Paris/M

Date: 8/29/2019

Mitchell and I were in Paris waiting for Jen. There were two store fronts directly next to each other. The one on the left was closed for reconstruction, the other front was open with a long line of people zigzagging in front of it. It was tall red brick walls, dark pipes creating the line, and a glass wall to showcase the pastries. They specialized in cupcakes - the one that was presented to us was this gorgeous Disney themed cake with fixtures moving and spinning. We also saw a cupcake with an image from Rapunzel that moved every time I tried to take a photo. Everyone was speaking French, we saw this woman in white get walked out by security. While this was happening a woman was passing out small shots of monkey shoulder in tasting cups with lemon wedges to everyone in line. The woman was nice enough to offer us tasters even though she was hesitant at first, since we were American. M hated his shot and sprayed it all over me while trying to spit it out in a trash can. We could tell there was some drama about the woman being taken out, so the shopkeeper tried to fill us in with broken English. She said the girl had worked here before but wasn’t the best employee. That she lost the trust of everyone who worked there. That she was desperate and wouldn’t find a job anytime soon. She then started asking us some questions particular to us being American. I can’t remember the questions precisely, but she was interested in what we did and what we like to do. The woman who was escorted out returned and they had to call security again. She had dark hair, a white dress and was disheveled. The shopkeep told us she loved her job and they were her family and that she would never not want to work there. That she was very lucky and very grateful.