I was sitting in a coffee shop people watching today and I happened to notice the barista. She is in her 40's, no ring but still relatively attractive for her age. I decided to write this story-What Have You Done For Me Lately?

In a small town, there was once a barista that worked in a coffee shop. She had worked there since the age of 15, as it was her uncle's coffee shop. She loved the smell of coffee every morning and upon her uncle's death, she had already taken the coffee shop over. The quaint cafe sat on the corner of a street that wasn't treaded too often, so most of the customers were loyal locals who always came in to enjoy a cup before work.

One such customer was Jim, who was the son of the town farmer. Against his dad's advice, he would gladly pay the $2.50 for a cup of coffee just to see the beautiful barista behind the bar. Jim was the same age when he met her, he was also 16 and in school with her. Due to his chores, he did not ever get to date the barista during school because his farm needed to be tended to every night and day. The only time he had was early in the mornings. Jim was a good man, raised on the morals of Christianity and was a strong boy. He was also taught to have the utmost respect for women. Part of that respect was to chase one, keep the virginity until marriage and be fruitful with a family to show for later in life.

During his teenage years, he would drop $.50 cents off at the bar for the barista. Every single day, he gave her $.50 of his hard-earned farming money and would smile at her on his way out. He thought that if she were anything like him, she would be saving this money somewhere secure and by the time they graduated high school, maybe she would be able to afford something nice for college or simply keep it in her bank. Meanwhile, the barista would look at the two quarters in her hand and grimace at them. "Is that all I'm worth in his eyes"? She would ask herself.

As they got older, the farmer stayed around the town and the barista went off to college to study business. She had convinced herself that she wanted to grow her family's business. The farmer stayed around the town and continued working on his farm. He was in his wood shop one night and decided to build a coin collection box for the girl that he had fallen in love with as a teenager. Every time he would go to her coffee shop, he would throw two quarters in the box to continue giving her tips, even though she wasn't there. He was going to buy a wedding ring for her when she returned with his contributions.

The woman returned after six years of studying in the big city. She had stayed in contact with the farmer, who was now very wealthy after taking the farm from his father as an inheritance. After six years of holding on to the dreams of marrying the coffee maid, it was time for him to return to the coffee shop and see his love. He then picked up his box full of coins, six years worth of quarters and loaded it into his truck. His truck barely turned over, as it was his grandfather's old Chevrolet, and the dust from his clothes and seats erupted like a volcano as he got in the door. This was the first time he was going to get to see his future wife.

As he pulled up to her coffee shop, he noticed there were two Mercedes Benz parked outside. When he walked in, the woman sprang from her chair and yelled "Jim!" as he walked through the door. Jim was smiling as she ran and gave him a hug. He breathed in the scent of her perfume and looked past her hair to see a man half his size standing in the background. With a half smile and a weak handshake the man introduced himself "Hi, I'm Mark, her financial advisor and Fiance". Jim looked at Mark and then at the barista in disbelief. She said to him "We met while I was in college and he's going to help me grow the business into the big city!". Jim looked devastated. He took the barista outside to the box sitting in his truck and explained to her what he had been doing for six years. She looked at him with tears in her eyes and said "That's really sweet of you, Jim but I don't think I can be with a farmer. Mark is very well off and I think we have a great future together."

They looked at each other and Jim got into his truck with tears welling in his eyes. The Barista simply went into her shop and continued chatting with Mark. As time went on, the coffee shop expanded into many cities and soon the couple had reached their goal of having coffee shops in major cities in their area. Jim, on the other hand, had continued farming and with his money he had earned, he had built an estate and invested in a grape vineyard. The vineyard had become quite the attraction in his town and people from all around began pouring into it every summer and fall to sightsee and taste the wine. By now Jim was worth millions and was still single because of the heartache he had felt that fateful day. Jim opened the door to his house and saw the paper lying on the counter top. He looked at the headline, which read:

ECONOMIC COLLAPSE: ECONOMY IN MELTDOWN

Jim read onward about the economic collapse, and discovered that those who had acquired large sums of debt would soon be in for a shocking revelation. With massive job losses and retirements wiped out, Mark and the Barista were struggling to make ends meet. The first coffee shop of theirs to fall was the one in the big city, due to the cost and debt they had taken to open it. As the months passed on, the coffee shops began to fall like dominos against the storm of the new economy. As society began to collapse further, so did relationships, businesses and even families.

Jim walked into the coffee shop one morning to get his morning coffee and found the Barista crying in the corner. He went and asked her what the matter was. She said "Mark left me last week, and all I have left is this coffee shop and I can barely afford to run it. " Jim looked at her with understanding eyes. "Look, I know it's a hard time for everyone right now but I really need to have my morning coffee before I start my day." She looked at him, and wiped her tears from her eyes and started her espresso machine up for the day. "You know, you and I would make a really good team. I think we should try to work with one another,'' she said slyly. Jim looked off into the distance of the coffee shop where so many of his dreams took place, remembered all of the beautiful bartenders and Sommeliers that he employed at his vineyard. He snapped too when she said "Well, that'll be $2.50 for the coffee, Jim...So what do you think?"

Jim looked at her, grinned and threw two quarters into the tip basket. "We'll see ya around." He said as he got into his new pickup truck and drove off.