At Heinemann in the Bahnstrasse in Düsseldorf, a pastry shop/ café/ restaurant, one can still find traces of a restroom attendant.
In the hall in front of the restrooms, which are in the cellar of Heinemann, there is a table with a saucer on it. Usually there is no money on the saucer, or at best fifty cents, and the restroom attendant is nowhere to be found.
This morning I was drinking coffee in Heinnemann, I had to pee, came out of the restroom, looked at the empty saucer and although the restroom attendant was not in sight – I doubted if she existed – I decided to leave one euro. One has to think of one’s karma, especially in December. An old friend of mine in New York used to tell me: “The Gods are especially cruel in August and December.” The money fell on the saucer and made this particular sound.
Suddenly I heard a voice: “Thank you, mister, have a good day. Stay warm.” Out of something that appeared to be a closet, a woman in her fifties appeared: the restroom attendant. She had a mysterious aura of happiness around her, for a second she stared at me. Then she stepped back into the closet.