Tip Jar Transformation

One of the more exciting parts of my day comes fairly early in the morning. No, I’m not referring to my bowl of Kroger brand corn flakes, or my perusing of the weather channel. What I’m talking about is an ingestion of a certain, what I like to call magic elixir…coffee. Mainly because it helps with the shakes I get from caffeine withdrawal. Just kidding, I’m not that dependent on it, but a fresh cup always sounds good. Funny thing is, I told myself I would never drink coffee and if you are like I used to be, you will soon be a consumer. Currently my fridge contains three variations of Starbucks: French Roast, Italian Roast, and Breakfast Blend. But these don’t hold a candle to the Green Mountain Coffee Shop at Discovery Park.

To add to the shear quality of the coffee itself, there is a very pleasant, and seemingly sincere young lady that works there, and she never fails to have a smile accompanied with a “How are you today?” when I approach the stand. Because of this, I always like to leave some sort of tip in the obnoxiously large jar that sits directly in front of the cash register.

This past Tuesday, upon my return to Discovery Park after a nearly month long hiatus, I made my way towards the array of smells coming from the coffee stand. I even closed my eyes and attempted to find my destination solely with the use of my nose. After walking into the wall I decided I should use all of my senses. I was glad to see that the flavor of the day was “Rain Forest Nut”, which I can describe to you only as a bit spicy, yet quite robust. Okay I took that line that I used to describe the coffee from the movie “Cabin Boy” after he drinks the chum. Check it out sometime, it’s a good movie. Actually stars Andy Richter, who, for those of you who don’t know is the sidekick of Conan O’Brian on the soon to be terminated Tonight Show. The fact that Jay Leno is reclaiming his show really bothers me. He sucks. Conan Rules. By the way, I hope you are taking notes on all of this side information.

Excuse the spontaneous brain fart…back to my story. So I got my coffee, and as I was going to leave my routine tip, I noticed that the gargantuan jar that used to be in front of the register was missing. Upon further investigation, I noticed it had been replaced by a much smaller tin jar that had a small slit in the top. What used to be for tips was now a Red Cross donation canister for the unfortunate citizens of Haiti. This made me empty my wallet, as I had already been looking for some direct way to help out.

I really like the fact that the coffee stand did this. They even put a small note on the jar that asked people to put what they would normally tip into the new Red Cross jar. I would encourage people to put more money than usual, as this tragedy in Haiti is shaping up to be one of the most damaging in documented human history. Visit the Green Mountain Coffee Shop at Discovery Park, and kill two birds with one stone. Get a great cup of coffee and do a good deed by donating what you can.