7-11 Coffee

I was making pleasant small talk with the woman behind the register at the 7-11 franchise at Brigham Circle. I was buying today's Boston Globe and a pack of mentholated cough drops. She asked me, "Why don't you buy coffee here?"

I said I work at One Brigham Circle, the office building/retail complex across the street. It's just easier for me to go to J.P. Licks and take the elevator up to my desk. There is less chance of spilling. She said that was okay as long as I didn't go to Dunkin Donuts which is a few storefronts up Tremont Street from the 7-11. I asked why.

"Dunkin Donuts!" she exclaimed and then she made a hawking sound in her throat. "Dunkin Donuts!" she repeated, making the same sound but this time pointing her index finger into her mouth while sticking out her tongue. "You know what I think about Dunkin Donuts?" I had a fair idea but she told me anyway.

She said, "They think they have the best coffee. I make this 7-11 coffee every morning, freshly brewed, I can't tell you how many flavors. I make it and people like it. People come in every day and pour their own cups of coffee and fix it just as they like it. My coffee customers are good people. What does Dunkin Donuts do for you? They overcharge you and give you whatever they want. People overpay for that swill and then they come in here to buy cigarettes or phone cards or jujubees or a taquito. All the time they are sipping coffee out of their precious, Dunkin Donuts, styrofoam cups. 7-11 uses paper cups. They sip their coffee like Dunky Monkeys thinking they're so much better than the people around them drinking the coffee I made. I hate Dunkin Donuts."

I paid for my newspaper and cough drops and crossed the street to J.P. Licks.