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2 peep(s) talked back:
I wondered if someone previously had to help her find her way to the counter (surely seeing eye dogs can get you places and keep you from being run over in traffic, but they can't interpret the purpose of your entering a building (i.e. take you to the counter to order), or can they?).
Your friendly neighborhood behaviorist here! And actually, it is amazing what you can teach any animal with the correct motivators! Just a guess, but I think is highly likely that seeing eye dogs are trained to recognize where cash registers are. Their boxy appearance is fairly universal (especially when you have the color blindness of a dog). It would probably be a convenient starting place for most stores. After all, most other shopping experiences probably require some level of assistance when you're blind ("Dammit, Lassie! Bad dog! I said shoes, shoes! Not 'shorts'").
With that said, my dog can tell the difference between my outside shoes and slippers! He thinks I'm trying to trick him whenever I'm tired and forget to change them before taking him outside. (It's sad he's often more wake then I am)
two things. 1: this was not typed and then scanned and uploaded (you could have at least used Times New Roman :p ). 2: I remember hearing someplace once that training for cats and dogs (in a showbiz sense), is largely the same. They do the "trick," and you have this spoon that has a clicker that you do so there is an auditory cue and then you give the food. With the dogs, after a while you can stop giving the food and just make the click. With cats, they will stop doing the trick if they learn the treat has stopped coming.
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