Just last week, I was at 92.7 Mix FM with Sami and Ben and as usual, I was accused on air of being a grumpy old man. But on this occasion, they probed me on what had got under my skin.
Now, I must say, I was happy to comply as I had just left a new 5-star hospitality venue where I had lunch with a good friend.
It was a very nice way to spend 90 minutes: good view, good food, good staff. Everything was nice until I ordered coffee for my friend and tea with honey for myself.
It arrived promptly at a cost of $9.13, which is bizarre but I wasn’t taking much notice on what cost what. So, my mood (I didn’t really think I had one) was possibly set off by one of my pet hates, and one I must admit I have been guilty of in places I have worked.
My tea came in a cup that was half full (I could hear my dear, departed dad saying: “Tide’s out”) with a tea bag floating in it and a small container of honey with it.
Surely a 15-cent bag would be more comfortable in a small pot rather than sloshing around a cup aimlessly – the reason being that if it’s in the cup, I must find somewhere to put it.
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That means using the saucer, which will have the cup sitting in weak tea, which will drip on my shirt or, worse, on the table, setting off my OCD.
If the coffee was actually 9 bucks and the tea was 13 cents, I would not be writing this: for 13 cents, I don’t mind making my own cup of tea and disposing of the bag – drips or no drips.
I am happy not to check how much the coffee cost so I can stop thinking about it and move on to whatever else may have made me grumpy that day.
It could have been on the way to my lunch when I pulled in to get fuel and half the pumps had been Donald Trumped – so I pulled up at the back of a row of bowsers as the front ones had never made it through the Strait of Hormuz.
As I get out, some lovely chap behind me has a red-hot crack at why I stopped and not moved forward.
I cleared that up for him probably a little more bluntly than I should have and headed off for my 13-cent cup of tea.
Maybe I am a grumpy old man, and maybe I should think about all those poor souls in the Middle East and count my lucky stars.
Ashley Robinson is Metropolitan Caloundra Surf Club CEO, chairman of Thunder Netball and a lifetime Sunshine Coast resident.
