One of our dearest regulars was “Granny”, who accidentally ended up in Cor-rupt and asked in a loud voice for a cup of coffee with apple pie. We didn’t have apple pie, so we went quickly outside to get it across the street. When she wanted to pay Cor said the apple pie was on the house as this was her first visit to Cor-rupt.
She kept coming about three times a week, drinking tea and coffee and orange juice (fresh, she said, yummy!) And almost always ate a sandwich or a meatball. We had a sort of fixed price for her. It should never be more than 10 guilders. Her presence was sometimes a great help. No man dared to go to the ‘ladies’ anymore. “Not on the ladies” you could hear loudly through the café if you tried it anyway. And she was my watchdog when there was a buffet. I always liked to see the full tables for a few seconds before they were being ‘attacked’. Omaatje guarded that like a terrier, and no one came close to the food. She made an exception for herself now and then. “You already have a banana on your plate” I said once, “Ach, she said a little shy, there are only four bananas and there are so many people, fifty …..
Fixed price
That fixed price was a bit of an embarrassment for Willem. One day she called me to her and said; “That guy who works on Monday steals from you, I really don’t like to say this but I checked and on Mondays I always have to pay more than the rest of the week” ………………. Oh my god I thought, I completely forgotten to tell Willem that she was receiving a special price limit. I had to explain this to her. She paused for a moment, nodded and then asked …..”your price will be the right price?” . Yes I said; we are in charge.