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"You call this an 'old fashioned' strawberry milkshake!? Look how runny it is! And it tastes like it expired a decade ago! How can you serve this to people, lady!?"
"Sir, I'm very sorry, If you'd like, I can go back to the kitchen and have it rema-..."
"I dont want a 'sorry' for this! I want to speak to your manager! This is absolutely ridiculous! If my kid took a sip of this, he would've gotten sick!"
The abrupt commotion caught the attention of every single person in the restaurant. I could feel a dozen pairs of beady eyes focused on the back of my head, sending a wave of uncomfortable chills barreling down my spine. I stood there quietly, biting my lip as this obnoxious slob continued to spit petty insults left and right. I was this, I was that. My hands balled into tight fists, causing my chipped fingernails to dig roughly into my palms. I didn't care if his kid was sitting right next to him. I wanted to pick up that milkshake and smash it against his thick skull.
In the corner of my eye, I could see the cook peeking out from behind the service counter. It was the same lazy stoner that made the freakin' milkshake in the first place. He was watching me, too, anxious to see what was going to happen next. Why wasnt he the one getting screamed at right now? If he wasn't so busy texting on his phone, maybe our food would be better! I mean, for f's sake, I'm just the waitress! I don't make anything, all I do is bring the food to the table! Didnt people understand that it wasn't my fault?
'Damn it, TK. Why'd you have to call off today? I know you would've done way better than that other cook.. Unlike him, you actually do you're job; pretty damn well, too. Your milkshakes never taste old and sour..'
"Hello, sir. What seems to be the issue?"
I turned around to find my manager standing over me, giving the raging prick his best customer service smile. My manager's name was Marcus; an older gentleman in his late fifties that had been in charge of 'Dad's Damn Diner' for as long as I could remember. Marcus had the uncanny ability to act like a sweet little bunny, when in reality.. he was a raging bull. I guess it came naturally with being the manager of a two-star diner in a bad part of town. You have to lie to people's faces to get them to shut up. Play the 'Im so sorry!' card, and butter them up until you can get them to leave, or at least stop their whining. My manager was a pro at that.
The brute now turned his attention to Marcus, and began to bad mouth me as if I wasn't standing right next to him. He claimed I was trying to 'make his kid sick', and 'should be fired immediately for my lack of giving a fuck about the quality of our food'. Marcus simply nodded his head to everything, agreeing with all the BS that the customer was spewing.
That ticked me off even more.
"Oh, you'll have to forgive Y/n, she's new!" My manger lied through gritted teeth, patting me on the shoulder, "She's still learning how things work around here. It'll be a few days of trial and error until she's decent at her job. So, until then, my deepest apologies for her negligence. I'll make sure to have a proper talk with her later. Can I offer you a free meal next time for your trouble, Sir?"
His words seemed to hang in the air. Decent. Negligence. New. For months now, Ive given my blood, sweat and tears to this place. I have always worked my hardest to be a good server. Whenever I had issues, they ninety-nine percent of the time weren't even because of something I had done wrong. And even though it was just a lie to please the customer, that sentence still made my blood boil. How could Marcus sit there and act like I was some clueless little kid who didn't know what the heck she was doing? Wasnt he supposed to stand up for his employees?
I audibly sighed. The only reason I even stayed anymore was because of TK. If they weren't here, I would've quit on the spot a long time ago. I was the only reliable server, and they were the only reliable cook. This place would fall apart without us. If only Marcus understood that.
"Y/n, I want you to go home for the rest of the day. Take that time off to reflect on how you can be a better sever. We'll try again tomorrow." My manager suddenly spoke it my direction, which earned a shit-eating grin from the customer. Marcus knew my shift was done in about 20 minutes anyway, but it tied into the whole 'make the customer happy' schtick. The smug a-hole could go on with their life thinking that they were in the right, and the issue would be resolved. But in reality.. They werent getting what they wanted after all.
"Yes, sir." Was all I could be bothered to say. I turned on my heels and began to walk away, but was abruptly stopped by a hand on my shoulder again. I turned my head with a raised eyebrow.
"Y/n, aren't you forgetting something?"
I stared at Marcus, confused. What could I possibly be forgetting here?
"You need to say you're sorry to the customer." He stated with a matter-of-fact tone, "Show him remorse for your mistake."
At first, all I could do was stare at them; completely dumbfounded. I could barely wrap my head around what he had just said. I already told the customer I was sorry, but Marcus still wanted me to apologize again for the quality of a milkshake I didn't even make? Judging by Marcus' shifty eyed smirk, it wasn't just the customer I was apologizing to anymore. He wanted a 'sorry', too, for making him deal with this jerk; when he'd rather be in his office playing around on his computer. He wanted a 'sorry' for wasting his oh-so valuable time. A 'sorry' for the food we were giving away to make up for the sour milkshake.
He didn't need to say it out loud, but I already knew that the free meal for my 'negligence' was coming out of my hard earned paycheck. That meant even less money to pay for me and Lucy's rent this month. Fantastic.
"Im sorry." I mumbled with a forced smile, "I'll try to do better next time. I hope you have a great day, sir."
And with that, I quickly sped off before Marcus or the raging dick could say another word. I needed to leave, or else I was going to snap on both of them. It didn't matter if Marcus was my manager or not, I was still a living, breathing person. I shouldn't have to sit there and bite my tongue as somebody openly treats me like a clueless child. 'Arent you forgetting something?'. That sounds like a line my 9th grade teacher would use if I said 'Can I use the restroom' instead of 'May I'. Spoiler alert; I was in my freakin' twenties. Im not a kid anymore.
Walking through the kitchen door, I made my way to the back office on the other side of the building. I passed by the cook, John; a guy around my age with dark hair and a constant 4 o'clock shadow. He gave me a strange look, before shrugging his shoulders in a carefree manner. "Man, you shoulda just like, told him to fuck off. You can't let people walk all over you like that, ya know?" He called after me, leaning up against the grill.
Gross. You cook people's food there, idiot. They don't want to eat off a surface where your butt has been.
I turned around to speak to him, a sudden rage building up inside of my chest. I wanted to yell at him. I wanted to remind him that it was his fault in the first place. He's the one that served an expired drink to a customer. But, I closed my lips before I could muster out a single word. It didn't matter who served that stupid strawberry milkshake.. He was right. I should've stood up for myself. Was my sucky job really worth more than my own pride?
I could almost laugh. Yeah, of course it was. Pride didnt pay the bills.
I walked into the back office and untied my apron, throwing it over a hook on the wall. I ran my hands along my face, exhaling a deep, heavy sigh. It had been a long-g-g freakin' day. I got siffed more times than not, had ketchup stains in my hair, and overall.. just dealt with a constant flow of crappy people. Everybody seemed to be in a bad mood.
'Mr. Expired Milkshake' was merely the cherry on top of the shit sunday.
After clocking out of my shift, I threw on my hoodie and let down my hair; tying it back with my favorite beat-up baseball cap. The logo had long fallen off, but it was still my absolute favorite. You'd rarely ever see me without it, unless I was working the diner or asleep. It's definitely not that comfortable to sleep in.
Throwing my backpack over my shoulder, I exited through the back door and stepped outside, a cool breeze hitting my face. I hadn't noticed it until now, but it was raining. Not pouring or anything, but a calm drizzle. Just enough to turn your windshield wipers on for. I flipped up my hoodie and began my walk home, popping in my headphones to listen to some tunes. After tapping onto my main playlist, I hit the 'shuffle' feature and shoved it into my hoodie pocket.
'The choice is yours, fate. Pick me something good today.'
A steady tune began to pour through my headphones; one that made my hips sway and my arms swing to the beat. The song had the classic early 2000's sound; a feel good melody that anybody could get down to. It was called 'Obsessed With You'; by the Orion Expierence.
A good choice.
I've got your picture on my wall
I dream about you when I sleep
I go out of my way everyday just hoping
I'll catch you walking down the street
I know just where you went to school
I know the names of all your friends
I got it bad again
An o-b-s-e-s-s-i-o-n
I was humming aloud as I walked, my head completely focused on the music. The world around me seemed to just dissapear. Small droplets of rain trickled against my face, leaking down my cheeks and soaking into my skin. I began to count each one with the beat of the drums.
But I wanna get next to you
Yeah, I love all the things you do
I wanna get close to you
You are my dream come true
I wanna have sex with you
Your sweet caress won't do
'Cause I'm obsessed with you
'Cause I'm obsessed. with. you.
By now, I was singing along to the song. I didn't notice, or really care, about the judgemental glances from passerbys. I was in the zone; my own personal bubble. Just me and my tunes with no distracions.
Or, at least, I was hoping there were no distracions. But life liked to kick you while you were down, didnt it? Five minutes of peace was apparently too much to ask for.
I felt somebody tap my shoulder, causing me to swing my head around and pop out my earbuds. Standing before me was a tall stranger, with big blue eyes and a smile too wide for his face. In his large hand was a familiar item; my server book. Where I wrote down all my orders and checks so I didn't forget while I was at work. It looked.. completely soaked. The cute stickers and drawings I had stuck to the front were falling off and peeling. Damn it.
"Excuse me, you seem to have dropped this." The stranger said with a kind smile, handing the book to me. I looked at him for a second, confused.
...I was sure I had left it at work...
Huh. I guess I accidentally put it in my backpack while I was leaving. It had been a long day, after all.. It wasn't surprising that my brain had slipped up somewhere.
"Oh! Thank you so much." I beamed with a thankful grin, taking the book from his hand. "I dont know what I'd do without this. I need the receipts in here for work, my boss would kill me if I lost them!"
The man just continued to smile, his eyes looking down at me with a longing expression. He seemed to be lost in thought or something, because he didn't respond. All he did was stare. His unblinking gaze sent a cold chill down my spine.
"Y-yeah, um. I really appreciate it. Hope you have a good day!" I turned on my heels and began to walk again, wanting to remove myself from the situation. I appreciated the gesture, of course, but.. that guy was giving me a really bad vibe. Whatever, I wasn't about to let it bother me. I had enough on my plate to worry about already.
Shoving the server book into my hoodie pocket, I continued with my walk home. The rain started to come down harder and faster; soaking through my clothes in a matter of minutes. By the time I got to my apartment, I was completely drenched. I shivered as I entered the building and felt the kick of the a/c.
Heading up the stairs to my apartment, I unlocked my door and stepped inside, dropping my bag onto the floor with a heavy 'thud'. My body was tired, I was shivering from the cold, and all I wanted to do was take a nice, hot shower. God knows I needed it. I reeked of 'restaurant'.
The perfect mix of condiments, dishwater, and old food. Yuck.
I stepped into the bathroom and pulled off my hoodie, throwing it over the sink. I began to fiddle with the faucets of the bathtub, when I heard an abrupt 'thwap' hit the floor behind me.
I turned around to see my server book laying on the ground, face up and showing a random page inside. My eyes squinted as I stared down at the soggy paper. There was something written in smudged red ink; a small note it looked like. I know I definitely didn't write it, because I never used red pens at work.. Too hard to read somtimes.
..So, who else could it have been..?
I picked up my server book and read the mysterious writing.
'I'd love to have the pleasure of taking you out sometime. 413-1739 is my phone number. Talk to you soon.
Signed, Your Boyfriend'
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"...Your Boyfriend?"
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