In Paris my wife ordered 'une tasse de cafe' to which the waiter responded, 'une cafe, no tasse'. So she ordered one coffee, no cup and held out her hands in the shape of a cup.
1
This makes interesting reading. Always curious to read about life in other countries and draw a parallel to where you live. The coffee craze has taken a foothold in Dublin with shops in every street corner. I love my tea though!
3
I don,t live in America but I love this kind of stories.
4
Coffee with sugar, yuck! Tea with milk and honey, yeah!
5
You are such an interesting person. Only in America.
Well, that's about 3 hours I'll never get back. I happened upon Metropolitan Diary and I was hooked... again. I'd forgotten about Gibbs but then realized that after I got kicked out of nursing school in NYC I attended Gibbs in Philadelphia and couldn't stand it. Looking back, however, it turns out that I actually did learn skills that got me through the following 27 years on my way to my RN. The coffee stories are brilliant. I'll be back!
3
I'm from Long Island, NY. I always say," One small coffee, black please!"Never received the wrong order!
1
@nitosha years ago I went to my dry cleaner to complain about a new stain that appeared on the sweater that I had just picked up. We argued for awhile and then the next guy in line said. "I've never had a problem here". I replied " me neither until today". So @nitosha what's your point?
5
The older I get, the more I appreciate and savor pure unadulterated "black" coffee: nothing is added to steal its taste.
11
@Steve same, I always order fries without ketchup...
3
Katie Gibbs reminded me of my first Equity job in Cleveland. We went to a seafood place to celebrate a cast member’s 30th birthday and an older couple nearby asked where we were from and we said we were in town from NYC working at the Playhouse. After a delicious dinner that was our day off splurge, we found our bill for five was paid for by this couple. We were so surprised and touched we went over to thank them, and they said it was their pleasure, and so nice to see young people enjoying themselves. How kind is that? Cleveland has had a place in my heart ever since!
31
These are wonderful stories that make me want to visit your great city. Thanks for the nice start to the day.
14
I order my coffee: "I want Caribbean-style coffee: hot, strong, and dark."
8
When I lived near New York 60 and 50 years ago, I thought it would have been nice if I could have gone to my dentist in Berkeley. Now that I am back in the Bay Area, I still go to him, or rather, his son, as do the rest of my local family.
7
@Bruce DB
I've had Berkeley dentists since 1976. When I lived in Houston (TX) for about 2 years, I always visited my Berkeley dentist when I came home for Christmas.
6
Yes! Black coffee No sugars No flavors No other liquids The way it was meant to be ! And always the Dark roast
9
I can relate Roderick, I eschew sugar in my triple espressos. Instead of sugar I substitute a shot of Kaluha ( or any coffee liqueur), and a shot of spiced rum. Not only does it add a touch of sweetness, it also takes the edge off the caffeine jolt of the espressos and gets your day drinking off to a rollicking start.
11
@Thomas Field Rollicking, indeed! You sound like you're a lot of fun!
3
yes, but what was Roderick served?
1
Similar to my tall Cinnamon powder with no americano coffee 😂
5
I was a traveling salesperson making good money for a while. I often ate in restaurants where everyone i saw was a stranger. The checks I paid were always for young families with kids because I remembered what a treat it was to take my family out when I really couldn't afford it.
Those "Gibbs girls" met a real theater lover.
32
When I worked in Manhattan (as a transplant from Virginia) I learned to order a “regular coffee.” That meant milk, no sugar. Across the river one day in Hoboken, I ordered a regular coffee and got milk and sugar. When I told the guy I’d ordered regular, he informed me that regular in Hoboken was just what he gave me. Having gotten into the swing of being a New Yorker, I had a long discussion about it with him. He remained unmoved (but did make me another coffee).
That was loooong ago. In the eighties. Is the lingo still the same?
6
@JH on a business trip to New York a few years ago, I ordered coffee from a coffee truck on the street near my hotel. I was asked if I wanted "regular coffee", which I interpreted as "black." I got coffee with milk in it; since I don't like dairy products in my coffee, I had to re-order and got a scolding from the coffee guy.
6
@Haldave0 In the late 50s I was a student at the Neighborhood Playhouse and always ordered regular coffee at the Deli around the corner. It came in a large cup with cream and sugar, just the way I liked it and it cost 18 cents.
2
@JH That was also the lingo in the 70s, when I moved to New York for my first job. I suspect that being taken in by the "coffee, regular" mistake was a rite of passage for many of us then; perhaps that's still the case. I, too, learned right away to say that I wanted plain, black coffee. Now I live in a city that takes its coffee very seriously (as in, there are fee-based classes in how to brew your own at home). Yet I still find it usually the case that when I order black coffee at a restaurant, the next question I hear is,"Would you like cream and sugar?"
1
“Black, no sugar” is confusing! Now if you were to start saying “black coffee, no sugar, no cream,” I bet you’d never get the wrong cup again.
7
@Sarah G
Sarah, take it from me, if you say it your way in NYC, you’ll get a blank stare!
5
@Tombo, Be that as it may, why not just "small coffee, no sugar, no cream"? The "black" is really rather redunant.
7
I love this column.
25
Dear NYT, Please, never drop Metropolitan Diary! It is a much-appreciated palate-cleanser after reading the news. Makes me feel human again.
53
@Jennene Colky—My thanks, too, NYT. When this column is not available, I have to choose a game of solitaire, or the New Yorker jigsaw puzzles, all just to escape the grim realities, the boredom, the stupidity, etc. of the news!
6
Non-New Yorker here - do you need to specify no sugar? In Canada, black coffee means nothing added. You don't need to say no sugar.
7
@Jane, black coffee means no cream/milk, not necessary no sugar.
3
@Jane Sugar is white.
1
Jane: someday wander south (below the Mason-Dixon line in the US) and you'll find one has to specify that a tea is NOT pre-sweetened. but NYC has always had so many quirks, my friend Sue (from Queens) orders "gimme a coffee light and sweet"
If you go to the same cart every day they know your order by heart!
12
When asked by a host for my coffee preference, I usual answer:
'As black as my soul'
7
Years ago, my father represented Johnny Carson in a legal case in St. Louis. Mr. Carson came in on a Saturday to discuss the case and my father let me (a teenager at the time) help in the office that morning. My job was to see if Mr. Carson wanted any coffee. He did, and when I asked how he wanted it, he said "regular." Not being sure what that meant, I asked for clarification. Apparently in Hollywood at that time, regular meant with cream and sugar. You learn something every day! BTW, Johnny Carson was a wonderful person, just shorter than I expected since t v made him seem larger than life. They won the case.
33
@Christine Smith Note (off-topic since Johnny C. was had zero Boston influencing him, I'd guess): in Boston, a "coffee regular" means cream and two sugars.
3
@David Dolan, That's why Dunkin Donuts coffee is so darn sweet, it's like sugar water.
4
Coffee should be harsh and bitter---like life!
23
@cornbread17
Can we amend that to:
"Coffee, straight, can be harsh and bitter like life"--but also awakening and fortifying, strengthening for the challenges to be faced.
Coffee, lightened, can also be robustly soothing, smoothing our journeys, heightening our awareness, sparking our sense of mystery and creativity. And, once sweetened just a bit in desserts/cake icings, can bring us back to the rich pleasures of life.
Elissa
ps: Of course, as a dry rub on bbq and combined with unsweetened chocolate powder as coating for truffles, well, divine.
17
@cornbread17 — Coffee should be espresso, period!
2
Coffee, black without sugar, is the correct way to drink coffee.
12
@Jason, Depends. You won't want that with double espresso and no sugar.
3
@tiddle Oh yes you do. It should taste a like soap if you are careless enough to let it touch the inside of your mouth as you throw it back in a couple of slugs. At least keep your tongue out of harm’s way if you have that skill. Exhale, slowly. The flavor is experienced by the sense of smell, not of taste. There’s a role for a curl of lemon zest but I’m not sure what that is.
1
Having moved out of the city 3 years ago, I still travel back for haircuts, dermatology and eye glasses.
15
Shared laughter on a packed subway car might be my favorite NYC experience.
58
Always a joy to read these?
16
I always prefer freeze dried soluble black coffee. It’s a very refreshing brew if drunk without polluting sugar or cream.
I suppose it is this brew that must have prompted the idiom “wake up and smell the coffee”.
“If you say that someone should wake up and smell the coffee, you mean they must start to be more realistic and aware of what is happening around them. You'll have to wake up and smell the coffee. The world is a very hard, cruel place. It would really serve you well to wake up and smell the coffee and quit acting like a teenager”.
2
@N.G Krishnan sometimes the reality is that that someone IS a teenager.
8
Sounds comfy compared to my summer rides before air conditioning. Most passengers had garlic for lunch. Many boarded before dawn or left offices after dark to avoid the crush and temperatures above 💯 degrees on the old BMT.
6
Went through the military without a coffee habit. Became addicted in my mid-thirties; about 5 mugs a day. Spent a weekend with a lady who is now my wife of 22 years. We were shopping when I slumped into a headache-fugue state. Went home and took lots of ibuprofen. Next day my significant other sadly showed me the coffee-can. In small letters it read Decaffeinated. "Ugh," I said, "they should mark it with a big skull and cross-bones!" Decades later, one mug in the morning and no more!
39
@Lar, I had my years with 5 cups a day, it got me off of my desk and walked around. I have weaned from caffeine these days due to high blood pressure. I still enjoy the aroma of coffee immensely. Sometimes I would sit in cafe (and order something else), just to smell the coffee (the love I can't have anymore).
10
@tiddle
So true!
Severely addicted to the magic aroma but years ago became intolerant to caffeine.
One trick my daughters often do is buying mom a small cuppa black coffee. Then watching mom transforming into their best shopping partner: laser-sharp in picking out the best outfits for them and happy paying the due all done in less than an hour.
4
Most of the of the interesting comments this week are on two topics i.e Katie Gibbs School and Coffee. As such I thought of joining the party.
We purchase coffee powder from shops selling purely coffee and tea powder, that too the ones having a grinding machine meant for the specific purpose. We usually drink 70 : 30 coffee. It means 70% pure coffee and 30% chicory. Pure coffee powder is somewhat light. The addition of chicory makes it strong.
Let us say I require 300 grams of coffee powder. The shopkeeper puts 210 grams of fresh coffee beans in the grinder. To that powder, he or she adds 90 grams of chicory and then mixes vigorously by hand to get a proper mix. Similarly 60 : 40 and 80 : 20 coffee powder is also made available in the shops depending upon customer requirement.
We have a steel filter at home. It has two portions. The top one has a number of small holes and the bottom portion is for collecting black coffee. In the top portion we pour coffee powder and then pour hot water. Slowly it gets filtered completely in say 15 minutes since our filter is relatively small.
We boil milk separately in mild flame. The milk we normally buy is 2 %. We generally don’t buy whole milk to avoid cholesterol related problems. We pour hot milk in a porcelain cup much smaller than small paper cups available there and then add black coffee to it. I don’t add sugar whereas my wife adds 1 tea spoon sugar. This is how we drink filter coffee at home.
22
@Sivaram Pochiraju Wow! Sounds delicious. I have always liked Chock Full of Nuts, probably because of the added chicory but you bring it to a entirely different level. Thanks for sharing. I may give it a go.
9
@Sivaram Pochiraju Very interesting observation and I can readily be appreciated it as the process of coffee brewing in South India is arguably unique.
Few decades back it was common practice to buy coffee beans roast it in a perforated cylindrical drum with internal fin baffles mounted on a char coal hearth. Invariably the coffee is grounded to exact grain size just before brewing.
But then it was era before TV, internet and cell phone over took the civilization. Naturally there was hardly time for the rigmarole of coffee brewing the hard way.
10
@terri smith Chock Full o' Nuts does not contain chicory.
2
Being Brooklyn bred but now living in north Thailand, I love these short NYC stories. Thanks for sharing them.
25
I was friends with a guy from Kansas City who forever couldn't grasp that coffee, regular meant it came with cream (or milk) and sugar. He wanted his coffee black and always thought that's the way he was ordering it.
Coffee regular. He'd get it with cream and sugar. I kept telling him, coffee black is what he wants.
Outlanders!
27
Speaking of kawfee, there's a particular old-school bagel shop that I like to go to in my neighborhood on Saturday or Sunday, when I'll get a toasted sesame with the works, and a coffee. It so happens that... I actually like my coffee pretty 'light'. I like to add half & half and a smidgen of sugar...less than 1/4 of a tablespoon.
However, I know from experience that if one goes to such an old-school cafe, and you say you'd like 'cream and sugar', they are going to add some milk (such places typically don't have cream (half & half)... and they are also going to POUR the sugar in (or else hand you multiple sugar packs!).
So, my approach is to simply tell them I want my coffee BLACK. Then, I sit down at a table with my bagel and coffee and I pull out my own container of half & half from my bag, to customize my coffee. I then simply do without any sugar (and since, as I mentioned, I don't use much sugar anyway...)
Well the other day when I went there, an older Italian woman was working the counter. She's a classic old-school New Yorker.... And when I told her I wanted a small coffee, Black, her response was 'oh, God bless you....'. ;-)
30
Roderick Denault's Morning Coffee happily reminds this reader of once having been so absent minded as to ask a bus driver for a pack of cigarettes upon boarding his bus instead of a transfer. Regular length or king size, the driver immediately asked in a dead pan bit of genius improv just the thought of which still entertains and amazes even forty years later.
60
@Leigh, Can't beat that quick wit. :)
7
@Leigh
Reminds me of a camping experience. We had kayaked all day and were preparing dinner at the campfire. Someone asked , “Do you want a beer?” We were impressed that this fellow toted along bottles of beer. One camper replied,” I’ll take a Guinness!”. And the fellow replied,” And in your dream,what was the waitress wearing?”
2
@Leigh That reminds me of my mom asking absent mindedly for a dozen penny postcards at the Post Office in the 1980's, and the postman said, "Lady, you're dreaming". She also had graduated from Katie Gibbs (that is what she called it).
I'm happy for my dearly departed mother that she does not witness her gay son's morning coffee ritual.
Mother was a former Marine who drank her coffee black, spoon standing up, as she would say. As I remember, her bean of choice was Sanka.
Me? I head to an Asian market to purchase raw coffee beans from Ethiopia and then bring them home to roast on the stove with a handful of hazelnuts as my Ethiopian friends taught me. Then, I head to another store to buy a carton of oat milk to steam up and make my latte-dahs.
Before I gave up milk and sugar, I would head to the patio to cut some chocolate mint, chop it up and put it in the espresso basket underneath the coffee, and then make my own chocolate syrup using all I learned from an old roommate who was a pastry chef.
I was a big enough disappointment to the woman simply because I joined the navy. At least she never witnessed my coffee habits:)
83
Spent three months traveling extensively throughout Ethiopia, had coffee everyday ( who wouldn’t?), watched its preparation ( including the roasting of the beans and the removal of beans that don’t pass muster) and never saw hazelnuts in the mix. I don’t doubt your story but would like to know what part of Ethiopia your friends come from. I need to return!
8
@The North - The hazelnuts were my addition with the last batch. I had a jar of nuts and thought, why not. Don't forget the pan being passed around with everyone waving the smoke towards them while saying something in Amharic.
10
@tom harrison, I suspect that your late mother’s assumed disdain for your coffee geek habits might be based more on generational differences. I would roll my eyes at it, too. But then my initiation into coffee drinking, in my teens, was Sanka instant.
My husband is a foodie, so some years ago he went through the hand ground, artisanal beans and choreographed pour over thing. I just let him do his thing, and waited, impatiently, for my precious cup of coffee. But then I had a long stay at a relative’s home, where there was a drip machine — standard fare —and was reminded of how nice it is to just push a button. When I returned home I purchased a drip machine and an electric burr grinder, and I have never looked back. Husband uses it, too. We buy our beans at Costco.
13
Of course, and anything else is a coffee flavored beverage.
3
Packed In
Priceless. Made me laugh to tears.
10
Hey, I just realized that I drink my coffee with "milk and honey" instead of cream and sugar.
8
Me too. But iced. And no classic.
Sick?
1
@DAWGPOUND HAR, Two things in life should always be hot: coffee and soup.
2
Katie Gibbs story brought back memories. I attended the summer 1977 “Entree” program for college graduates at Gibbs in the Pan Am building. Eight hours a day flipping between typing and steno with an hour of business English sandwiched in between. An ex nun, Miss Tuzzo, taught typing and you received a point off for every finger dent or smudge on your finished paper. It was blistering hot that summer, but we still had to wear stockings and closed toe pumps. Boot camp for secretaries.
Gibbs served me well. Interviewing for a job, I was told “you are a Gibbs girl, that’s all I need to know to hire you.” I took pride in my work and spent thirteen years working for some of the best senior level advertising executives in the business, both in New York and San Francisco. I am sad that Executive Secretary is no longer a career option. I am often appalled at the poorly written and formatted documents now being produced by “assistants” who don’t have, or wish to have, the skills necessary to be a professional executive assistant.
Gibbs taught me what a university education could not, how to navigate the business world. The first rule, being on time is being ten minutes early, a principle that seems to be lacking today!
84
@Stefanie, the problem you recognize these days is probably that, sadly, there is no assistant and the executive is doing their own formatting, etc.
40
@Stefanie
Executive secretaries actually often ran EVERYTHING, with their bosses happily ensconced as the idea guys, but completely reliant on the practical skills of their "underlings."
And as someone - not a secretary - who witnessed the early stages of the devolution of skills in writing ( organization, logic, sentence structure, spelling -) I really think a valuable rigor was lost.
31
@Stefanie I loved the Katie Gibbs story! I am an Executive Assistant. My old boss used to tease me and 'threaten' to 'call Katie Gibbs' to get a replacement for me as we joked around during the day. I had to laugh because I am actually a college graduate and never went to Katie Gibbs! Many of my fellow EAs did attend Katie Gibbs, however, and I used their reference manuals for years--especially for business writing (remember the Gregg Reference Manual?) I have always loved what I do for a living and still do it today. My current boss is lucky to have me as I help write and proofread all her communications before they go out.
29
Started drinking coffee with sugar at age 4 on hunting trips with my dad. Can't stand the stuff in my coffee today. As for cream.....fughedaboutit!
John
15
@John Harper, My dad initiated me to coffee when I was 7. My mom would make us take this big milkshake thing every morning that I found it too bland. Whenever my mom turned her back, my dad would winked at me to drink up 1/3 to half of my cup, and he would pour fill my cup with his black coffee. That's how my homemade latte is started.
5
Katherine Gibbs... wow! I started my career as a Gibbs Girl in 1989, then I was expelled! Yup, expelled! On the way out, the schools recruiter told me that I would never amount to anything while I had "that Bronx attitude." I transfered to the Berkeley School, graduated with honors, landed a job at what is now JP Morgan Chase. I then went onto NYU, graduated with a 3.975 and not only earned my undergraduate degree and a master's, I was the recipient of the Founders Day Award! Several years later while working at a top NY Ad Agency I recieved a call from the very Gibbs employment recruiter who told me that I would never amount to anything asking if I would let her fill a few positions we had available. She was very excited when I told her that I too was a Gibbs Girl! You could hear a pin drop when I informed her that I was the Gibbs Girl from the Bronx who she had told years early that she would never amount to anything. Fast forward, Gibbs is no longer in the Pan Am Building, actually closed its doors in 2009 and contrary to what I was told as a young, impressionable Latina from the Bronx, I did and continue to do pretty well. Oh yeah, and the reason why I was expelled is because I couldn't get that darn shorthand skill down!
106
Best revenge story, a life well lived!
52
@Deb - I am laughing sooooo hard. Thanks for sharing a good story on a bleak day!
23
@Deb, it’s a funny story, but who remembers their university GPA?
9
I also drink my coffee black with no sugar, due to my dentist advising that it was the only way I would win the war on cavities. "Cut down gradually over the course of a week", he suggested, "and you'll get there". In three days I had kicked the habit, and he was right: no more cavities. Speaking of dentists, my previous one had a patient who lived in the UK, and who would get his secretary to phone and book an appointment to coincide with his yearly trip back home to NZ. Now that's a long way to go to get to your dentist!
15
Absolutely LOVED the sugar/coffee story. We have all been there !!!
13
Forget about the coffee. What got my attention was the mention of the Katharine Gibbs School. I attended the Gibbs School from 1958 to 1960 in Montclair, NJ. Memories of manual typewriters and steno books. No white gloves for us, but we were told the NY school required the girls to wear them.
22
@Cass
Yeah Gibbs!
Class of 1974!
9
Oh that morning coffee from the coffee cart! I had never went one day without my morning cup of coffee - in sickness or in health- then my second son was born and I got so wrapped up in the day-to-day that one day, I suddenly realized I had not had a cup officers for one whole week! Of course,baby in Snugly, I tied it to the cart.. Haven't missed a day since.
4
Mary Hayes, thank you so much for posting your story. My mother went to Katherine Gibbs in the mid-1950's after graduating from Wellesley College. She started off at the Boston school but, after getting quite sick, she had to go home to upstate New York. My father (who was working on his MBA at Harvard and already quite smitten with my mother) visited her while she recuperated. When she was better, she finished up the program at the New York location. My father, who was working in New York by this time, continued to pursue her. After my mother graduated, they married and eventually had five children. Throughout their marriage, my father relied on the excellent skills my mother learned at Katie Gibbs to help him with all manner of projects. After most of us were grown, my mother got her MLS and worked for nearly 20 years as a librarian at the local state university. We lost my mother in 2018 and we all miss her terribly. It's been especially hard on my father. But, he feels as if he was the luckiest man on earth to have had her for 62 years. Wellesley and Katie Gibbs--definitely a winning combination!
79
Kristin, thank you for this. From next door to your west, I kind of look forward to the Metro diary each week for renewal from New York, but the story from Dallas lightened my heart. Sometimes a man hits the jackpot in life and your fathers story restores my faith in my doing something similar that was just as right for me.
Mike
18
@Kristin Lovely story! Vassar and Katie Gibbs too was a winning combination--mine. I graduated in '58 in HAT and white gloves from the Pan Am building, which I traded for the United Nations building not far away and years of assignments abroad, danger zones and all. Met my wonderful future husband first on the 38th floor of the Secretariat and later in Gaza where he commanded the UN peacekeeping force and I spent time under my desk taking dictation while surviving the Six-Day War. Back in New York I stunned my then boss during a famous City-wide blackout by taking his urgent dictation directly on my (manual) typewriter. No light necessary; I could touch-type after all. Gibbs prepared us for anything!
20
While I was fixing my coffee with cream and sugar, a co worker informed me he always had his coffee black. That's the way he had it since he was a child. Another co-worker who was from India opined that it was so sad that his family couldn't afford cream or sugar.
33
Who drinks coffee as a child?
7
I did, whenever I could steal my mother’s dregs. So did my son, because coffee relieved his childhood migraines.
14
@T I came from a third world country and yes we give babies black coffee, no sugar no milk ( most people can’t afford milk and sugar anyway ) a tinny amount. They believe, it makes babies stronger and more resistant to some illnesses . They would stop around 2 yo.
6
I didn't drink coffee at all until I graduated college and began teaching. Buried in lesson planning and very short on sleep, I started each day before my first class with a cup of coffee to-go from the coffee pot in the teachers' lounge. That single cup soon turned into two or three throughout the mornings. I learned to drink my coffee black because I never had time before class or between classes to add cream or sugar!
13
In the early 60's, as young marrieds, we worked for an optical store in Manhattan. One day, on a Thursday, I was in the loft when I saw a short energetic black fellow come in and buy sunglasses from the owner. They appeared to know each other. I could not see the customer's face, but I did see that he handed the owner a small envelope. That night, as my husband and I left to go home, the owner handed us that same small envelope and wished us a happy weekend. In the envelope were two orchestra tickets for Saturday night's performance of Golden Boy....starring Sammy Davis Jr.
112
More than a decade ago I stop adding sugar and cream in my coffee. I quickly got use to drinking my coffee black.
The change resulted in a permanent weight loss of ten pounds! I had heard that might happen, and it did.
34
I smiled knowingly at the 'Pippin' anecdote, and wondered just how many serendipitous moments of human generosity and spirit are forever lost in an age where human beings DON'T interact in theater queues, but stare, absorbed, into their smartphone screens all the while.
By the way, Ms. Hobbs, did you see 'Pippin' when Irene Ryan was still with the show? She was the talk of Broadway during the show's run.
35
I was a “Gibbs Girl” in Philadelphia in the 1980’s. We were still required to wear dresses/skirts and discreet makeup. As computers became ubiquitous, I decided that being an exec secretary would become obsolete. My 100 wpm steno skills were a tremendous boon in law school.
102
@Lawyermom
Nice.. You made me smile with the comnent about the shorthand..
I used to write notes at work in Gregg.. knowing that no one could decipher it.
26
@Lawyermom
Jaleh, one of my classmates in college, was a young woman from Iran. During her psychology lecture, she often took notes in Persian, because it was easier for her than writing quickly in English. One of her psychology classmates admired Jaleh's abililty to take shorthand! I don't know whether Jaleh ever told her classmate that she was writing her notes in Persian, not shorthand.
33
@Mamma's Child I made sure to keep my shorthand skills to myself so that I would not be expected to take minutes of every meeting and type them up!
40
Took me less than a year of commercial roasting to conclude fresh roasted coffee has a shelf life of little over a week before it heads south. If it is drunk black without sweetener there really is a noticeable difference.
9
@Ian MacFarlane there are vacuum sealing jars for coffee - approx $25 = a great investment to keep your coffee perfectly fresh. I did a/b testing in my house, just to make sure it wasn't the placebo effect. It wasn't. Best coffee roasting co in the US - 6 Depot, West Stockbridge MA. Astonishingly great.
2
I began drinking coffee in Seattle decades ago, a few years after moving away from NY. On a return trip to visit family I walked into a Manhattan diner and ordered a cup of coffee. The waitress asked me if I wanted it "regular." I said yes, not quite knowing what this meant. She proceeded to heap three spoonfuls of sugar into a small cup and then added about three ounces of cream. At least it wasn't instant coffee, but undrinkable nonetheless.
29
The same thing happened to me the first time to Boston! And the guy got mad when I asked for a replacement “black, no sugar”. It’s an East Coast thing I guess!
7
Wow, for a minute I thought - Katharine Gibbs was still around! It's too bad it wasn't able to turn keep up with the times. My mother attended back in the 1930s with white gloves and all. I attended a short college grad program in the early 1980s and rebelled against "the machine" - yes, they still had IBM Selectric typewriters!
18
@WWW
I loved IBM Selectric typewriters, especially Correcting Selectrics! I even owned one for many years but eventually gave it up, because it took up too much space, competing with my computer, printer, monitor, and mouse. Alas!
6
So did the Katy Gibbs girls upgrade to a better restaurant than McAnn's? Or perhaps switch from a burger to a steak, with an ice cream sundae for desert?
This is by far my favorite feature of the NYT.
35
@Ignatius J. Reilly
McAnns is/was an Irish bar chain with steam table entree options. I think the food was beside the point of going there. Not a place one would go for a steak anyway, and beer is not a good pairing for an ice cream sundae which I don’t think they have anyway.
10
The black coffee story resonated with me.
I worked for NYC"s tHousing Department during most of the 1970's. The office coffee was from a vending machine and " the milk" was a powdered substance that became a glue like substance when it entered the liquid.
Tried it once.
Black no sugar ever since.
20
@Chris
The black coffee story percolated with me
25
Funny entries, especially the "Morning Coffee" one!!
13
I’ve been drinking my coffee black too for years and recently when an acquaintance saw it and said : “you John Wayne your coffee?” Hun? Yes he said , John Wayne drunk his coffee like that. A well, mine is a health rule I put on myself : won’t scoop any sugar on my food. If I want to be fancy , I’ll pour a little whole milk . Cheers!
10
I was born/raised in New Orleans and educated (well, sorta) in the Bay Area and I never have been served adulterated "black" coffee. Must be an NYC thing.
In New Orleans coffee with cream is café au lait ...
22
One of the most memorable moments from my one and only trip to New York, is of my first day arriving into the city. I was lugging an oversized suitcase down Broadway and I stopped to ask a man having a cigarette on the sidewalk, which direction time square was in. He exhaled his cigarette and loudly shouted to me, " how do you not know where time square is!?!"
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@Stevi: It's Times Square, as in N.Y. Times, not time square.
One summer while I was in college, I had a summer job in a big office building. I would stop at the coffee shop downstairs for take-out coffee. At that place they put the cream and sugar
in for you, and they put in a lot. Each morning I asked for just a little cream and sugar, but they didn’t seem to get the message. Finally, I asked for black/no sugar, and have been drinking it that way ever since.
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Small world stuff..
I, too, attended Katharine Gibbs in 1973/1974 and saw Pippin with friends.
No one bought us FM seats.. We were up in the nosebleeds section and had a great time!
When I saw Katharine Gibbs, I thought thought it might be a classmate who was recounting this sweet story.
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In the late 60's/early 70's I commuted via LIRR to Manhattan for high school, and my traveling buddies and I one day shared a 4-seater with a young woman who was a student at Katherine Gibbs. We wound up sitting with her most mornings for quite a while, and became very friendly with her. I've always wondered whatever happened to her. I hope she became very successful.
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I've been living in NYC for nearly two decades, the majority of the rest of my life having been in the midwest. I still cannot get my head around the fact that if you order coffee in NYC (in most places, anyway), it comes with sugar unless you specify it should not! I'm very careful to articulate my order but it still happens that I get sugar from time to time. And, while I have never asked for sugar, hold the coffee, it is something I would definitely do!
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@Andrea When I worked in Manhattan I always found it kind of humorous when out-of-town visitors came in and told me how they had ordered a "regular" coffee and got milk and sugar added to it whether they wanted it or not. I would give prospective visitors a heads up when I could, to let them know that "regular" meant something different in NY.
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@Andrea Every region seems to have its own food quirks. I moved to the south ten years ago, but every time I order iced tea, I have to specify "plain tea, no sweetener." Regardless of the care I take in choosing those specific words, the waiter invariably says, "So, y'all want unsweetened tea?" This puzzles me since it sounds as if the tea starts out sweetened, and then the sweetener is removed. I always reply "non-sweetened, please."
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@nancy :
very, very true!
7
The story of the dentist’s wise crack reminded me of the time I went to see an Upper West Side foot doctor. A friend had recommended him and said he had really helped her plantar fasciitis, which was what I was struggling with.
When he came in to the examining room, we made small talk about the fact that I lived close by. I asked, “How long have you had your office here?” “Twenty-five years,” he replied. I said, “Wow, that’s really something.” “Yep,” he answered. “And you’re my first patient.”
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Re: "You'll be back"
If the Turkish waiter had been given the diner's credit card in order to process the payment, perhaps he deliberately "forgot" to return the diner's credit card after she had paid, thus ensuring that she would return.
I once bought some gift cards at an Olive Garden restaurant for my mother-in-law. After I gave the employee my credit card, she walked over to the cash register behind the counter and then brought me the gift cards and the credit card slip to sign, which I stuffed into my purse. I then drove across town to shop at another store. At that time, I realized that I was missing my credit card and drove back to the Olive Garden to inquire about my card. They immediately turned it over to me. The employee had been careless, forgetting to return my credit card, and I had been in a hurry and forgot to double-check that I had everything with me before I left the restaurant.
12
@Türk garson
Oh, leave card in Olive garden
2
Oh, gosh. This dates me. I saw Pippin with my grade school class ‘72 or ‘73, and we sang some of the songs for our graduation ceremony. “Gotta find my cor-or-ner...of the skyyy...”.
I can still sing most of it by memory.
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@Passion for Peaches - I'm having my morning coffee, and wondering how the "Pippin" score could apply to almost anything the Diary could cover. :)
tune of "Morning Glow"
Morning joe, morning joe.
Pour me one more cup to go.
Let the goodness overflow.
And last the whole day through.
Morning joe for me and you.
Morning joe, bring your heat
I prefer it not too sweet
Somehow better from the street.
And in the morning light
Morning joe, make life all right.
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@Freddie, :-)
We sang that one, too. Way off key, as a I remember.
With all that is going on, I just can’t work up that Pippinish optimism, though. This is more my mood:
Morning joe, the news is bad,
I am feeling more than sad.
There are no face masks to be had
So now it’s very clear:
Ditch the joe, give me a beer!
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@Passion for Peaches
But for the average
Joe facemasks aren't that beneficial.
Just Saturday the Surgeon
General tweeted (per the Times"
“Seriously people — STOP BUYING MASKS!”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/29/health/coronavirus-n95-face-masks.html
5
Metropolitan Diary always brings smile on my face and changes my mood instantly. It’s in fact happiness treasure.
“ Packed In “ story is one such story that makes us smile. The subway announcer’s welcome to Time Square Station is a beauty by itself. Thanks Kristi Boyce for writing a nice story.
I have travelled not only in the New York subway umpteen number of times but also have had the horrible experience of commuting in Mumbai or Bombay local trains n number of times. I can assure you that travelling in Mumbai local trains is simply hell and if we can reach the destination in one piece, we can have the feeling of climbing Mount Everest.
I agree fully with @AML regarding “ You’ll Be Back “ story.
Finding a correct dentist is always a problem in any part of the world. As such I liked the story “ At the Dentist “ naturally since I have also experienced it. It’s no wonder Stewart Bean continued to visit the same Dentist even after moving to San Francisco. As such her dentist never felt the absence of his regular patient.
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@Sivaram Pochiraju
I like "correct dentist." My own dentist, who is as correct as you'd want any professional to be, is also the "right" dentist for me!
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@Sivaram Pochiraju Talking of Mumbai trains, I remember hearing the story of a young man who had not taken the local as he had intended. His compartment mates told him that the train slowed down at the station he wanted, enough for him to jump off. But, they advised, as you jump, keep running forward to maintain your momentum, else you will fall. So he did just that. In fact, he ran so well that he caught up with the next compartment. The people seeing him approach thought he was running to catch the train, and helped him back in!
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@S.T. : Thanks for a nice story. It is always correct to get down in the direction of train motion lest you fall down rather badly. The story mentioned by you makes me remember another story. It goes like this.
Some gentleman was seen moving anxiously around a railway compartment. The train was in slow motion. As such fellow passengers literally pulled him into the compartment. He shouted instantly saying that it was not he, who was supposed to travel but his relative, who is far behind for whom he was anxious.
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Mary Hayes, you made my day, much like the couple who bought your tickets made yours. An act of real community with no thanks expected. I’m so gas you shared the story. I hope the couple read it and recognized themselves.
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@Anglican
I hope they read it, too, as that couple would probably be pushing 100 by now!
19
@MAKSQUIBS :
hope at some point the young women "paid it forward"!
10
Like many of the folks who have commented here, the Katherine Gibbs story struck a heartfelt note with me. Graduating from there was a source of pride for my mother in law.
58
Dear Diary,
Today, I read a NYT article that wasted 5 minutes of my life.
-- Dismayed in Brooklyn
7
@Brad Torville - how could it be a waste if you got that comment out of it?
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@Freddie It took him 5 minutes to write the comment - ha!
17
@Brad Torville , which article?
6
I am starting with happy news for the environment i.e making New York plastic free. Hope it will be successful with the cooperation of all New Yorkers even though some slight adjustment needs to be made in the lifestyle.
This week’s Metropolitan Diary is lovely mix of subtle humour and kindness.
For quite sometime I am more than happy to focus my attention right here as I get charged up and eagerly wait for the next week’s diary.
When I read the story “ Morning Coffee “ to begin with, I missed the humour and wondered about the content of the story. As such I read it again and then the last line “ I would like one small black sugar with no coffee “ made me laugh wholeheartedly. The last line has made my day.
There is a message in this story too. The message is loud and clear. It’s not at all about black coffee but about the small cup.
I have seen in America plenty of people including children using big cups to drink coffee, tea, cool drinks etc, which is a huge health hazard that too when sugar is added. The small cup available in shops looks like a big cup to me.
Please go in for small cups doesn’t matter whether it’s a drink or ice cream for that matter. Please take care of your health.
Thank you very much Roderick Denault for writing a wonderful story, which makes plenty of readers smile for a longtime and make them healthy too if they follow your choice of cup.
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@Jean claude the damned :
seriously, though you're having an unfortunate problem, it IS helping the environment. New Yorkers need to just get on with it!
19
@Jean claude the damned : I understand your problem but your cooperation is very much needed.
We simply can’t live entirely in a plastic free environment since we are surrounded by plastic everywhere in all shapes but certain plastic material like very thin plastic bags, which are choking the drains resulting in floods during rainy season can be dispensed with once for all. Hundreds of thousands of fish die purely on account of thin plastic thrown in lakes, ponds, rivers and seas.
Moreover plastic strewn all over land, lakes, rivers and seas is damaging the environment permanently.
Everyone of us should try to better our environment even if it causes some discomfort to us.
17
@RLiss What do you put your garbage in? Serious question.
2
Dear Roderick Denault:
Your line, “I would like one small black sugar with no coffee,” made me laugh!
I say things like that (apparently) without realizing it. Both my wife and my sister often ask me, “What did you just say?” I tell them what I THOUGHT that I said, but they tell me, “No. You said the exact opposite.”
I try to remember this rule: “Think twice and speak once.” But even that doesn’t always work.
And what about the way that we flip letters around? I am by no means a baker, but I enjoy baking bread. I have to think before saying “I’m baking bread,” or else it will come out as “I’m braking bed.”
Maybe a good cure would be to practice some of those old tongue twisters. “She sells seashells by the seashore” is a good place to start.
Cheers!
Dean
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@Dean
My father was trained as a mechanical engineer. When he was helping us with some renovations on our house, he would always say, "Measure twice; cut once." Good advice for any profession!
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@Dean I love it! I think most of us might hear it as "breaking bed." LOL. I do this sometimes as well and find that, while the joke's on me, it almost always lightens the day.
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@Dean :
I believe they're called "spoonerisms" after an old Victorian era professor who had that same problem.
He is famous for toasting "the dear old Queen" (meaning Victoria) as the "queer old dean".
20
The story "You'll Be Back" left me in disbelief. Why didn't the waiter just give the credit card back BEFORE the women left the restaurant? It makes no sense to keep it and let them leave without it. Suppose the sister didn't discover the loss until much later and wasn't able to get back to the restaurant or didn't know where she had left the card.
16
@AML I didn’t see it that way. I figured that it was a fortuitous accident.
39
@Bibi McCracken Me too. I think it was probably left in the check folder that he put on the table for her to sign.
18
@AML It's possible that it was just a coincidence. The waiter full of pride for the restaurant making a boast. A diner who accidentally left their card in the folder. When the diner returned, the waiter made a joke of the situation???? I've left my credit card behind several times. Once I left it at the cashier's and she ran after me in the parking lot. Another time, I left it in the restaurant's folder in my haste. No harm thankfully.
22
Freddie! There is your romantic ending story- Katharine Gibbs Girl marries nice man who buys premiere theater tickets for more Gibbs Girls! Sounds like he makings of a song....
16
I love kindness stories.
112
@Gemma
Me too.
Since the last election, especially, when I experience kindness or decency (perhaps they’re the same) I’m moved and my faith in humanity is restored.
1
Penny Kurtz, are you from the Bronx and do you have a brother named Warren?
14
Gibbs Girls --
Years ago my brother was driving over the Triborough bridge and let another driver into his lane. Upon reaching the toll barrier, he was told that the guy in front had already paid his way (the 75 cent toll dates this story dreadfully).
That points out two upstanding New Yorkers... The one who paid the toll and the toll taker.
111
@J Fogarty Brace yourself. The bridge is now called the RFK Bridge and the toll-by-mail is $9.50 one way. With E-Z Pass it's 6.12 one way. I go back to when it was 25 cents one way. Sigh.
22
@J Fogarty I count *three* upstanding New Yorkers (including your brother who let another driver into his lane!).
30
@J Fogarty
Try the Willis Avenue Bridge.
It’s free! :—)
10
So good and so funny. Great stories.
26
years ago I would read my parents copy of the NYT, and always read Metropolitan Diary, dreaming of some day going to NY and having my own experience. Well I finally did with my big sister, on her 60th and my 50th birthday. Saw the new version of Pippin which we loved, and had such wonderful adventures. We've gone back a few times since, but that trip was so memorable. Oh and btw I am now a subscriber and the Metroplitan Diary is still the first thing I read!
125
Dear Mary,
Thank you for a Diary entry that brought with it a big smile and a warm feeling. Such a kind and lovely gesture to treat all of the “Gibbs girls” to the play, with great seats to enable you and your friends to enjoy a wonderful and memorable experience.
The kindness of strangers—my favorite category of stories featured in the Diary.
Stay well Mary.
Allen
121
When I read “ Morning Coffee “ for the first time, I missed the humour part and then I read it again. The last line “ I would like one black sugar with no coffee “ has made me laugh wholeheartedly.
There is a message in this story too i.e about the writer’s choice of small cup, which everyone can implement it for living a healthy life. Thank you very much Roderick Denault for writing a wonderful story.
Seeing ‘ Pippin ‘ story is very sweet to read. It’s very kind of the elderly gentleman to pay for 5 free tickets that too for FM mainly because of Katy Gibbs School connection. Thanks for writing a sweet story Mary Hayes.
This story has made me to recollect couple of memories. During our recent trip to Ann Arbor, MI one of the occupants of the preceding car paid for the toll fare of my son - in - law. As such he paid for the incoming vehicle so that the chain can continue.
Couple of years back I happened to see a Ted Video wherein the participant told a beautiful story about giving. It seems in quite a few restaurants in California, there is a practice not at all paying for the food eaten at all since no bill is given. The customers are welcome to walk off since the payment of food is already taken care of. The customer if so desires to pay, can pay whatever he or she feels like. What’s sweet idea !
20
Thanks for the Katie Gibbs story! Ever since the person ahead of me paid my meal at a fast food place I have done the same. I think it’s a terrific way to spread human kindness. The other day I paid for the coffees of a couple of cops in line behind me. Have a nice day!
92
It was bitingly cold and dark, with no hint of sunrise, when my daughter, home from college, her younger brother, and I piled into the car and headed to Schenectady, to visit my mother, who resides in what is euphemistically termed a “memory care” facility.
It is not an easy trip on the best of days, but the kids were cheerful as we streamed their current holiday favorites, Frank Sinatra (huh?), and A Charlie Brown Christmas. Driving through Schenectady, I asked my daughter to locate the eponymous Donut shop, closest to my mother, on her phone.
As we approached we could see fire trucks and emergency vehicles, and then an actual fire, at the business across a small, residential street. Rather daunted by this circumstance, I hesitatingly made my way to the line for the drive “thru” window, only to realize I couldn’t quite recall if I had ever used one. The kids were in hysterics as I placed my order, in an overly loud, enunciated tone, for a large quantity of donut holes, and the biggest box o’ coffee, intended for the residents and staff at the facility.
The woman at the window informed me there was no need to pay for it, since the man in the car ahead of me had taken care of my order. She took in my shocked expression explaining it is a customer Christmas Eve tradition. I quickly borrowed all the cash the kids had on hand, added to mine, and shakily handed it to her, requesting she pay for as many orders, minus a tip, as it would cover. Our 2019 holiday came early.
156
@Hortencia I think this is a great tradition, but how do you pay for an order when you don’t know the charge?
21
@Anne Rubin : Thanks for your wonderful comment and kind act. I also thank @Hortencia for her beautiful comment and kind act.
I do believe that we have to reveal our kind acts from time to time as and when done, whether small or big, so that others can take a cue out of it. However my wife thinks otherwise.
24
Black sugar, no coffee is still making me laugh and laugh 10 minutes after reading it. We’ve all been there, of course.
The gracious benefactors remembered in the Katie Gibbs story are maybe deceased by now, but their lovely generosity lives on in the hearts and minds of the now-grown up Gibbs ladies - and in those of us who read the story and vicariously felt the thrill those young women had that day.
Re: the subway sardine scene, imagine how reassured some of the stressed out riders were, and perhaps cheered up, upon hearing the “...if you can make it here...” assertion. Maybe what went through their minds was “...yes, this too shall pass.” A Philly native, I came to New York almost 40 years ago, experiencing many stresses and much success here. Every time I hear “...if you can make it here...” I shed tears of joy from great memories and future optimism.
Lovely stories, all of them.
105
My favorite time of year in the city is Fleet Week with the Memorial Day weekend in the middle. The appearance of the men and women decked out in dress whites signals the warm weather and summer are here.
The holidays come next with the festive lights and decorations throughout, the crispness in the air and year drawing to a close.
During one of my many training assignments a fellow student from the Midwest lamented about the horrible traffic in the city the time he visited. "Let me guess, you drove to Rockefeller Center to see the tree during the holidays?"
The look on his face was priceless.
54
I attended Katy Gibbs in 1984 and met my closest friend there. Both in our 50s, we are less than two weeks away from traveling to Iceland together to hike volcanoes and soak in natural hot springs.
We were 18 and 21 when we learned to type and take shorthand by day and prowl NYC by night. We had the stupidest motto at that time. It was called, No Stopping, and it meant that no matter what street corner we stepped off of, we did not stop until we reached the other side.
My friend loves to tell how I terrorized all my fellow Katy Gibbs girls whenever we had a typing test because every time I made a typing error, I would stamp my foot so that everyone else was sitting on pins and needles waiting for my inevitable shock wave to hit their typing test! I still feel guilty about that.
We left Katy Gibbs, married, had kids, became godmothers to each other’s children, lived, laughed, cried, divorced, suffered the excruciating loss of one of our beautiful sons and continue to live with the imprint of Katy Gibbs.
I raised two boys as a young mom before attending college when they were 7 and 13 and I was 36. I spent 10 years getting my a Master’s Degree in Nursing, and continue to work as a Nurse in NYC. I am grateful every day for the skills I took from Katharine Gibbs. I typed all of my lectures verbatim while keeping my eyes fixed on my professors. No stopping and no stamping. Thanks for the memories.
216
@Karen McKenna I took college prep courses in high school in the mid-1950's but in my senior year made time to take the "vocational" courses of typing and stenography. They have served me well all my life. I took college course notes in Pitman shorthand and studied by transcribing them into longhand in the evening. While many other college-bound classmates looked with disdain on typing, I was prepared when computes and keyboarding came along.
82
THiS should be a metropolitan diary as well!
37
In the early 1970s I had a younger sister who was taking courses at Katherine Gibbs so she could 'get a real job' after earning a film studies degree. Of course, she lived at the Barbizon, a hotel for women. The place's strict rules about no men in the rooms meant my new husband had to wait downstairs while I fetched my sis for a dinner-out treat. Ah, such days of innocence.
98
@Linda Robertson - I don't recall the early 1970s as being innocent, but maybe it was - by comparison to the harshness right now - and in this election year, both sides seem to have adopted the angry tone. Recalling this song in "Pippin" by the manipulative wife of Charlemagne, where despite the sweet title, spreading a little sunshine was just a way to get what she wanted. (Like the line - Sincerity, once you can fake that, you got it made, LOL.)
tune of "Spread a Little Sunshine" from "Pippin"
Back in my student days, when I first heard this song
It was pointed and how!
And as I'm looking back from this even harsher time
Boy, do we need it now:
That if we all could spread a little kindness
Like that couple on that line
Then if the kindness is paid forward
We might be just fine.
Lord know's we've heard enough anger and nastiness
Hope it's not here to stay
We shout we'd like to see / no more hostility.
That's not what our votes say.
But if our votes just spread a little kindness
Though it sounds like a cliche.
The world might feel much less divided
On Election Day.
(Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo)
22
My Mom went to Katherine Gibbs in the '40's, my better half saw Pippin during the original run in the '70's, and I worked in a building on East 40th St. in the mid-'80's with a Katherine Gibbs school on the first floor, so that story definitely struck a chord with me. And of course, the coffee and subway stories as well!
59