Danish Dogs

Over the past few days I've found myself thinking often about the employees at Steff's Place. For those who don't know, Steff's Place is the hot dog stand at the far end of terminal 3 of the Copenhagen Airport and by far the only reasonably priced place to eat in the entire building. If you've flown through CPH you know exactly the place I'm talking about, and if you don't, you should. For those mock-gagging themselves at the thought of eating a hot dog, you're either vegetarian (in which case I make no attempt to understand you), or you obviously haven't yet had a Danish dog.

Let me put it another way: Danish hot dogs are, without a doubt, superior to all other hot dogs. So superior in fact, that non-hot-dogs-eaters such as myself convert almost instantaneously at the smell of salty grease wafting from the funny little wheeled huts stationed on street corners throughout the city at all times of the year, rain, shine or snow. Danes love their hot dogs and it's no mystery why. First of all, they're delicious. Secondly, cheap. And not least, you can walk straight from the bar, pub, club or bodega and buy them at 3 in the morning when nothing else in the heart of the country's capital (and Scandinavia's largest city) is open.

But enough about the sausages. If you don't believe me, you can ask a Dane about them. That'll give you an objective opinion on the matter for sure ;) But seriously, the original point of this post was about Steff's Place, and the people that keep it going.

What I wanted to say was that they are probably the most under-respected staff in the airport. As someone who spent a great deal of time watching all the busy, and the not-so-busy, bees run the airport, I can honestly say that if I had to choose from the airside retail/restaurant staff, these are the people with whom I would want to be stranded on a deserted island, and not say, their cafe neighbours. While their colleagues at other venues goof around, they maintain a sense of humour and fun. When others drop a glass and leave it for someone else, they simply clean it up. While their neighbors receive visitors with screams and shrieks, leaving a long line of angry customers to wait, they continue to serve their patrons quickly and efficiently until they have a natural break. To the best of my knowledge, the same cannot be said about any other shop in the airport.

And now to end this most-random post: Next time you're satisfying your craving for salt and grease while waiting for your gate to be announced, please, just smile a little wider, and really mean it when you say "tak".