Tail Spin

1

 The next day, Christian was given a green apron and hat to wear over his casual clothing. "We shall get you up to speed with recipes and how to work the register as well as cleanliness and hygiene." His boss spoke as they exited the back and entered the spacious counter space where workers are serving patrons. Customers. Mostly females, noticed the newcomer and are immediately smitten with him.

"Okay, we grind the coffee beans fresh before brewing them, pouring it into a cup for either here or to go, and add cream, sugar, cinnamon, or milk upon request. Some are flavored. The same process is done with tea. We also blend and add ice to cold beverages that are always poured into to-go cups. Here's where we keep our supply of muffins, cinnamon rolls, Danishes, and bagels that are baked and shipped to us daily. We just keep the goodies locked tight in the display cases until we either run out or need to replace stale product with fresh ones." His boss walked over to a big machine in the corner. "Here is the machine that you will use to make cappuccinos, lattes, and so on and so forth. Let me demonstrate for you."

He heard an order for a caramel frappuccino and showed how to make one. He poured a ¾ cup of crushed ice into a blending container, 1 cup of milk, then two shots of coffee, 1 shot of vanilla syrup. Next he is blending it all together. While waiting for the blender to finish, he is drizzling caramel on the bottom of the to-go cup before finishing blending and pouring the drink into the cup. As the finishing touches, he squirted whip cream on top and added a caramel drizzle on top, put the lid with a hole in the middle on, and handed it to a customer as one of the employees rings them up.

"It gets easier once you get the hang of it. Now, let's see how you do." They hear an order for a mocha frappe, and Christian gulped before standing in front of the machine waiting for instructions. "First, pour a cup of ice cubes into the blending container. Next, pour a cup of coffee. Then, add half a cup of cream or milk. In this case, it's cream. Now, add a drizzle of chocolate syrup on top to sweeten it up. and now you twist on the cover and blend it." Christian is doing his best to keep up with what his boss was saying. "As it's blending, grab a to-go cup over there." He did, and was about to add chocolate drizzling like the caramel shown earlier but his boss stopped him. "Not on this one." He said. "Just grab the drink. It looks ready." He obeyed. "And now pour it in without spilling it, and add whipped cream and then the chocolate." When he put the lid on, he handed it to his boss for inspection. "Not bad for your first coffee."

They hear the lady waiting impatiently for her drink, and handed it to Christian to give to her. "Sorry for the wait ma'am. Hope you enjoy it." he smiled and sparkled making her blush. Upon seeing this, female customers are now crowding the counter. Christian has a look of dread on his face. "Sorry boss. I didn't mean to."

He chortled as he patted him on the back. "No need to apologize. That's the reason why I hired you."

Christian gave him a deadpan look. "Is that so?"

For the remainder of his shift, he learned to make more drinks before taking a break, then learning the basics of the register, taking another break, and then multi-tasking alongside the other baristas, and cleaning towards the end before heading out.

Christian's cell phone rang as he's walking down the street. "Hey." He answered.

"Hey little bro." his eldest sister greeted back.

"What's going on?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nothing." She said. "Mom and dad asked me to call you to invite you over for dinner tonight."

"What time?" he asked her.

"Seven."

"Okay. I'll see you guys then." He hung up still feeling suspicion creeping in.