Another Way

Owch!

"This place has TERRIBLE service!" A customer said as they stormed out of the restaurant. Rody mentally face palmed, walking towards the garbage and throwing away the dish he had just gotten from the chefs.

The whole day he had been a mess, fumbling orders, nearly tripping every time he would turn the other direction.

He quickly went over to another table, taking their order, but once again he gave the chefs one wrong order, making another table leave. Rody started to get irritated with himself, he could feel his body tense as he felt his face quiver, trying to continue to force a smile.

Vince noticed Rody's sudden change, seeing how much worse his performance rate was. He didn't do anything, just continued to watch him from his office's peephole. 

However, that was until he started to see customers shouting at him left n' right.

Now he knew he needed to do something about this.

Rody kept apologizing to the customers as he tried to correct his wrongs, it was just hard. It was hard because all he could do was think about Manon, and the letter he made the previous night. It was stressful, and he couldn't shake that thought away.

He started to feel his body spazz out, was he having a panic attack? He couldn't tell, but his chest went tight as he started to smile like crazy. It was as if his brain was trying to force him to feel better.

Just as he was about to possibly break down, he felt a hand on his back. The hand went across his back, and towards his arm, when all of a sudden he got yanked into the kitchen. Rody got spun around, and was met face to face with his one and only boss.

Both of Vince's hands gripped at Rody's arms, but not too tight to the point it'd hurt. "Uhh,, V-Vince?" He asked, a little shaken up by everything happening so fast.

"Why are you suddenly messing up at your job completely??" Vince said harshly, he wasn't good with comforting tones. "You're clumsy, irrational, and you fumble everything handed to you, but this is different. What's going on with you?"

Rody stayed quiet, before feeling himself sink like jello. "It's nothing serious Vince, I'm sorry. I'll just do better." He mumbled, freeing himself from Vince's grasp.

Vince stared at him for a moment, before rubbing his temple. He was going to regret this offer..

"What if, this one time I help you out with waiting tables. Since you're clearly not mentally there to do it on your own, even though it's your job." He said, hating every word coming out of his mouth.

Rody thought, before feeling a wave of guilt wash over him. "No, no.. Don't waste your time with it, I just need to do better. I'm a grown man for crying out loud." He said as he felt himself claw at his arms impulsively.

Vince rolled his eyes, groaning in annoyance before dragging Rody with him out of the kitchen, and back to the tables. 

"I'm helping you, it's not an offer anymore."

"Uh, I.. Alright."

———

Things went pretty smooth for Rody the rest of the day, with Vince helping with orders it was much easier to focus on only a small portion of the tables. Vince was obviously much quicker than Rody, but then again practically anyone could be.

They'd bump into each other here and there, which Rody would shoot him a 'hey' and per usual, Vince would tell him to do his job. Though, at the last few  customers, Vince would respond with a small 'hi', which made Rody's mood go up and over the moon. 

In other words, he was overjoyed.

Don't ask him why, he doesn't know himself.

Both men finally finished up. Though, Rody was left the duty to deal with the garbage. He cleaned up the tables, yanking the garbage bag over his shoulder. He made his way through the kitchen, and into the back.