... and he just ordered a black coffee. I was rejoicing in my head over the simplicity of his order. When he got to the window, I made small talk with him.
Me: Hey, officer, how are you tonight?
Officer: Great, man! How are you doing?
Me: I'm fantastic. Here's your grande black coffee. I'm impressed. You know, I've been working here for less than a week, and I have yet to encounter someone who ordered a black coffee.
Officer: Oh yeah! I don't need any of those fru-fru drinks.
Me: Heck no! All I ever drink is black coffee. Coffee is great all by itself.
Officer: Yup. It is an acquired taste, though, huh?
Me: That's true. I started drinking coffee when I was 13, though... so I've had a while to get used to it.
Officer: Well, hey, how much do I owe you?
Me: No, don't worry about it. It's on me tonight. Thanks for all you do.
Officer: Wow, man, thanks. I really appreciate that.
Me: No problem. We'll see you next time.
Officer: Later, man.
OK. Great. So, I dug into my pocket, pulled out my wallet, and swiped my card to pay for his drink. The $1.77 was nothing to me. Later on, when I told my shift, s/he told me that we just usually give out free coffee to public servants. Oh well, my bad... I know for next time. No biggie.
At the end of my shift, I drive home, and half-way to my house, I see a car getting uncomfortably close to me. Then, I see red and blue lights. "Oh crap," I say to myself. I was definitely going under the speed limit, so I wasn't getting pulled over for that. As I silently panic, I get my license and insurance card ready while the cop walks up to my car.
I hear a knock on my window, and I look up. Guess who it was? The cop I saw in the DT earlier in the evening! I say, "Oh, hey! How's it going?" He acts like he never saw me before in his life and said, "Sir, did you know your left tail-light is out?" I respond, "Well, no, I didn't. Thanks for letting me know, though. I'll go ahead and fix it on my day off tomorrow." He says, "All right, I'll be right back." By this point, I'm thinking that maybe he sees a million faces in a day (like me) and didn't remember me. So I politely tell him, "Officer, you remember me, right? I gave you that coffee at Starbucks earlier tonight." To which he responds, "Oh yeah! Thanks again, by the way." Then he walks back to his patrol car.
A couple minutes later, he reappears at my window, hands me a ticket for the burnt out light, and says, "Well, have a good night." **** my life.