been a barista for 4 years now and this month it broke my heart
We get regulars all the time. After a while you just know their order the moment they walk in. These two were different. An old man and his grandson every single morning for 3 years without fail. The grandpa always got a medium dark roast black and the grandson a flat white. Idk why but the moment they walked in it felt like the day had started. One morning I was playing jackpot daily on my phone when I looked up and the grandson walked in alone. I just made the dark roast black out of habit and the flat white for him and set them both down without saying anything.
A few days later he mentioned his grandfather had passed away. Said it quietly like he was telling himself as much as me. I told him that even if I didnt personally know him he was a good man and that I always loved seeing them both in. He just nodded and gave a small smile :( The nephew now comes by himself every morning and one thing I realized over the time is that he changed his order to a medium roast coffee instead of his usual flat white.