Comfortable Chaos

Chapter 20

Brandi
I will not be going back.

The first couple of days on my new job were okay. I mostly wiped the tables after people left, mopped the floors. The manager ended up showing me how to mop because, apparently, I wasn't doing it right. He moved me up to the cash register. I could make change and stuff but I wasn't fast enough, especially around lunch time. I tried to move faster but, if I moved faster, I had a bigger chance of making a mistake. I didn't want to mess up people's money. So I took the risk of going slow. Today, we were short. The manager put me back on the register to fill in.

"Hello, Ma'am. May I help you?" I asked an older lady at the front of the line.

"I want an oxtail special," she said, squinting at the menu.

I press the button for the oxtail special. "Okay. What do you want as your two sides?"

"What can I get?"

"You can have corn, green beans, mashed potatoes with gravy, greens or carrots."

"I want greens, carrots and mashed potatoes."

"Do you want the mashed potatoes as a separate entree?" I asked her.

"No, I want it as a side to the special."

"Well, since it only comes with two sides, you'll be charged extra for the mashed potatoes."

"But it's a side, right?" Her voice is becoming more forceful.

"Yes, ma'am but if you already have two sides, we can only add by charging extra. It's only a dollar fifty."

"I'm not paying extra for it. If it's a side for a dinner, I shouldn't have to pay extra."

I look around for someone to help. Unfortunately, everyone is in the kitchen area. I had two other people waiting in line. I hate to make them wait because one woman didn't seem to understand that she couldn't have a third side for free.

"So do you want two or three sides?"

"I want three sides to my dinner." She put her hand on her hip.

"One of them will have to be considered extra."

"I'm not paying extra for anything."

I'm already tired of dealing with this lady. I really want to shove the cash register off the counter and into her chest. Even though I don't want to do it, I go to the back to find the manager. I was able to grab him from a conversation with the cook.

"I'm having a problem with a customer."

He stops talking to him and follows me to the front.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"She wants three sides with a lunch special but she doesn't want to pay for the third one," I told him.

We walk through the swinging door. The lady is still standing at the front of the line. She appears to have tried to gather a choir to amen her stupid demand.

"How you doin, Ma'am? What seems to be the problem?"

She proceeds to tell the manager that I'm trying to make her pay extra for sides that come with the special. She tells him that I was rude and that I wasn't listening to her. This is ridiculous. I've never seen someone outright lie like this. At this point, I don't even want to be in the same room with her, let alone take her order. She did everything she could to make it seem like she was the innocent customer trying to get a special and I was getting in the way. I want to scream and stomp off but I stay there, trying to be the good employee.

The manager ends up telling me to give her the third side with no extra cost. The whole time, she stands there with this self-satisfied look on her face. As if she's thinking, "I told you I'd get my way." She's disgusting. If I were a different kinda person, I would spit in her food. Yeah, I know. It's not the nice thing to do but she would've deserved it.

I take the order as my manager told me to and ring up the other orders, even though the lady continues to complain after getting what she wanted. I really feel like walking out right then but I stay the rest of the shift. I finally leave the restaurant after my shift and I will not be going back.

As a matter of fact, I'm going to the library to use their computer. I have about an hour and a half before I need to go pick Andre up from work. I visit job websites, looking for something, anything better than what I've been doing. I end up on joblisting.com where I apply for several positions in one sitting. One of them is an ad for an associate. There isn't much detail on the job but they offer top pay so I figure why not.

I look at the clock and it shows that I only have twenty minutes to make it to the labor pool. I jump up and dash to the car. I plan to try and cook spaghetti for Andre. I'm actually proud of myself. I'm getting the hang of this grown up stuff.

As I rush out of the library, I feel my phone vibrate. I look at it and see my house number. My pulse races and I start to sweat. It must have been one of my parents. I stop walking and stand still, as if I they can sense my movement on the other side of the phone. Holding my breath, I let it vibrate until it stops. Then, I feel like it's safe to start walking again. The phone vibrates again, signaling that I have a message. I dial the voicemail to listen.

"Brandy? It's your mother. Call me when you get this message."

That was it? No 'I'm sorry.' No 'please come home.' No 'I've been worried about you.' All Mama wants me to do is call her and I can see the tongue lash coming. There's no way I'm calling her. I'm better off on my own.

I wonder what Mama, Daddy and Teresa are doing now. It's been a few weeks since I talked to them. I want to call but I don't want to deal with the drama. Maybe I'll talk to them soon. I look forward to telling them about my progress. They should be happy for me.