Last Thursday I arrived here at 6.30 in the morning and found I had no cash. Never at my best after an early start, this made me even worst. Normally I have an envelope of leftover cash for each country I go to, so I just assumed there was some. Istanbul airport doesn't have ATMs on the air side and the change point doesn't accept cards. Luckily everyone else does, or else I would have had a very boring time on the 1 dollar I found in my wallet.
The nicest cafe in the airport (the one with wifi, power points, no smoking signs AND comfy sofas) isn't open at that hour, as I found to my cost last time. I went for a mediocre coffee and a foul muffin in the overpriced Starbucks and vowed never again, especially as the nice cafe opened soon after 7am.
This time I decided just to sit on one of the sofas and wait until they opened. I was not alone, though I did not treat the sofas like a park bench as one or two did. Suddenly at 10 to 7, along came a waiter who told us that they were closed and we should all go next door to the cafe which was open. I refused to move,unlike the others. I could see they were going to open soon and I didn't want to sit in a dark bar type atmosphere full of smokers, which was where he was sending us all.
A lot of shouting took place, but I held my ground. It seemed even I might be forceably moved. But I decided that if I looked old enough that young people gave up their seat on buses for me, he was unlikely to try. I asked what time they were opening. 7.30 came the answer. It was now 7.00am. I felt vindicated when after 10 mins they did open, though it was another waiter who took my order. Then I spent the next 4 hours there, working on my computer.
So today when I arrived for another 4 hour wait, I sat down as usual. The waiter came up, and we both looked at each other. It was the rude one. He jumped in surprise, and a wry grim showed he recognised me. This time he offered me a sofa as well as my drink. It was 7pm in the evening, and no sign of closing. Perhaps we both are not at our best in the mornings.
Update: Before I left, this waiter came and asked me to fill in one of those service questionnaires, even with his name on it. This took me back a bit. Maybe he didn't remember shouting at me in the morning. There wasn't room to complain so I just put a remark about it being a shame they didn't open earlier. I noticed on the menu that officially they didn't open till 8am, so I suppose I should be grateful.
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