I run a small coffee stand — my “practice startup” — outside a tech park in Ulsoor, Bangalore. It’s my experiment before I take this coffee dream to a larger scale. The idea is simple: slightly premium pricing, slightly premium crowd, slightly premium confusion about why we’re still not profitable.
Every day, our customers teach us something.
Some teach us what not to do —
like the guy who smokes and taps his ash right on the footpath, as if the ground personally offended him.
Or the coffee philosopher who argues about chicory like he’s debating the Constitution.
Or the grumblers… the ones who can find sadness even in sunshine.
And then… the miracle happened.
Last week, out of nowhere, a travel coordinator brought five Japanese visitors to try “authentic filter coffee.” Fine, cool, good for business. We expected the usual: order, drink, leave.
Instead… the universe sent us five angels disguised as humans.
Before we could even blink, these gentlemen:
– politely arranged the stools and chairs themselves — not one scraping noise.
– sipped the coffee like it was a spiritual experience.
– appreciated it with the kind of sincerity that instantly boosts your self-esteem.
– cleaned up the place without even being asked.
– rearranged the chairs back to the exact position like they were restoring an ancient monument.
– and thanked us multiple times… with a bow.
We just stood there, emotionally frozen. My staff looked at me. I looked at them. Nobody spoke. Somewhere in the background, I think a violin started playing.
Compare this to our usual customers who treat chairs like Jenga blocks and the dustbin like an optional suggestion.
Those five minutes with the Japanese clients genuinely restored our faith in humanity.
I swear, if someone had handed me a Japanese citizenship form right then, I’d have signed it without reading the terms.
If only the rest of us learned even a fraction of that discipline, respect, and basic decency… our streets, our shops, our parks, our lives… everything would instantly level up.
Japanese clients — absolute legends.
