Let's Meet for Coffee

She had picked the corner table. Plants in every corner. Records on the shelf. Exposed bulbs casting everything warm. No laptops. Just people who belonged here.

The coach nodded to Ozzy at the coffee machine. He nodded back. She ordered her café de olla and found her seat.

Sarah had spent four years building something she believed in. Today that felt like it was slipping.

She was still in it when she sat down.

The coach could tell. Not from what she said. From the way she wrapped both hands around her own cup and left it there.

THE COACH

Take your time.

SARAH

I said it. In the meeting. In front of everyone. She exhaled.

THE COACH

What did you say?

SARAH

That the direction we're heading doesn't reflect what we've told our people we stand for. That we've spent four years building a culture around a set of values and this decision contradicts all of it. She paused. I was trying to explain it professionally.

THE COACH

And?

SARAH

I was mid-sentence. He just cut me off. Said "this is happening" and moved on.

The coach was still.

THE COACH

In front of everyone.

SARAH

In front of everyone.

☕

THE COACH

What did the room do?

SARAH

Nothing. They watched. 

She looked at her cup. 

Two people texted me after. Privately. Said I was right. Said they were glad someone said it.

THE COACH

How did that feel?

SARAH

Like being told you were brave after the battle was already over.

THE COACH

Walk me back. Before the meeting, had you raised this with Daniel directly?

SARAH

Once. A few weeks ago. He told me to trust the process. That he had thought it through and the decision was made. 

She paused. 

Like the conversation was already over before I walked in. So I let it go. And then the meeting happened and I just couldn't sit there.

☕

THE COACH

Here's what I'm hearing. Tell me if I'm wrong. He let you start. He just didn't think you had anything he needed to hear. He didn't value what you had to share. And you don't understand why. Because this decision affects people. It affects the work. And you thought he needed to hear that.

Sarah was quiet for a long moment.

SARAH

What I was trying to say matters. This change would impact us in a big way. And he didn't even let me get there.

THE COACH

And that's new.

SARAH

That's never happened before. Not with him.

☕

THE COACH

There are two conversations in front of you. The first is about the decision. Whether it aligns with what the organization stands for. That conversation matters.

SARAH

And the second?

THE COACH

The second is about you and Daniel. About what happened in that room. About whether he understands what he did and whether you can get back to a place where your judgment actually lands with him.

SARAH

So the strategy conversation is the easy one.

THE COACH

It's the one that feels safe. The other one requires you to be vulnerable with someone who just made you feel small.

SARAH

That's the one I don't know how to have.

THE COACH

Because?

SARAH

Because I don't know how to go back to the strategy without it feeling personal. And I don't want it to feel personal.

THE COACH

But the strategy conversation can't happen effectively until the other one does. Because right now every time you raise the decision, what he's going to hear is pushback. And what you're going to feel is that room again. She paused. You need to go back to Daniel. Not in a meeting. Not with an agenda. Just the two of you.

SARAH

And say what?

THE COACH

Don't tell him what you think. Ask him what he heard.

SARAH

Why does it matter what he heard?

THE COACH

Because if you go in telling him what happened, it's a confrontation. If you go in curious about his experience, it's a conversation.

☕

SARAH

I don't know how to go back without him thinking I'm relitigating it.

THE COACH

You're not relitigating it. You're opening it. There's a difference between going back to win and going back to be understood.

Sarah was quiet for a moment.

SARAH

I care too much about what we built to let this go. And I care too much about my relationship with Daniel to leave it the way it is.

THE COACH

Then you know what you need to do.

SARAH

I know.

Sarah picked up her coffee.

☕

SARAH

Same time next week?

THE COACH

Same time.

☕

THIS EPISODE FEATURES

Casa Cactus Coffee · Albany Park, Chicago, IL

Ozzy Gámez didn't set out to open a coffee shop. He and his partner had spent years building Plant Shop Chicago when customers started asking the same question: where's the closest coffee shop? Instead of pointing them somewhere else, Ozzy built the answer next door. Casa Cactus is a naturally lit, cacti-filled community space in Albany Park; café de olla made the traditional way, Mexican sweet bread, and a room that feels like it was built for people who needed somewhere to land. It's not a coffee shop that happens to be welcoming. It's a gathering place that happens to serve coffee.