bored... santa cruz chronicles 4

so far i've shown some pictures of the people i really like in santa cruz... those people made my life there so fun! now here's really special guy. he's one unforgettable person. life in santa cruz would never have been the same if he had not been there.

this is Ben.

ben was an employee at espresso. and he's just about the stupidest person i've ever met in my life!!!!!!!!!! he deserves one post all for himself!!!!
the 1st day i met him was his 3rd day of work at the espresso cart. he had already been trained by valente AND trina previously. so i did expect him to know the basics. he did not need to know everything... but at least some things.
i was at the cash register taking orders, when suddenly i realise that the cups are piling up on the counter... and the person who was working the front machine was already busy. it wasn't even that busy, so there shouldn't be orders being piled up. SO, i look back and see how ben is doing. and guess what, instead of making drinks, he was busy... CLEANING. i was like "Ben, you have to keep a watch out for the cups that are at the counter, if u see them coming, u have to make them!" he was like "YES. i got it" ok... never mind that... later that same day, i took an order for 2 ice blended drinks. i handed him the cups and told him to make them. 10 minutes later, i turn around and see 2 cups filled with ice on the counter top. puzzled, i ask ben, what the 2 cups of ice are doing there. he started and said "oh i forgot all about them, my only excuse is that the band playing was so good that i totally forgot about making these 2 drinks." i was shocked! and the 2 customers who had ordered the drinks had been waiting for 10 min!

the next day, he worked with michele, and he made michele so mad because he was at the cash register, and took orders for drinks. but then, after she had made them, and was calling them out, no customer wanted them. it turns out that he had taken the wrong orders, and so she wasted those 4 drinks.

tasks that usually take normal people half an hour to do, he would take an hour. for example, when we asked him to go stock (i.e. go to the basement and bring up stuff according to a list that was already made out) he took such a long time that 2 other employees had to stay back an extra half hour each, one to help him, and the other to help the girl at the cart.

the last straw was when i closed together with him. i distinctly asked him whether he was the one who had opened the money bag, because if he did, he would be expected to count the money at the end of the day. he said YES. i asked him if he had counted out money before, and he said YES too. so i went to do the dishes, and the other closing stuff and left him to count the money. after doing the dishes, clearing the waste tank, AND wrapping muffins, he still hadn't finished counting the money. it turns out that when filling out the cash count sheets, he had shifted the carbon papers so that all the numbers where on the wrong rows, and he had to correct each one individually. then i went to help him do the rest of the paperwork, and when i looked at the opening cash count sheet, i realised that the name of the opened was jesus! it wasn't even opened by ben. then... i said to him, now u put the yellow sheet into the money bag lock it, then we can go drop the bag. i turn away for 5 seconds, and when i look back, i can't find the shift sheet (which also happens to be yellow!). so i ask him where the shift sheet went. and he looked at me blankly and said "oh i could have sworn that YOU told me to drop it into the money bag." i was SO ANGRY!!!! so now it's my fault. ok... never mind... so i ask him why he had so much trouble counting money, when he had done it before, and he said "oh the last time i counted money, trina was doing most of the work." i wanted to faint... that meant that he had never counted money before! he had only probably watched trina do it!!!!!!

he never says NO, and always says YES buthe actually doesn't know a thing. he acted so stupid that jennie, this really nice lady actually wondered if he was mentally slow (like retarded!) but no... he's a UCSC student, and is a linguistics major. and the best part of it all was that he had actually worked in another espresso place before.

yup... ben... he's an unforgettable memory.