Just another regular day in the coffee shop.
My family owns this famous coffee shop in the Metro. I wouldn't say I'm rich, but I think my bank account would. My dad is famous in the modeling industry, but he's not a model. He is not even a meter close to being a model. My dad is a print-ad photographer. His clients include big-time products and clothing stores like Penshoppe, Dolce & Gabbana, and Calvin Klein. My dad would sometimes go to Paris just to shoot one picture, and every time he goes out of the country, he never gets back without buying me a new pair of shoes. My mom, just a year younger than my dad, is a fashion designer. My grandmother owns uptill now, a tailor shop, and growing up, my mom learned the basics by watching the system of clothing, so when she grew up, she took fashion designing as her career. My mom owns a luxury clothing store which sponsors elite celebrities here in the Philippines. All in all, I get pretty much whatever I want. Latest phone, latest shoes, latest everything. All it takes is one swipe from my credit card.
It's weird how my parents ended owning a coffee shop, since their careers focuses more on the fashion industry, rather than the food industry. It seems so out of nowhere that they decided to put up a coffee shop, rather than a modelling agency which both my mom and dad could benefit from, but since owning a coffee shop means I could get free coffee and donuts anytime I want, then I have nothing to complain about.
People who don't know me thinks I'm spoiled. But I'm not.
So back to the story.
Just another regular day in the coffee shop.
"Give me one large caramel macchiato, two butter croissants, and a donut." I say. I shove my hand into my bag to get my wallet, but my wallet wasn't there. Then it hit me. I left my wallet at Gino's house. I slept over at his house last night, and I think I forgot to grab my wallet from his desk on my way home. "Uhm, excuse me. How much is it all?" I ask the lady who looks to be about my age.
"five-hundred and twenty three pesos." she says.
I get my VIP card which I always put inside my phone case, it's a red plastic card that my parents gave when the shop first opened. The card has over five-thousand pesos worth of points when I first had it. I never used this card much, I stopped asking for point allowances, instead, I asked my mom to give me cash allowance for the coffee shop instead. I hand my card over to the cashier, but at first glance she rejected the card.
"I'm sorry sir, but we do not accept this card anymore. If you would like to get the new card, you have to avail atleast five-hundred pesos worth of any 'Metro Cafe' products." the cashier says.
Clearly this lady does not know me.
"But I have atleast three thousand pesos worth of points in this card. I forgot my wallet, so I don't see any way of paying my purchase if you won't use the remaining points in this card."
"I'm sorry, sir. We can't continue this transaction if you do not have any way of purchasing." she gives me a cold look.
Luckily, I find small bills to pay for my order. I start bringing out twenty-peso bills from my bag pocket that amount to five hundred twenty, then three pesos from my pocket for the remaining three pesos. The lady seems to be irritated. She shows irritation with the way she takes my money. She does not say anything, but I know that I somehow irritate her for no reason.
The reason why I have to pay for my order is because my mom gives me a monthly allowance to spend in our coffee shop, in that way, I won't be a problem to the inventory.
"Your name, sir?" she asks me.
"Fabian. That's F.A.B.I.A..." I say, but she stops me before I even finish.
"Okay sir, please wait for your name to be called." she says and gives me a forced smile.
She clearly doesn't have a single clue of who I am, but I don't want to make my status as the owner's son to be an issue here. I take a seat in my favorite spot. I put my legs up, listen to my music and wait for my order. As I'm listening to my playlist, she rings her bell. I thought my order was ready, but instead, she tells me to put my feet down.
"Sir, please put your feet down. We have other customers that feels uncomfortable with you putting your feet up." she tells me.
I cannot take another minute of her full of shit attitude, so I burst.
"This is a coffee shop, right?" I ask her.
"Yes, sir." she responds.
"This isn't a restaurant. So I could do the hell that I want to do here, just as long as I don't disturb other customers." I say.
"But sir, there are other customers that would feel uncomfortable if you would relax yourself too much. We are in a public place after all." She lifts an eyebrow up.
"I don't see them complaining."
"Sir, do you have a problem with our policy?" She asks me, her tone starting to get tensioned.
"As a matter of fact, yes. I want to talk to your manager. Now." I demand.
"I am the manager." she says, her face is wearing the 'in your face' look.
I look at her name-tag. Danielle: Zone Manager.
"Oh, you're the manager?" I let out a small breath. Her face fills up with confidence.
"Yes, sir. I am the zone manager." she says.
"Alright. I want to talk to Steven, then." I say, smiling from the corner of my mouth.
"Steven?" she gets confused.
"Steven Yuene. The general manager of this coffee shop." I lift both my eyebrow on her. Her smile suddenly dissapears and her face becomes confused. I'm thinking that the look on her face is the, "How in the hell do you know my boss? Look". She does not say anything. She turns around and goes inside the manager's office. I overhear her, she said, "Sir Steven, there's a customer who wants to talk to you."
Steven comes out and sees me and immediately greets me. "Good morning, Sir Fabian. You want to talk to me about something? sir, before anything else, have you noticed the new shout-out wall?" Steven says with a huge smile on his face. Steven is a nerdy type of person. He's a bit chubby, but he's a nice guy.
The zone manager's eyes widened. Danielle looks like she saw a ghost, "Nice to see you, Steven. Anyways, can you introduce me to this girl. It's the first time I've seen her here." I say with a grin on my face.
"Yeah, she just started here last week." says Steven.
"You know him?" The girl asks.
"Of course, I do." Steven rolls his eyes. "Sir Fabian, this is Danielle Rivera, the new and the youngest zone manager we've had here."
"Nice to meet you Danielle. You'll be seeing much more of me in the coming days." I shake her hand.
"Danielle, this is Sir Fabian Aviero. He's the owner's son." Steven introduces me to Danielle.
"Nice to meet you, Sir Fabian." She gives me a smile. She does not look me in the eyes. She avoids eye contact.
