A misadventure at Barnes & Noble

My brother and myself journeyed earlier to our the Barnes & Noble bookstore. Once inside we first passed a lady signing autographs of her book, "I am not a Desperate Housewife". Aaron was tempted to talk with her, but as she was surrounded by black people, and was black herself, Aaron didn't go up to her; a shame, her and her book looked good, if not so much for us.

Next, at the Starbucks inside of the store, a lady in front of me ordered a "quad" espresso. A "standard" espresso is probably two shots of drink, so the "quad" is likely a double espresso, but that nevertheless was imposing enough to force me to order an espresso myself. "That's all, just an espresso?"

"Uhh, yeah."

Okay, good, now while the baristas are figuring a way to fit a quad into an espresso cup (they ended with a regular take out cup), the most improbable man walked to the register and ordered a decaf cappucino, please, to go; he then rapidly asked if anyone spoke english behind the counter, and followed that with "did you get that?". As I explained to Aaron, he then floated away to look at a magazine. He was not being rude; he was genuine throughout the interaction, just regular strange. The honest to goodness chances that they would not speak English in return are lower than you can imagine; West Bloomfield, Michigan, is not as ethnically diverse as many parts of the country.

Because of the time it took to figure out how to make the "quad" and their bewilderment at the oddity that followed me, the decision to offer me two espressos in cups and saucers was reached. Aaron suggested that they lossed count when making the quad (he couldn't know an espresso is two shots) and just wanted to give away the extra. I'm not sure why, but I recognize that giving away an espresso is an unusual gift, because of the nature of espresso and coffee. As a result I challenged Aaron, my brother, to come up with some analogies to that situation. The first is mine and the last three his.

It was like waiting an hour at the bus station then having two of the same buses come at once
It was like waiting all winter then tanning twice as long and getting burned
It was like going to the doctor to get a double dose of medicine that makes you sick
It was like hiring someone to cut your lawn and they also cut down all your trees