"George, just try it please!" he said, "I need you, how often do I say that, please help!"

Ben, my nerdy, genius friend since collage, had earned the right to call in many favours after years of bailing me out when I'd missed yet another essay deadline. A prototype device was the last thing I wanted to complicate my life with, but hey, I owed him.

T.O.M.I, or the Transient Outsourced Memory Interface, was Ben's current brain child, and he wanted me to take it for a taste of real life outside his garage. It was an artificial intelligence and used real life experiences to learn and adapt.  Ben wanted me to take it through the initial rough patch before he took it forward to get funding.

"Er, hello? TOMI?" I really don't know what I'm doing.  It's just an ear piece, which I'm wearing, with no instructions.

"Hello, please allow me access to your online feeds, banking and tax returns." His voice is smooth, calm, trustworthy.

"Er, yeah, OK." Tax? Why did he want my tax returns? Pretty embarrassing reading if I'm honest.

"Voice acknowledgement accepted, processing, please wait."

I wait, it's only for about a minute as I guess TOMI is absorbing every little detail about my mediocre life.

"Hello George, if you leave in exactly 3 minutes, statistically you are more likely to avoid the heavy traffic and arrive to open up the coffee kiosk on time."

I guess I'd better get moving, opening up on time would be a novelty.

My little coffee kiosk sits next to the main Eurostar exit, the commuter route into the city, Europe and beyond.  I absent mindedly pick at the turquoise paint, I really should repaint it, but I'm so proud of the football cup motif on the side, I've been putting it off. 

Everyone needs coffee right? Really I'm just about scraping by, the transfers from Mum propping me up.

"Statistically your clientele prefer their morning coffee with a snack, your records show you have a box of granola bars nearing their sell-by-date, I suggest putting them in front with a marked discount of 25% off." TOMI explains,  "Statistically commuters are more likely to impulse buy such a discounted product at this time in the day and you will still make a profit of 17.3 pence per bar."

TOMI talks too much, especially at this time in the morning.

"Err TOMI, I don't need all the statistical bits and details, just the suggestion, if I need more I'll ask, is that OK? Oh and don't talk if I have a customer." A second voice in my ear saying "statistically" is the last thing I need when trying to serve a customer.

"OK George, I will comply with your request."  That's progress, at least it sounds like progress.  I'm sure I'll find out soon if he means it.

The morning rush has been and gone.  As I clear up during the lull, I contemplate how today seems to be going well.  Arriving earlier meant I caught the first wave of early commuters, the same ones that are usually holding me up and making me late. The granola bars have flown off the shelf, making me my 17 something pence per bar profit. I have two months left to turn this business around and it might just work with more helpful hints of TOMI.

"TOMI? Do you have any other suggestions to improve my profits?" His initial suggestions have worked so far.

"Yes George, happy to help.  Repeat customers like to be greeted by their preferred name in a cheerful voice, they also value businesses that remember their habitual orders.  Some like you to be able to respond in their native tongue."

"Erm, OK, there is no way I can remember more than about 5 regulars and I only speak English."

"If you would allow it, I could provide you with their preferred name as they arrive and feed you translated lines in their native language."  TOMI suggests.

"You can tell who they are! How?"  As far as I can work out, TOMI can only hear and speak, "OK, do that then. Oh and can you keep track of what the repeat customers order and give me that too?"

"I can connect to their personal gadgets to identify them, tomorrow I will also provide repeat customer orders.  The woman approaching is known as Tracy, she likes dark chocolate."

"Morning Tracy, what can I get you this fine morning?" I'm trying the cheerful thing too, even in this rushing, polluted city.

Tracy actually smiles, "Morning, I'll have a regular flat white please." 

I recognize her as a regular, but never knew her name nor saw her smile before.  "Coming right up, how about one of these dark chocolate bars on the side?"

"Oh, yes, thanks." She left with a smile after I wished her a good day.

The rest of the day was filled with similar experiences, I managed to cut TOMI down to just giving the key information in single words unless it wasn't English.  I'd become slicker at using him and the translations he fed me, I was nearly sounding multilingual after a bit of pronunciation practice. Of course some customers didn't smile, and others didn't take up my suggested extra, but many did. Everyone greeted in their native tongues smiled and stayed for a longer chat.  I really felt good about today and much more confident dealing with my customers.

As I cleaned the coffee machine and packed away I had TOMI analyse my sales and stock, and talk me through his suggestions. My first day that I'd actually made a profit! A good profit at that.

"There are a selection of organic chocolate bars that would suit your clientele, the price is currently at a good discount, shall I order you a box?" TOMI was scouring the internet for suitable stock suggestions.

"Yes, do that, Thanks." 

He went through my stock, making pricing and ordering suggestions and ordering anything I agreed to. Really I agreed to everything he suggested, he seemed to know what he was doing.  I found I already trusted his judgement fully besides, I really had nothing to lose.

After the stock orders, TOMI explained some long-term changes that would improve my profits significantly.  His eventual long-term strategy was to set up franchises across the globe!  I found myself dreaming of owning a massive coffee kiosk chain.  I shook my head of the thought, no way I could do that, besides, we would need more ear pieces. 

It had been one day and already I had begun to see a dramatic transformation in my business.  I could see how I would really come to rely on TOMI.  I'd have to let Ben know how amazing he's been because I'm not giving him back.  I realised I was actually looking forward to coming back to work tomorrow, hey, he might even improve my love life, you never know!

Hi guys, thanks for reading. This started off as a competition piece but has kind of grown into something bigger.  If you liked this chapter, please consider voting for it, I also value your comments and thoughts.  The lovely illustration of George in the banner was sent in by @cleanherhand.
Until next time.  Rachel x