An Open Letter to Sedalia Coffee Drinkers: I Love You, But We Need To Talk

Hi guys. Water/Sparking water/Tea drinker here.

You'd think, oh, she doesn't drink coffee. She must be a coffee hater. Why is she talking about coffee when she doesn't drink it?! Well, first of all, just hold on. Hear me out.

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Dear Coffee Drinkers of Sedalia,

Hi. Sup. Have a sit down, get comfortable. Don't worry, I'm not sitting you down today to discuss your coffee intake. Drink as much coffee as you want, anytime. Heck, my boyfriend will sometimes double fist lattes from his favorite place. No, I'm not giving you an intervention on that. Go for it, I'm not here to judge.

However. We have to talk about what you guys are like when you're headed to get your coffee, and when you're headed back out into the world. Specifically, we need to talk about how you act around the Ozark Coffee Company. Again, don't get me wrong, they're great. If I do get coffee, I've gotten it from there before. I don't doubt they're all great folks there.

But. Guys. I drive downtown at least twice a week to go to the Pettis County Sheriff's Office. They don't send us reports via email like the Sedalia Police Department does, and they don't put them online like the Missouri State Highway Patrol does. I won't know if we have new news to report on unless I go get it myself. So, I have to go down there and check and see. Sometimes there is stuff there, sometimes not, it's okay. Rhonda and the gang down there are great.

Anyway. So I drive down there, and I go down South Ohio Avenue to make my way to the PCSO. Every time I drive by Ozark on South Ohio, and I mean EVERY TIME, with the only exceptions being days they're not open, someone runs out in front of me to get to Ozark or back to their car. Most of the time, they're coming from or to the parking lot next to the Salvation Army.

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Guys. I know you need your coffee. I know you do. But cars park along that street every day. I rarely, if ever, see an empty spot there. So when you run out with a stroller and jaywalk from behind an SUV and I have to brake to stop from hitting you, that's a problem. We can't see you when you do that. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not driving downtown at forty miles an hour. And it's not like anybody should be going too fast in that area because a stop sign is not that far away. But I'll bet you good money you're not getting from me that getting hit by a car going at 15 MPH STILL SUCKS.

I don't want to hit you. And I'm sure you don't want to get hit. SO PLEASE, please, coffee customers. Please look before you cross the street. Look twice. I know there often isn't a lot of traffic on Ohio, but... at least look up. I swear, a lady on a cell phone practically JUMPED out in front of me from the parking lot to get to Ozark just last week, and she didn't even LOOK UP FROM HER PHONE. And here's what really kills me. That day, I headed back to go to the station, pretty much the same way I came. Headed back... SHE DID IT AGAIN. This woman, probably in her thirties, had her coffee in one hand and her phone in the other and she did not look up once while crossing Ohio back to the parking lot.

I know I need to stay vigilant as a driver. And I will. But you guys can make it a little easier on yourselves by, you know, not doing that. I get you need your coffee, but you can't really expect to be seen by drivers if you're jaywalking from behind parked vehicles. So let's work together and hopefully end my little heart attack I have every Tuesday and Friday morning.

Coffily yours,
Behka