The Girl At The Restaurant Table

•Opener• The Sign

Alton

"ALTON I NEEDED THAT HOLLANDAISE FINISHED 5 MINUTES AGO. WE NEED TO START GETTING THE FIRST COURSE OUT!!

"Yes Chef" Alton said, voice nowhere near the range his head Chef Burton's was. 2 years working at Alonzo's De'Lic, Alton was use to the loud tone of the boss man's voice.

Alonzo's was always a fast paced restaurant, but tonight they had a big celebrity in the building who paid top notch to rent out the place for his daughters sweet 16.

Plating was already set and Alton just needed to add the Hollandaise and a garnish to finish it off. His timing was off due to another worker elbowing the batch he already had finished. Alton could have been a dick and told the head chef, but that's not how things worked in their kitchen.

Looking down at the 30+ plates that were set out and ready to head out to the guest, Alton couldn't help but to be proud of the results. He always took the time to take one glance at whatever was being made in the kitchen before it was sent out to be enjoyed by so many.

Being just 3 years out of Culinary School, Alton was proud of how far he has come, even if he had no one around to be proud of him. Being the only child, and having lost his mother just 1 year before graduating High School, and losing his father to the military at the young age of 5, he had no one.

Altons life was kinda like that episode of Spongebob where he had to live and breath fine dining. He felt like that whenever he was in the kitchen. According to the head chef, he was always fuckin up. Leaving Alton reason to think that he has it out for him, and has since he started working there. It was something Alton wanted to figure out the reason behind.

~~

The private party ended at 12:00 a.m, but Altons job wasn't over yet. Imagine standing in a restaurant kitchen at closing time, looking around not knowing where to begin. It's like double the feeling of finishing all the dishes in your house, just to look back at the stove and see pots and pans waiting to be soaked down too.

Everyone pitches in with the cleanup work. You could be cooking all day and still will have to pick up a broom by the end of the night.

"Man can you believe all that money Jermain Jacobs just spent on his 16 year olds birthday? 16 years old! Ol girl got gifted with a brand new car. Meanwhile my ass still catching the bus and hacking rides off of co workers"

Alton could hear Tony suck his teeth as he maneuvered through the kitchen, getting shit done no matter how bitter he sounded.

"You know, you can always get a car. With that nice lil bonus we got last month, you'll be whippin it in no time."

"I wish shit was that easy Alton. I'm still staying with my folks and have been helping out on the bills that are sky high all the damn time."

"I got faith in you bro." Alton gave tony a light pat on the shoulder and headed off to his next task before he clocked out for the night. He would have given Tony a ride, but Tony lived in the complete opposite direction of Alton. Being as though it was late, Tony was most likely going to catch a ride with Marvin.

"ALTON I NEED YOU TO LOCK UP FOR ME!" Chef Burton tossed Alton the keys, not knowing if his quick impulse would catch it. He caught it though.