by Andrew Reise
He chuckled somewhat evilly as he daydreamed about the money he'd earn.
He quickly sent out a tweet. "If you doubt the hype, come check out the cafe for yourself. Put your money where your mouth is. We open in 30 minutes."
The tweet instantly got retweeted, liked, and replied to by his many followers. Alan put his phone down in satisfaction, finished his coffee, and cleaned up in preparation for the day to come.
Chapter 12
Gerald had just finished showering and was putting on his suit and tie in preparation for another day's work. He had just returned to City A in preparation for the opening of the new store.
As was his habit, he scrolled through his Twitter feed. It might seem strange for a CEO of a company to pay attention to social media, but for him he mostly followed businessmen and women, as well as business news outlets. As a result, by scrolling through his Twitter feed he could catch up on any news he might have missed. However, this time something interesting caught his eye: Alan's tweet.
He read it and couldn't help but chuckle slightly. That level of confidence seemed to fit with the strange cafe and its equally strange owner.
He finished getting dressed, adjusted his tie and his cuffs to perfection, and stepped out into the dining area. His staff had already arranged breakfast in front of him.
As he approached the table and begin to eat, his butler appeared at his side and said, "Sir, I wanted to inform you that the beans used in preparing today's coffee were directly imported via private jet from the Prosperidad coffee farms per your request."
Gerald nodded in acknowledgement. The butler withdrew, and Gerald continued to slowly eat while reading through Twitter. As his throat began to feel parched, he reached for the steaming cup of coffee and took a slight sip of it.
As the coffee hit his taste buds, he frowned. He raised his hand and the butler reappeared by his side. "Is this really from the Prosperidad coffee farms?" He asked.
The butler confirmed it was. Gerald shook his head. "The chef must have made a mistake in the preparation of the coffee. Tell him to fix it for this afternoon."
The butler acknowledged the order and once again vanished as he went to inform the chef of the critique of their employer.
Elsewhere, Alan finished preparing his own coffee, and sipped it in silent satisfaction while sitting in his favorite armchair in the store.
He noticed a line had already formed in front of the cafe. He grinned to himself, happy that today would be another profitable day.
Throughout the day Alan found himself beset by customers. Some were return customers, or those who missed out at first but came because of the hype. Initially a large number of them were internet trolls who came to cause trouble. However, once word spread through the line thanks to word of mouth and angry tweets that he wasn't serving cappuccino in the morning, a large number of them left.
As the afternoon rolled around, Alan checked his phone and noticed the large number of complaints people had tweeted at him. Smiling to himself, he sent out a tweet.
"Who told you to not look at the rules before coming? We only serve cappuccino after 3 pm. If you don't have the money to buy a cappuccino just say so, no need to make up some excuse."
He smirked at his own shamelessness. At the end of the day he was just promoting his cafe by fighting the trolls. Most of them would probably realize it, but that doesn't change the fact that it still goaded them. If you trolled people all the time, it was hard to hold back from a challenge just because you knew you were playing into the opponents hands.
He watched with glee as his tweet gradually started to trend on Twitter again.
There was a temporary lull as customers drifted out. However, as the clock struck three in the afternoon, a massive surge of customers came in.
The trolls had arrived.
Alan narrowed his eyes before smiling. "Welcome, what can I get you?"
The first customer was a young kid. He was dressed in designer clothes that indicated wealth, but his age showed there was no way he'd earned it himself. He was clearly a trust fund brat, and based on the disdainful look on his face, he must have been one of the naysayers on Twitter.
"Give me a cappuccino to go." He said snidely.
For the first time ever, Alan took secret joy in saying, "I'm sorry but we do not serve coffee to go at the moment."
The trust fund brat was taken aback, but he quickly recovered. "I'll just take a picture of it and share it online and leave." Thinking that to himself, he gave a huff of annoyance and said, "Whatever, just hurry up and get me a cappuccino."
Alan eyed him but gave a nod. After all, he didn't care if someone treated him poorly so long as they followed the rules and paid him good money. He accepted the brat's credit card and swiped it, waiting to make sure it was accepted before returning the card to him.
Alan made his cappuccino and served it to him. Alan then took the next order. However, he kept an eye on the brat as he spoke with the next customer.
The trust fund brat initially smirked as he took the cappuccino, but upon seeing it a look of shock appeared on his face. A blossoming tree appeared in the foam, so intricately designed he thought it might have been sketched on it. His expression darkened as he realized he'd made a mistake. After spouting all that nonsense on Twitter, it turned out the cappuccino really was that impressive.
However, he wasn't about to back down. The truth didn't matter. All that mattered was appearances. He cast a look around him, making sure no one was looking; once he felt assured he was not being observed he quickly stuck his finger in the foam and mixed it around, ruining the froth art. Then he pulled out his phone and took a picture. Satisfied he got up to leave.
As he did so, however, Alan's voice rang out.
"Excuse me. All customers must finish their coffee."
The brat looked over. "What?"
"You haven't even touched your coffee." The brat smirked slightly when he heard that, but then continued listening. "One of the rules of this cafe is that everyone must finish the coffee they order."
The brat ignored him and walked out.
Alan shook his head. The system suddenly rang out with a notification.
"Customer Zachary Taylor has failed to finish his coffee. He is hereby banned from the restaurant."
An image of the trust fund brat was burned into his memory, seemingly literally as it caused immense pain for a moment.
Shaking his head at the sudden pain, he turned back to the next customer.
The evening proved to be as busy as the morning; a near endless stream of customers came in one after another.
At the end of the day, checking the sales record for the day, Alan's eyes filled with dollar signs as he stared at the final number.
His nose started bleeding out of nowhere.
As he wiped it while grinning to himself the system chimed in.
"Host, thank you for once again educating the system."
Alan was suspicious at this sudden gratitude but decided to play along.
"What did I do to educate you System?" He asked.
"My database shows that an age old question is what motivates humans the most? Sex? Food? Shelter? Rage? What emotions or instincts have the most influence on humanity? Previously, the system believed that it was sex, the urge to procreate. However, Host has enlightened the system by showing that humans can even get so excited by money that their nose will bleed. Thus, the system must reconsider its conclusion."
Alan was silent for a moment before saying. "Of course money is more important than procreation. I can adopt a kid but I can't adopt money."
For once, the system was left speechless.
Alan whistled in joy as he went back to staring at the sales record.
"I should fight trolls on Twitter more often." As he thought this to himself he noticed a new tweet about his cafe that was trending.
The name of the account that tweeted it instantly stuck out to him: Zachary Taylor.
Alan sh
ook his head. Of course it was that brat.
He pulled up the tweet. A picture of his cappuccino appeared in front of him. However, the froth art he'd designed had been ruined.
Alan frowned as he read.
"Went to that cafe today," the tweet read. "I think this picture says it all."
Alan was about to tweet a reply when he suddenly had a better idea. He went downstairs.
When he returned he had a thumb drive with him.
He put it in his computer and quickly pulled up the video files on it.
He scrolled through it until he found a file labeled the current date. He opened it up and an image of the interior of the cafe popped up.
He sped through the video until he got to 3:00 PM. He relied on the timestamp on the bottom right of the screen.
Then he paused when he got to where Zachary Taylor had messed with the cappuccino. His face was clearly visible in the footage.
Alan grinned. "Little punk didn't even notice the security cameras."
He cut and edited the clip until it only contained the necessary scene. Then he saved it as a new file titled: gotcha.
He uploaded the clip and tweeted it out saying, "Zachary Taylor went to the cafe today. I think this video says it all. Additionally, for violating the rules and not finishing his coffee he's banned for life from Lux Cafe."
Then he tweeted it out.
The response was pretty quick from the community. Everyone enjoyed watching drama like that unfold, especially when it ended in a face smacking moment. He quickly started trending again.
He shook his head. "They make it too easy." He checked through the other tweets and saw some people insulting the taste of the coffee and stirring up more trouble. However, he ignored them. It wasn't because he was kind hearted, but because other people had already scolded them. Moreover, he had already taken all the attention away from them with his tweet. If he responded to them it would just give them more attention.
He grinned to himself and put his phone away.
However, as he did so he had the nagging feeling he had forgotten something.
As he thought about it, wondering what it could be, the system chimed in.
"Host, as a reminder the espresso and coffee cake are available and may be added to the menu."
Alan ground to a stop as he realized he'd completely forgotten about them. If he'd served the espresso today he'd have been able to serve way more customers. People had left the line because they didn't want to wait that long, not to mention some people chose not to stay once they heard they couldn't get the coffee to go.
On the street outside the cafe a miserable cry could be heard from the second-floor.
Insult a miser all you want, but the true way to hurt them is through their wallets.
The next morning Alan got up early and made sure to add the espresso to the menu. He still couldn't add the coffee cake as he didn't have the ingredients to make it.
He grumbled to himself as he made himself his coffee and drank it. Checking his phone he saw the twitter controversy had largely died down. That Zachary Taylor had been scolded to the point that he'd been forced to delete the tweet and issue an apology.
Alan marveled at how fast the internet could turn on people. He decided to keep it in mind and not let his mild internet fame get to his head.
As he sat there, the system's voice rang out.
"Attention, Host. The system is issuing a new mission. Host has seen a large increase in fame which resulted in many new customers. However, Host has yet to build a regular customer base. Regular customers are key for the success of a cafe. Please endeavor to obtain 100 regular customers."
Alan was curious. "System, what are the requirements for someone to be considered a regular customer?"
"Host, a regular customer will come to the cafe at least twice per week."
"Is that all?" Alan asked, surprised.
"That is all, Host." The system replied.
Alan began to grow suspicious as he thought, "Since when did the system issue such simple quests?"
"How many regular customers do I have currently, System?" Alan asked.
"Host, that will be determined after a month has passed."
Alan put aside his suspicions and nodded his head indicating he understood.
Then he went about preparing to open the cafe.
When the time came, he opened the doors and instantly saw a familiar face.
"Morning Tom," Alan greeted.
Tom grunted in reply.
"Something wrong?" Alan asked curiously as he went back behind the counter.
Tom shook his head. "It's just been too busy here lately. I have to wait way too long for my coffee and then I can't just relax and drink it because I spend so much time waiting I need to rush off to get work done. Chugging a hot coffee is not exactly an ideal experience."
Alan nodded sympathetically.
Seeing this Tom pushed on excitedly. "So, that's why I think you should offer coffee to go-" He got cut off before he could say anymore by Alan shaking his head.
Tom started to grumble to himself when Alan spoke up. "I'm not offering coffee to go, but I decided to add a new drink to the menu to resolve the issue."
Tom looked up at the menu in surprise. His eyes landed on the new word up there: espresso.
"Is it a shot of coffee?" He asked in surprise.
Alan nodded his head. "It's only available in the morning, as it has a very strong immediate effect that would be unhealthy later at night."
Tom shook his head, refraining from commenting as he was already used to Alan making random rules.
"I'll go ahead and try it." Tom said.
Alan nodded and went to go prepare the first shot of espresso served in the cafe.
Alan went and began to grind coffee beans for the espresso. The coffee, after being ground, appeared like granulated sugar. Then he carefully divvied out about 14 grams of the now ground coffee. Technically such an amount was considered a "double shot" of espresso. However, it was essentially one serving of espresso. Then he carefully applied pressure to it with the porta filter, tamping the ground coffee evenly so it had an even, polished appearance.
Taking the porta filter with the coffee in it he put it in the coffee machine. He put a small glass that looked almost like a shot glass just below it. Then he activated the machine. Hot pressurized water went through the porta filter, forcing out a small stream of golden brown coffee that fell into the shot glass just below.
10 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds passed in total. After 30 seconds, a golden brown coffee with a trace of foam on the surface sat in the shot glass. He pulled out some crema and mixed in a small amount; the foam on top took the cream and pulled it in creating a golden foamy mixture on top of the coffee, more lightly flavored than the dark, rich coffee beneath it.
Though his cafe had become famous for the froth art he made on the cappuccino, Alan still thought that true art lay in brewing a perfect cup of coffee.
The condensed nature of the espresso made it so that the drink was essentially coffee in its simplest, purest form. As a result, when appreciating the beauty of it, Alan felt he was appreciating the beauty of coffee itself, of its most intrinsic qualities. The shot glass was filled with that rich, dark brown coffee topped with the golden crema foam. He sat back for a second, admiring it as he waited for it to cool just slightly so he could carry it out.
Walking back out he put it in front of Tom.
Tom eyed the espresso closely before nodding in satisfaction. "As expected, anything you make is perfect Alan."
Alan smiled slightly and then went back to clean up the kitchen. The difference between today and yesterday was apparent to Alan; yesterday he'd had a line throughout the entirety of his business hours. Today, it had clearly tapered off.
He realized why the mission had appeared so simple. The reality was that most of the people who had come to try the coffee didn't want to come every day. After all, it was so expensive. The coffee wa
s excellent and had a good effect, but most people wouldn't be able to fit it into their budget. Especially the average people who had come to try it.
He had to switch back to his previous mindset of attracting rich, elite customers.
As he thought this the bell on the door to the cafe rang as someone opened it and walked inside. Alan looked up to find a familiar face staring at him.
Zachary Taylor stood there looking sheepish.
Alan was somewhat surprised but went over to him. "Good morning. Can I help you with something?"
Zachary shifted his weight slightly to his other foot, then back, before saying, "Yes, well, I'd like to order a coffee. I want to give your cafe a proper review."
Alan didn't find this surprising. In order to fix his reputation Zachary needed to properly try the coffee and review it. Only then would people begin to trust him again.
However, he was out of luck today.
Alan nodded his head and said, "I see. Unfortunately I cannot serve you coffee."
Zachary's face paled. "Look, if this is about the tweet, I'm sorry. I was just trying to stir up things on Twitter and get some new followers. You can understand that, can't you?"
Alan nodded again. "I understand. Unfortunately I still cannot serve you coffee." He pointed to the chalk board with the menu and rules on it. "As you can see, one of the rules of the cafe is that you cannot waste coffee. You have to finish what you order. Yesterday, you didn't finish your cappuccino. Thus, I cannot serve you as you have been blacklisted by the cafe."
Zachary looked taken aback, but then grew angry. "What sort of rule is that? Look, let me talk to the owner. I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement."
Alan shook his head. "I am the owner. I'm afraid the rules are non-negotiable. You have to finish your coffee in order to continue to come here."
Zachary stared at him helplessly. At the end of the day he was practically a kid, and it showed as he grew slightly teary eyed. He was getting scolded on Twitter left and right, even his friends were giving him looks. He hadn't really considered the consequences of his actions; not how they would affect Alan, nor how they could affect him.