Tuesday, April 1, 2008

le poisson d'avril

I don't know how to capitalize things in French. So I just don't, sometimes.

In France, April Fool's Day is called le poisson d'avril, meaning "the fish of April." April 1st used to be the first day of the new year until Charles IX came along. He changed it to 01/01 back in 1564. But some dudes decided to give gifts on April 1 anyways. So they gave fake gifts because they were cheap and didn't want to give expensive gifts TWICE. Apparently April is a month where there aren't good fish because the waters are cold and the fish are reproducing [side note: remember when the dolphins were having sex so I couldn't go swimming with them?], so one day, these aforementioned "dudes" decided to put a whole bunch of fresh fish in the water for the fishermen. And then they shouted out "April fish! April fish!"

Cool.

Today I made a bunch of terrible jokes about it being April Fool's Day. This is what happened. A lot.

Customer: Hello. I would like a medium house coffee.
Me: Oh. Sorry. We're out of coffee.
Looooong pause.
Me: Ha. ... Ha. Joke! Happy April Fool's Day! I got you!
Customer: (blank stare)... So, can I get my coffee?
Me: Yep. 1.84 please. Have a great day!
Customer: Good luck.
Me: Heh. Heh. I'll need it. Guess I should have some coffee before I try making jokes, huh?
Customer: Um. (walks away)

Unfortunately, that's not special to today. I make jokes like this all the time and usually my customers don't get it. My favorite these days has been the response to the question "Can I get a large house?"

Me: ARE YOU SURE YOU DON'T WANT A MANSION? Hahahahahahahaha!
Customer: silence or, if I'm real lucky, uncomfortable laughter
Me: Get it? Like, a large house would be a mansion? Or, like, a ... really really big house?
Customer: Oh.

There are approximately four customers who laugh at such jokes. Large Skim Latte™, Medium Skim Cap Lady™, Apple Fritter™, and Medium Coffee Of The Day™ are my personal fan club. It's pretty sweet, really.

2 comments:

Amy said...

bwahahahahhaa.

If I worked with you, like I SHOULD, if I hadn't been DENIED, then I'd laugh.

Every time that I come into Espresso now, and I see your boss, I just want to rip my shirt off and go, "You could have had this! THIS!!" And then run away with my Chai tea.

Michelle said...

I would laugh, if I heard those jokes. And I laughed several times when I read this entry, and then again when I read Amy's comment and imagined her exposing herself to an entire coffeehouse. Fantastic.

(Also, I totally didn't know that about April Fool's Day! Oh, those wacky Frenchmen.)