Remember when you would order breakfast at a restaurant and they automatically included coffee with the food? They wouldn’t even ask if you wanted coffee because everyone drank it back then, just like nearly everyone smoked cigarettes.
In the old days we spent a lot of time drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes because we didn’t have the Internet to surf. Come to think of it… I’m not sure which of those three behaviors is the most hazardous.
As soon as you slid into a booth, the waitress would instantly appear brandishing a three-hour old fresh pot of coffee, set down one of those fat white ceramic cups and start pouring. Every restaurant and home back then used those same hefty cups that felt just right in your hand.
There weren’t any of these wimpy cups you see now with pictures of cats and clever sayings on them like “You have cat to be kitten me right meow.” Aww, isn’t that cute?
But, you know, I’m just not up for clever and cute in the morning.
Your waitress back then would come around every five minutes or so to see if she could ‘warm it up’ or ‘top it off’ for you. It was like they had this huge surplus of coffee they had to get rid of, making you feel obligated to keep drinking until you nearly exploded.
If you happened to be one of those oddballs who didn’t drink coffee and would place your hand over the cup to prevent her from pouring, she seemed offended, almost angry, plus you risked ‘accidentally’ getting your hand scalded. And if a man did something really weird like asked for tea instead, she became downright suspicious.
Today, despite higher prices in restaurants and coffee shops, it is still nearly impossible to pass on the chance to start the day with that first cup of coffee.
According to Gemini AI, the first cup of coffee tastes so good “due to a combination of heightened sensory perception after sleep, intense dopamine release from the first caffeine hit, and the psychological comfort of a morning ritual.”
I doubt if waitresses back in the day were aware of all that, but they definitely knew how to start a guy’s day right.
