by Kelly Babcock

So, here I am, deep in the heart of the nation's capital. And I've realized, if someone else were in Ottawa for the country's 150th anniversary, reporting on things, I would want them to report on things that were important. So I made my way down Elgin Street, which I'm pretty sure is the main street of town, looking for important government buildings.

I'd walked about a mile down Elgin Street  (boy, big town, eh?) when I finally found an actual ministry building. I didn't count Ottawa City Hall as part of our nation's government. As luck would have it, this building was the Ministry of Coffee.

I went in with the intention of interviewing staff about this very important role played by our government. What I saw shocked me.

As you might expect, staff were busy making coffees and dispensing those coffees to the good citizens of Ottawa. But they were so busy, I couldn't bring myself to ask them any questions.

When an obviously energetic diplomat (or whatever they call the people who work in that ministry) asked me if he could help me, I mentally put away all the questions I had intended to ask him and simply said, "Can I try a medium sized dark roast, please?"

I'm sure he would have answered my questions with unimpeachable information full of facts and figures, but I felt a sudden twinge of patriotism and left him to do his job.

I offered him a tip of five dollars, I have no idea if it is customary to tip government employees, and to my surprise he accepted it but gave me a three dollar tip in return. I have no idea how he knew my job as a journalist was so hard, but I am without shame and accepted the gratuity without argument.

So there you have it, if every other government department is operating as smoothly as The Ministry Of Coffee, our nation is in good hands.