She was waiting in front of the manager’s office for her interview. She was nervous. She had never been to an interview before, ‘what are they going to ask? What if I can’t answer their questions? What if I make a mistake? What if they don’t like me?’ These questions kept running around her head until the strange man (whom she will later know as William or Billy) tried to comfort her seeing how anxious she was. And then her name was called and she entered the room. The room’s atmosphere had a tense and serious feel to it.
There, at the table she saw two men, one older than the other, who looks like the younger one’s father. She sat down in front of the desk and smiled at them. They smiled back at her. Suddenly, the room felt friendly and warm and she was able to go through the questions smoothly. As she came out of the office, she felt confident that she would get the job. That confidence got her to do well in her demo, where she took orders and served them.
She overheard the older man saying to the younger one,“She has excellent communication skills and body language, two of the most important things a waiter should have. She makes the customer smile and feel happy, that means the customer will eat happy and go happy. The business will thrive if you hire excellent staff. You should hire her.” She felt happy and excited after hearing that.
Soon she signed the contract, agreeing to work in the cafe section of The Billionaire’s as a waitress. The young man signed the contract as manager,‘Micheal Whitehead’ was written as his name. “So that’s his name, Micheal Whitehead,” thought Susan in her head, “Whitehead? His hair is black.” She started giggling inside. Then the older man came and signed as ‘Owner’ and the name, ‘Joseph Whitehead’. ‘Wow, father and son. Cute.’ Susan thought.
“Oh, we’re sorry, we haven’t introduced ourselves yet.” Micheal said , smiling at her. “Myself Michael, I’m the manager of this place. Congratulations on getting hired!” He said, shaking her hand. “Thank you.” She replied. “And this is the owner of The Billionaire’s.” “Joseph Whitehead. His dad.” He said with a nod, patting Micheal’s shoulder.
Susan nodded back. Then Micheal showed her around and told her the rules and regulations. “... .and there is a VIP day every Saturday when Very Important People come and visit. You’ll be serving them too. It’ll mostly be celebrities since there are a lot of entertainment industries around here. They come in the morning to grab a cup of coffee or in the evening to rest. So you have to be careful around them. They might be a bit… you know…quick tempered. Anyway, just be careful with them.”She nodded.
From 6 years of experience living in the outside world, she knew what people are like in these places. “So, you’ll start working and get your name tag tomorrow. It was nice to meet you. Have a nice day!” “It was nice to meet you too.” She said back.
It was only when she got out did she notice that the night had set in. For a moment she stood there, feeling herself get absorbed into the night. The stars spread across the night sky with a waxing gibbous moon at a side. She watched the moon for a while; how beautiful it is, even with all those scars and marks. She thought if it had been just a clear, white sphere it would’ve looked less beautiful. A sense of gratitude and satisfaction swelled inside her. It was the happiest night she has ever had in the past 19 years of living.
2 MONTHS LATER….
“Congratulations once again Susan! You’re employee of the month again!” Greeted a short, red haired girl named Rose; she was pretty much rosy herself, with tiny green eyes, freckles on her nose and cheeks and light red lips. For all that Susan knew, Rose knew everything about every celebrity who works in the companies near the cafe, which is why she wanted to work there. Her talkative nature always amused Susan. She was willing to talk to anybody about anything. She was one of the reasons why Susan found working in the cafe interesting.
Susan went to the notice board only to find a crowd assembled there. She went through the crowd thanking all the congrats that she kept on getting. Finally, she was in front of the notice board, she saw her bright face and on the top it was written ‘Employee of the month’. She glowed with pride.
The employee of the month, the second time in a row! She heard from behind her, people whispering to each other, ‘Wow, Susan again!’ ‘I think she deserves it.’ ‘I wonder how he must be feeling.’ ‘I feel quite sorry for him.’ ‘I don’t think I should be surprised, she’s been very efficient in her job, even if it’s just being a waitress.’ ‘I heard she’s friends with that famous singer.’ ‘Yeah, Melody, right?’ ‘Yeah…that’s her name.’ ‘I heard she even went to her house!’ ‘Could that be even true?’ ‘I don’t know, Rose told me.’ ‘Haha! Nosy Rosie!’
It was true, Susan had visited Melody’s house. They’re really good friends. When she got out of the crowd, she saw Micheal coming to her with a smile, “Congratulations.” “Thank you sir.” She smiled back.
Then he went towards the crowd and shouted, “OK people! Get back to work! Stop standing idly and talking! There are customers who are waiting there!” And the group started dispersing. She was walking when a cold gaze caught her eyes. Bright, emerald green eyes, glaring at her. She looked away immediately. She felt a profound energy run through her, ‘this feels bad’ she thought.
2 weeks later, VIP day. A famous Hollywood actor came to The Billionaire’s cafe to have tea with Micheal. Susan was to serve them. She was completely focused on giving a good impression on the star since it was his first time there. If he gives a good review about The Billionaire’s cafe, it will be really good publicity because nobody misses out the places he visits.
“So,” said Micheal the day before, “be on your best behavior. He’s a really picky person too. What tastes good to us might not taste all that good to him, so be extremely careful.” That got everybody to be self-conscious and aware. And Susan was as aware. Billy had filled the teacups to the brim so she had to be extremely focused on how not to spill tea on the tray or anywhere.
She reminded herself that the actor is sitting right in front of the door of the VIP Room. She had to be careful. She opened the door to the VIP Room and found him talking to Micheal happily.
As she entered, she stumbled upon something hard and fell with her face flat on the tray. The tray was still dry, she wondered where the two teacups went. Then she heard two different sounds of breaking glass at the same time. When she lifted her head, she saw scattered pieces of the teacup, but only one, where is the other one? Then pieces of glass started falling from above. When she looked up, she saw a red, wet, middle aged man with slick black hair, looking down at her with angry eyes.
She stood up immediately and started apologizing, “I’m so sorry, are you okay? I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it. It was an accident.” She went to take off the glass pieces on his hair but he shoved her hand away and shouted, “Don’t you dare touch me!”
“I’m really sorry. Let me help you.”
“I don’t want your help!”
Then he turned to Micheal, “Is this the kind of service you give to your customers?! Why did you hire such a clumsy, careless and unskilled waitress?! Are you really that stupid?!!”
Then he stopped to take a breath. His face became more calm. But it was a dangerous looking calm.
“I only came here to have a cup of tea…” his tone deepened, his eyes looking straight at Micheal’s soul, “AND THIS IS WHAT I GET ?!!” He shouted, his voice loud and clear.
The room was silent, everyone was speechless.
“I’m leaving!!” He yelled. He pushed his chair and went out of the room pushing Susan away. Micheal followed him without looking at Susan. Susan stood there, her heart stopped for a moment. Finished. She. Is. Finished. It is only moments before she gets fired. She will be jobless again. She was hopeless all over again.
On the verge of tears, she began cleaning the mess. She was a disgrace to the cafe, so she thought. She cannot look up again. Words spread fast, soon the media will come to know. She fought her tears back, she couldn’t cry there. Then she heard him shout, “You know what! I’m giving you a zero rating. I can’t give good reviews about these kinds of places!!”
There was silence for a few moments, then murmurs. Now everybody will know what happened. ‘That just confirms it, I will get fired.’ She thought to herself. As she kept the mop and bucket back in its place she heard loud and heavy footsteps. ‘There he comes’. Micheal opened the door and ordered, “Susan, follow me.”. She obeyed. They walked side by side until they reached his office, he opened the door and Susan entered then he closed the door behind him. He walked to his desk while Susan stood in front of it.
Then he asked, “Are you okay?”. She got confused, should I answer that? Is that an ‘are you okay?’ Are you okay or an ‘are you mad?’ Are you okay ? Then he asked, “Did you get hurt? That was quite a fall.”
“Oh no, I’m fine.” ‘Is he trying to fire me nicely?’ She thought.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m fine.” She looked down at her hands. She felt it hard to look at his face. He got accused of her mistake.
“What happened? Did your feet twist or something?”
“No, I just stumbled upon something.”
“Something?”
“Yeah. Something hard was there. I don’t know what it was.” ‘Oh my god, I sound so stupid.’ She said to herself.
Micheal leaned on his desk and said in a gentle low voice, “Don’t worry. I’m not going to fire you.”
Her head jerked up in surprise.
“What?” She asked, completely confused.
“Yeah, it was an accident anyway. Besides, you’ve signed the contract for 1 year. It’s only been 2 months. I’m not gonna leave you so easily.”
“Oh, thank you!” She exclaimed and fell to her knees. She felt as though she just got rescued from drowning. “Woah, stand up. Were you really that scared that I’d fire you?” He came to help her up. She was clutching onto her chest as if catching for breath.
“Thank you so much! I can’t believe it!” She took a deep breath and heaved a heavy sigh of relief. “You’re really amazing," she said.
“Thank you. Hehe. Have a seat.”
She sat on the chair opposite to his desk. “He must’ve really shook you, huh?” She nodded.
“People make mistakes. You and me. Just don’t worry about it.” He gave reassurances. He went and sat at his desk. She looked up at him and said, “You’ve no idea how grateful I am. I promise you, I’ll try my best never to make a mistake again.”
“It’s okay. It’s human to make mistakes. I just want you to learn from them.”
“Yes sir. I’ll try my level best to do what you say.”
He smiled at her. She smiled at him.
“You may go home now.”
“Yes sir. Thank you.” And she left his office room. She felt happy, at peace, as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She was smiling when she left the cafe. ‘Why does she look so happy? Didn’t she get fired?’, he thought.
