Coffee Heaven

Conundrum

After hearing awesome comments about Coffee Heaven, Wendell Wentworth visited their drive through for a Latte. He was super happy with the taste and the speed. The line was six cars long before he got to order. Five minutes from his pulling into the line to his enjoying his drink. He parked at work twenty minutes early because of that speed.

The coffee tasted like heaven on earth, so delicious. The minutes took their sweet time as he savored every taste. He knew going back was his only choice as this cup would be gone way too soon.

He looked at the Logo on the cup, impressed with the artwork when he noticed the order information area. Wendell Wentworth Blonde Vanilla Latte No Sugar was handwritten on the cup. He knew he never said his name. In the few times he had ordered inside other shops, they used the order number and slapped a sticky printed label on it with both number and drink. A few decades ago, that chain had used names, and he always went with just his last.

How in the world did this new business have time to hand print the order and know his name for the cup? Not to mention deal with customers in under thirty seconds each. It seemed like magic or time travel got used. Whatever it was Wendell was going to find out.

Wendell was the manager of a eleven software people working on their mobile phone switch. The system the creates connections between the two or more phones so their customers can talk to others. He had weekly staff meetings and sometimes provided refreshments. Tomorrow's meeting would become one of those times. He printed Coffee Heaven's menu off the net and made a sign-up sheet for orders, which he handed to one of his staff. They would return it once everyone added to it.

Wendell was a middle-aged man that moved up from software, as he showed great skill in organizing and limited skill in programming. He was better than a few on his team, but nowhere near those getting paid more than he got. His best was doing triple the work for double the pay and deserved the few extra thousand he made over Wendell. He saved the project and Wendell's bonuses a few times. The other two were only a few hundred more and were worth every penny.

Coffee Heaven was open all day, every day. It served many unique coffee favors and all the normal ones. They had the same type of variety of for its donuts, sandwiches, and other drinks. Their drinks and food were five star, making competitors seem one star or worst, almost addictive in quality.

The following day he spent three minutes at the drive thru order sign giving a list of coffees and donuts for his entire staff, followed by two minutes collecting it all and securing it in his car. He used the lap stopwatch feature of his watch to see those times as he got in line, started ordering, finished ordering, started pickup, and finished pickup. It displayed ten minutes at the started ordering, thirteen at the finished, twenty-five at the started pickup, and twenty-seven at the finished. But, it’s time only shifted five minutes and so did the car’s clock, not to mention it felt like less despite the five minutes elapsed doing the two tasks.

Each cup had the hand printed name and order of their destined individual. They individually wrapped the donuts in small boxes within the two dozen bigger box each with a hand printed name and donut type. Twelve coffees and two donuts to go with each all hand printed in under five minutes according to the outside world time. Twenty-seven minutes according to the lap timer that the world experienced as five.

Just to prove the point, he hand wrote the thirty-six orders as fast as he could. It took him eighteen minutes to accomplish. You could not read the wording because he was going for speed. For neatness, he did one in two minutes to come as close as he could to the professional job on the packaging.

When a new Coffee Heaven shop opened closer to his house, Wendell applied for weekend work. The company hired and trained him. The staff at the other shop trained him.