Another Day
Although the Sunday night shift was usually quiet, the return of college students spelled for a busy night. Anna and the rest of the team prepped as best they could; restocking and making a new batch of fries, anything to help stay ahead of the inevitable crowd. It should have just been a busy shift, nothing special. Unfortunately, the universe seemed to have other plans.
A crowd of frat boys had just come in, hungry for their McNuggets fix, when all hell broke loose. The fifteen or so young men walked in at seven twenty when Anna was wiping down the obnoxiously-red plastic booths. She groaned inwardly, but quickly finished and returned to the counter where they were already waiting to order.
The pastel-clad and boisterous boys ordered enough food for twenty people. They waited at some vacant tables, pushing each other and shouting. Even if no one else had been in the restaurant, it would have taken a while, on top of the normal dinner rush, the grill team was swamped. This, however, didn’t cause them to rush their plodding speed. The grill team didn’t care about the stress in the front of the house, they got things done in their own time and their own fashion; leaving Anna to mollify the hungry customers. I didn’t help that they were severely understaffed.
That’s when the ice-cream machine exploded.
It didn’t malfunction or stop working or shut down. It erupted. Like an icy firecracker. Soft serve ice-cream showered down onto the floor, counter, and poor Maria.
Now Anna had to hurry the grill, take new orders, placate the frat bros, and clean the sticky dairy mess. Okay, I can do this, she breathed to herself. She had only gotten halfway through cleaning the mess when the grill team set an entire tray of buns on fire.
Smoke immediately filled the restaurant and stung her eyes. Blinking against tears, she threw the drive through windows open in a vain attempt to clear the air. Idiots! She silently cursed. Why can’t they pay attention?
The boys so helpfully duped the singed tray into the sink for the girls to clean up later, god forbid they should actually take care of their own mess. Anna continued to work on the sticky mess and set Maria to fanning the smoke out of the restaurant. The last thing they needed were the sprinklers to be set off.
Well, thought Anna, at least it can’t get any worse. Famous last words.
As if some supernatural being had heard her thoughts and become personally offended, the lights chose that moment to flicker: once, twice, then died. This can’t be happening.
The computers were still functioning and the kitchen still firing, so there was nothing for them to do but carry on.
“Dude, what the fuck is going on back there?” Anna overheard one of the frat boys ask another.
“Yeah, it’s taking for ever.”
“Thank you for your patience, we are experiencing a lot of set backs in the kitchen, so your orders will take a little longer,” Anna attempted to mollifying the crowd. She could feel their hunger and impatience growing with every second.
With the ice-cream crudely mopped up and the smoke slightly dispersed, Anna ran into the kitchen to check on the progress of the grill team.
“Have you fired order twenty-three?” She asked.
“We’re getting there,” was the only answer.
Anna was about to return to the counter when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a package of rolls sitting on the edge of the grill burst into flame.
Are you fucking kidding me?
Without thinking, she grabbed the tray on which they were perched, and threw it into the sink. With a smokey clatter, the rolls dropped into the already ashen sink. Anna turned away and cradled her hands, tears prickling her eyes. Fuck, fuck, fuck!
She knew that she would have to clean that up later, the boys wouldn’t bother themselves. Add it to the list.
“Order twenty-three up!” Shouted one of the boys.
“Finally!” She answered, carrying it out to the hungry fraternity boys in the front on her blistered hands. God, I need a raise.
