Dispatches from No Fun City

The life of a soup monkey has its exciting ups and downs, as you well know. Let me walk you through a typical day at my work.

* 11 a.m.- Arrive at work. It's 30 minutes until we begin selling soup tothe lunch crowd. Prior to 11:30 each day, we sell organic hot cereal. A friendly, helpful sign reminds customers "Hot Soup is Served 11:30 to 6 p.m." We hang this sign over the chalkboard that lists the soups available today.
* 11:03- A customer comes up and asks if it's time for soup. I patiently explain that it is not yet time for soup. To further illustrate this, I point at the Helpful Sign.
* 11:07- A customer cranes his head, attempting to look behind the Helpful Sign so that he can read what the soups AVAILABLE AT 11:30 are.
* 11:13- A tour group all arrive and swarm the counter. I silently wish I could access BabelFish, so that I could say "soup is served after 11:30" in German. (How do you say "Heiße Suppe wird nach eleven-thirty gedient"?)
* 11:25- The line grows long. The counter has three bain maries to hold the three soups of the day. They are empty. I am frequently asked if the soups are ready. The bain maries remain empty.
* 11:29- I idly wonder if they are really called bain maries or if I've got my culinary terms wrong.
* 11:30- It isn't an exact science. The soups sometimes aren't quite ready. Today, they are not out yet. The bain maries remain empty. Customers ask if they are ready yet. They tsk audibly, looking at their watches. This fails to makes the soups ready any faster.
* 11:32- The soups are out. The chalkboard helpfully shows the soups available. At the top of the board is the legend "Today's Soups."
* 11:32:01- Customer asks "what are today's soups?" I show the three soups available: The fish soup is Fresh Oyster Soup with Chipotle and Sundried Tomatoes. The meat soup is Morroccan Couscous in a Lamb Stock. The vegetarian soup is Black Lentil With Sweet Potatoes and Mint. Customer asks "do you have clam chowder?"

The day has begun...

Photo Credt: Julien Powell