Double Star

21: Virginity Bet 3.

POV Betty

-"Here's your order. Sir, ma'am ". I put the two plates on the table of this old couple while greeting them courteously.

-"Finally!". The greybeard expressed joyfully. The woman next to him chuckled, rolling her eyes.

-"He's such a food lover!". I laughed back at the beloved duo and came back to work cleaning the counters and serving the rest of the customers.

It was twenty past one o'clock when I put back my apron on its old hanger and joined the restaurant's outlet. By the time I was going to leave, only three colleagues, sharing their usual evening coffee outlast.

-"Thanks, Betty. I'll repay you for your kindness". Lorenzo, wearing its unclean cover, beamed at me with his hands on my dainty shoulders.

-"You're welcome. Now I have to go". I said, peeping at my watch.

-"Wait...". When I was going to press the lever of the door's exit, Lorenzo stared at me anxiously and concerned.

-"Do you have to go to his house? Why don't you do it here? Look, I'll bring you red tea and pancakes as you like and whatever you want but only for you, nothing is free for him! Just don't go to his house, or maybe my house would be better. Or what if I tell mom! I'm sure she'll understand since you're such a brilliant girl!". He glanced at me with the same worry in his dark eyes.

-"Lorenzo, it's fine! I'll do my work and leave. Nothing less, nothing more". I stated, ready to leave.

-"But Betty, what if he does something to you?". I Blinked.

-"Like what?". The entrance cracked slowly, letting a bald man with blue eyes, wearing a dark suit and a well-made tie, come in.

He stared at us for a moment with his severe eyes of the boss ready to fire his employers if they lack punctuality or tend to be professionally insufficient. Mr. Passenger is a perfectionist who combined in his worthy establishment modernity and rusticity, run by an award-winning owner.

And even if my experience here is not the longest, almost six months, I could tell that it was a mild one.

Not only is "Merry Go-'Round" nearby from what I could call home, but Mr.Passenger has also succeeded in conferring me a calm rhythm. He provided someone who prefers to stay in her thoughts rather than interact with the outside world with time to integrate.

When I don't have answers to the queries or drop my positive tone, which tends to occur a lot, or when I have to bear the brunt of some ill-mannered consumers' frustration, he always got the solution to subdue them.

-"It's not your fault, Betty. Even the best companies get calls from angry customers. The key is first to calm them down so you can find out how you can help them. Hear. Empathize. Apologize. Resolve and Diagnose". He's such a gentleman! I first thought when he said that to me.

He's not only well-mannered but also good at making choices and decisions based on his broad experiences.

And like they used to say, the occasions when a man trips over a gold nugget while strolling with his head in a cloud of wishful thinking are few and far between. So, I had to consider my fallibility by analyzing the chief characteristics of my boss' mind to learn and improve. Once I deduced more or less the fundamental laws of social functions, I put into practice the idea of ambition, and it worked.

Now, I let my customers vent out their madness, uninterrupted. I say empathy phrases to simulate how I understand their problem, learned that you could never make it right no matter how many times you apologize, and made sure that the same issue won't happen twice.