Ask the person at your usual counter how they ended up here

You've seen this person more often than most of your friends this year, and all you know is what you order. Go when the queue dies, buy the usual, and ask one question — not how their day is going, but how they ended up behind that counter. Everyone has a route: a cousin who knew the owner, a shop that closed, a city they left. Theirs costs you the price of your usual order.