Customer said she liked mousse they had at Whole Foods. To the question, why had he joined the Army, customer replied — to get out of Buffalo. Customer said he was in midst of litigation, ordered large coffee. Customer crushed white cigarette box in single hand before dropping it in trash. Husband and wife communicated, a non-simple conversation, through thick pane of glass, mouthing. Young woman with nose ring; old man with baseball cap; scholar in neon reflective vest; bright faced gal receiving sandwich; family to travel to Amsterdam. Had the toilet paper run out (it hadn’t) were there paper towels still? (yes there were still paper towels; yet, like with the toilet tissue, they would soon need replacing) had someone opened the bathroom window? (no — no one had) where had the flies come from then, the drain? (no, the onions) what was the name of the Turkish currency? (no one could recall but someone had once known) would the woman in medical garb like her order to go? (yes, to go — was she going to the hospital or going home from the hospital?) Downstairs now pushing themselves up into the light screen, flies. Flies seemed little black points of my own seeing bouncing from off the visible, the seen. What my eyes and their fire cannot penetrate cause these black sparks, the flies.

Q: why was the customer taking time off?
A: had to. built up a lot he would lose

Q: why hadn’t customer voted in primary?
A: as long as it’s a [named political party]

Man closes sliding door of work van without straightening elbow: moves it part of the by turning his waist, the rest of the way by flicking his wrist. Child customer trying repeatedly to throw wad of paper at trash can: picks it up, throws it, wad rebounds off the side of the bin, “Come on Come on” (many many times.) Customer ordered plain bagel with plain cream cheese. Customer ordered oatmeal raisin cookie and Perrier. Customer ordered large skim cappuccino. The one Customer ordered a medium caramel latte and the other ordered a medium vanilla latte with honey (two friends, asian extraction, both “whole”). Young man with crutch had three drinks in a tray: small strawberry smoothie, small dark roasted coffee, small raspberry iced tea. Customer ordered medium skim latte, Customer ordered a medium skim mocha with no whip, the couple behind them (who had come with them) ordered nothing.

Customer said he found pasta “monotonous”– Pastamonous?

Attendant running into customer at bus station: “gotta get better sometime but right now it’s a cloudy day”. Customer having been raised in S.C., he said Dylan Roof was matter of time. Customer played polo south of town and was known for aggressive style of play: green iced tea and poppy seed muffin. Blond eastern European young woman: sesame seed bagel with butter. Two young white women after yoga: americano and soup, small hot lemon ginger tea. Young black man with Abe Lincoln beard and consort: medium coffee, medium tea. Customer said that, after being in a plane for four days, it was great to get in your car and see just two gauges. Attendant, outside with dustpan and broom, finds it “actually kind of clean out here already.” Customer said there were no ethical options for working in this economic system: you had to “do what you had to” to survive — then donate. (Person was strict materialist but this sounded similar to church.) Customer leaves “to go buy pears.” Customer wants nothing on bagel, just toasted. Customer wanted the sandwich the customer before her had ordered, but no red onions. Customer says coffee and carrot cake were delicious and fresh in manner suggesting that this had not been the case during previous visit. Customer says to his partner before ordering, “It’s a quiche day.” Customer says towels have run out in the bathroom as attendant removes napkin from under a table leg. Expecting to gaze into empty space attendant instead sees customer’s head — his vacuous gaze returned by a why-you-looking-at-me gaze. (I had thought I’d be looking into empty space, pupils I guess wide, but instead find myself looking deeply almost intimately into a stranger’s eyes, gaze suddenly narrowing.)

[[Then I start sweeping again.

You still don’t have a cell phone? says customer, who’d be disappointed if he did. That’s good, more of us should be like you, said phone repairman on hearing he did not have phone.