This post was supposed to be about apples. That’s our theme for September-apples. But this post is not about apples.
I write this post as one would write a family holiday newsletter when one has too many wonderful family members and a rather lengthy tale to tell-so rather than repeat it often or have it relayed inaccurately you write it down.
On Labor Day-some person, and I use that word loosely, opted to rob and vandalize Sugar. Specifically, my magical vintage Astoria espresso machine (http://usa.astoria.com/) and my coffee grinder. The espresso machine and I have been together for years and had a real relationship and met years ago at Koffee Katz in Surf City, NC and were re-united years later in order to open Sugar. She made superb espresso and gorgeous foam. In a nutshell-someone came behind our counter and threw water directly into the outlet of both the espresso machine and the coffee grinder-ruining both the outlets and the “boards” on each machine. As a final whoop-de-doo whomever did this was made sure I lost all my dairy in my fridge and left with the starting till.
For a while, we will be without lattes and espresso sadly, as I formulate a game plan. We are not at all sure she can be fixed-she is old and the damage is great. The cost to replace her is insurmountable.
The silver lining in this story is that the old adage about you know who your friends are in times of crisis has never been more true! One of my favorite people, friend and customer (whom shall rename unnamed unless she wishes otherwise (D!)) offered genuine he;p coming from a place of pure friendship and a belief in what we do. While I couldn’t accept the gift the words of support were so helpful and reassuring that it made the gesture twice as wonderful.
In another selfless gesture from the heart of one independent small business owner to another, Pomegranate Books (www.pombooks.net) offered to have a bake sale-fundraiser to help raise funds for new equipment. While I certainly can’t allow them to take that kind of time to do this event the gesture was overwhelming! This also made me feel so much better after what can truly only be described as a feeling of violation.
So to all my friends and supporters out there who have believed in us all along and put up with our weird hours and crazy antics-thank you! Thank you from the bottom of my heart and please continue to bear with us as we try to get the latte end of our world back up and running.
I realize there are much worse problems to have-this is not a crisis, per se, more than a large mental hiccup as I try to absorb the sheer magnitude of anger that was directed my way. It is disturbing and I always find people who purposefully destroy things, waste food and steal most distasteful.
Thanks for having our backs. That’s the story-sad but true. How do you like them apples?
