You Drink More Than You Sell

Our tea window at Fosetter, in Montreal's Chinatown, has a few young helpers. One afternoon, one of them got called out in front of the camera. Nobody wrote this. It just happened at the counter.

"You drink more than you sell."

He had just been caught with a cup in his hand. Why was he drinking? "I was thirsty," he said. Then the case against him came out.

"This guy drinks at least five cups of ginseng honey lemon every day."

"Every day?"

"Yes. He writes his name on it and just sets it over here. It's free."

The defence

He had an answer ready.

"No, this Monday I sold two popsicles."

It didn't last.

"To your own friend. And then you ate one of them."

And then he made it worse for himself.

"And I took a couple of these too."

"Oh my God. You're a leech."

How he got here

To be fair, he only helps out some of the time. "Usually I'm there," his co-worker explained, "and sometimes he's there." On how he ended up behind the counter, the two of them don't quite agree.

"I had to beg him to come."

"No, I legit said yes. I already said yes."

The ginseng honey lemon he can't stop drinking comes out of our tea window, and for brewing at home there's our herbal tea collection. Carmen tells how the window got started in I started selling popsicles at seven.

Come to 78 Rue De La Gauchetière Ouest and order a cup at the window. Just make sure it's not his.