A few of the 20 or so Postfolio customers at 9PM Christmas Night. Photo by Greggory Moore.
We all have our routines. One of mine is watching It’s a Wonderful Life on TV Christmas Eve. So when the power to my apartment (and, as I found out later, the entire floor) went out just as little stellar Clarence was about to say what book he had with him, my routine was disrupted—a disruption I knew would continue throughout my Christmas when I woke up the following morning still without power and found out from my building manager that an electrician was not to be had.
There isn’t a hell of a lot to do out in the world on Christmas Day. Fortunately, one option is going to the cinema—a Christmas routine for many, and one in which even before the power failure I’d planned on partaking, since I was excited to see Quentin Tarantino’s new film.
The film let out at 8PM, and having dined only on almonds, a banana and chocolate (no power = no fridge + no microwave), I was in need of a proper meal—as well as a power outlet and an Internet connection so I could write and send off my review. Typically I would have been of luck, but it just so happened that for the second year in a row, Portfolio Coffeehouse—certainly a routine part of my life—was open on Christmas Day from 1PM to 10PM. Score.
It easily might not have been so. Lacking the heart to compel anyone to work on Christmas, owner Kerstin Kansteiner says she put up a list of all the employee names, and anyone not wishing to work was welcome simply to cross his/her name off. Enough employees didn’t.
“I was able to do the Christmas thing with my family and kids in the morning,” face-of-the-place Jay told me when I asked him whether he was there voluntarily. “But how much am I going to sit around talking to my family all day? [If he were the kind of person to say, “Just kidding,” this is where it would go.] Besides, I can use the money. And I think it’s nice to have something open for people who want to get out.”
I was surprised to find just how many people that was on Tuesday. The place wasn’t packed, but I have often spent evenings there with fewer people.
“If we break even or even if it costs me to have someone there working, it’s kind of a nice thing,” Kansteiner says. “I went there in the afternoon and had a cup of tea. The people who were there really appreciated it[s being open].”
Sometimes the nicest gift we can receive is also the most routine.