Techpolitan life

Today I went to a Tim Horton’s for a coffee drink.

When I was standing in front of the counter, all the baristas were occupied, so I waited. Soon, one of them was liberated and moved to the counter, yet this lady with a hygienic mask on didn’t seem to notice my existence. I waved my hand.

There's a reaction from her. She extended her hand across the cash register to a QR code glued on the table, as she finally uttered a phrase:
“Scan this code to order”.
“Can’t you take my order now”? I said.
“Yes, but there’s a discount if you order online”, She said.

Pissed yet allured by the discount, I ended up scanning the code with one of the most popular payment apps in China. I just want a hot Americano. Added to the cart, click pay now, oh, a dialogue popped up asking if I want to join the membership programme. No. Then I come down to the check, noticing that the final price is still original. I asked the barista where is the promised discount.

“Oh, if you join our membership program for free, your first order is half-priced”.

Damn. I should have asked. Since I couldn’t find the entry point for joining the membership program again, I paid the order and surprisingly got a 0.5 yuan reduction out of nowhere.

As my order was done, I excused myself from the queue and went to occupy a seat on the ground floor. There’s only one available next to the glass wall, and the table is full of garbage left by the previous customer. I took a seat waiting for my coffee. A few minutes later, a robotic radio sound came along: “Customer number 3567, your order is ready”.

Is that me? What’s my number? Oh, it must be on my phone but I was too lazy to check again. Luckily the counter was within my eyesight, and I saw a cup of coffee standing there. It must be mine. I even took a look at the receipt underneath the cup while taking the coffee away: I was actually 1467. Good to know.

As I was writing this article on my phone, a young girl dressed in a yellow dress suddenly squatted in front of me. Shocked and embarrassed, I then realized a glass wall was separating us, and I was sure it was not one-way mirrored glass. She was looking for something in her handbag — it’s a camera. Then she, remaining squatted, flipped over the display screen, and started to take selfies, with her lens pointing in my direction. Some young boys two meters away smoking near a trash bin didn't cause her any cringe, and neither did I. I was for a second worried about being taken in her selfies.

And I noticed there’s another group of girls standing next to the selfie taker, but I didn’t have any evidence that they were friends, since all of them were immersed in their phone screens, with heads tilted down. But later on, they departed together, heads down to the phones.

I don’t know how to take in everything I have just observed, as I was still typing fast and furious on my phone with my head tilted down, back scooped like a spoon.