From the beginning there were mysteries. For one thing, Blondi hadn’t bought a cash register. With so few customers, she’d thought, a simple cashbox would do the job. Not only that, but she’d know everyone; this was her home town after all. Why not use an honour system where people could make their own change? It would be a self-serve café as much as possible.
“No one wants to do that,” said Gran, disapproving. “All you need is one crook to rob you blind.”
Blondi went ahead with the honour system. She didn’t expect the closing count to be perfect – she was prepared for it to be a few cents or even dollars out – but by the end of the first week there was considerably more money than there should’ve been.
Some of the local seniors must be making mistakes, a situation that had to be corrected immediately. She and her sister Dawn watched the cashbox closely for a few days, but didn’t catch anyone overpaying. The seniors were better, more careful cashiers than the younger customers!
What was going on? The “magic” cashbox continued to show a surplus at the end of each week, and the cooks were too busy and tired to worry about it. Too much is better than not enough, right? So relax, they told themselves. It’ll sort itself out.
It never has. Though each customer is asked the silent questions, “Is it you?” and “Why?”, there is a saying about not looking a gift horse in the mouth and so Blondi and Dawn have stopped their investigations, no longer worried that some local senior is draining her pension pittance. For now they think of the extra cash as a tip, a gesture of goodwill from someone who appreciates their efforts more than most. Blondi has one suspicion she hasn’t shared with anyone, because it has to do with ghosts and people already think she’s a little “out there.”
Some customers complain about their prices, saying they’re too high, that the same thing can be purchased cheaper in neighbouring towns. “Let ‘em go there then,” says Blondi. She will not, though Dawn considered it, permit her to discount her fabulous baking, which, Blondi is quick to say, is not the same thing as what customers can get other places. It’s vastly superior, and if people don’t want to pay for it, they can do without it. “Customer’s always right, my ass,” she’s been heard to say.
