Counter Logic

Rush hour at the Toasted Bun coffee shop can get pretty tense. This particular rush hour happened to be at about ten this morning. All nine booths were occupied along with one entire counter. I'm aware of this because we got the last booth.
Counters are great places to sit, too. I like them because I get to be in the middle of the coffee shop action. This morning, though, we felt like boothing it.
Right after we sat down, a man and woman entered, looked around them and then with stern faces walked to the remaining empty counter. Five stools from which to choose two. The man chose the second stool from the end and the woman sat next to them. Their decision made it impossible for a party of three to sit together. I thought things might get interesting and they did very quickly. In walked a party of three. There were only three remaining places to sit. The party of three, with not a stern face among them, walked directly to the counter. They stood in back of the seated party of two. One of the three cleared a throat. Another tapped a foot. Neither member of the party of two indicated any awareness of people behind. Finally one of the three tapped the guy of the two on the shoulder. Several times, it worked out, before the guy turned around. Even after being asked to move down one stool, no one moved. I thought this could be the most exciting day ever in the Toasted Bun's long history of, well, not very exciting days. Eventually, though, the guy stood up and moved down to the end stool and then his friend did the same.
As things wound down I thought what a perfect time it would be for the traveling bag pipers who frequent the Toasted Bun to show up instruments and all. They didn't, though.
There is a logic to eating in a coffee shop. It's probably the same logic needed for a lot of life.
Think ahead and try to be kind because you never know when the pipers will play.