<3
I think I always knew that working in a coffee shop would lead to me becoming close with the customers. It's part of the job description right? I'm here to wake you up, give you your morning jolt. It's a place where you see people at their best and most definitely at their worst. So, as a matter of course, thats a type of situation where people bond. I can't even tell you how many regular coffee orders I can sit and list off the top of my head. I never honestly realized though, that as much as the customers come to depend on us, I've come to depend on them as well. Working with the public has its occasional perks I suppose; just this one came with a bigger downfall than others.
It seems like every coffee shop has a few... older men who come in and sit and chat while drinking endless refills of small cups of coffee. They come to chat about how things used to be, flirt with pretty younger girls, laugh and have a good time; that's what retirement is about right? Working as long as I have at the one shop, I've grown to know all their names and their coffees, who worked where, what they thought about, what marriage is like. I'd like to think that I've learned a lot from them. I think that personally I've grown really close to a lot of them. However, one was always a little closer than others. Hey, no one said I couldn't play favorites, right?
Manny was a sweetheart. He was an absolute doll and a paragon of humanity. He was kind, gentle, friendly, everything that I honestly try to be. He was all that and more without any effort at all. I think in some ways I saw him as the grandfather that I never really had the chance to know. Honestly, I wish that I'd had time to sit and talk with him so much more than I did. He never failed to have a smile and a hug, he was always ready to listen, and he was just generally such a good person that it shone through in everything he did. I wish there was so much more that I could do for him in return now.
There are so many things I wish I could have told him. He passed away this past Thursday. He came in, joked around with the guys and later at home that evening he was gone. I suppose in all honesty that it's not a bad thing. It was probably peaceful and being the person that he is I know that he's somewhere good right now. I just wish I had a chance to say bye one last time. I guess thats true of most death though.
Either way. My tribute and my goodbye, Manny we loved you so much and you will be missed. You were one of my heroes and I hope when I'm 85 I'm still out there telling some 20 year old that if I were just 10 years younger. You touched my life so deeply and I never realized. It's not the same without you dear. Be happy, I know I'll always be striving to live to be better than I am, and you'll always be a big part of that.
R.I.P. Emanuel "Manny" Levine 3/26/09 <3
It seems like every coffee shop has a few... older men who come in and sit and chat while drinking endless refills of small cups of coffee. They come to chat about how things used to be, flirt with pretty younger girls, laugh and have a good time; that's what retirement is about right? Working as long as I have at the one shop, I've grown to know all their names and their coffees, who worked where, what they thought about, what marriage is like. I'd like to think that I've learned a lot from them. I think that personally I've grown really close to a lot of them. However, one was always a little closer than others. Hey, no one said I couldn't play favorites, right?
Manny was a sweetheart. He was an absolute doll and a paragon of humanity. He was kind, gentle, friendly, everything that I honestly try to be. He was all that and more without any effort at all. I think in some ways I saw him as the grandfather that I never really had the chance to know. Honestly, I wish that I'd had time to sit and talk with him so much more than I did. He never failed to have a smile and a hug, he was always ready to listen, and he was just generally such a good person that it shone through in everything he did. I wish there was so much more that I could do for him in return now.
There are so many things I wish I could have told him. He passed away this past Thursday. He came in, joked around with the guys and later at home that evening he was gone. I suppose in all honesty that it's not a bad thing. It was probably peaceful and being the person that he is I know that he's somewhere good right now. I just wish I had a chance to say bye one last time. I guess thats true of most death though.
Either way. My tribute and my goodbye, Manny we loved you so much and you will be missed. You were one of my heroes and I hope when I'm 85 I'm still out there telling some 20 year old that if I were just 10 years younger. You touched my life so deeply and I never realized. It's not the same without you dear. Be happy, I know I'll always be striving to live to be better than I am, and you'll always be a big part of that.
R.I.P. Emanuel "Manny" Levine 3/26/09 <3