Cutting It Close

Part 1

Hi all! This story was commissioned by McDonalds Canada for their Friends are Made at McDonald's campaign. I worked at McDonalds for about a year and a half in high school and honestly enjoyed my time there, so if you're looking for a fun, part-time job where you can work with, and make, friends, apply today!

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"Come on, come on, come on," I muttered, my eyes trained on the television in the break room as I watched the clock tick down towards halftime.

It was the biggest football game of the year—the Super Bowl—and I was stuck catching snippets of it because I had to work. But at least I got to watch it in some capacity.

Watching my team huddle one last time, I hoped they would try for a touchdown before time ran out. As they lined up and I held my breath, watching as the quarterback got the ball, expertly avoided a tackle, and launched the ball down the field.

"Yes!" I cheered, watching the players celebrate the touchdown.

"The game going well, then?" Malik asked, strolling into the break room with his Big Mac meal. The two of us had started working here around the same time and had quickly bonded over the fact we cheered for the same football team.

Taking the last sip of my coke, I nodded and stood up, knowing I had to get back out on the floor. "We're up 21-14, so let me know if anything changes."

"Will do."

Knowing there was only an hour left of my shift, I clocked back in, took the drive-thru head set back from my co-worker, and got to work. Taking orders, grabbing drinks, handing customers their meals—it was all pretty standard and having worked here for almost a year, it was safe to say I was a pro.

"Woah there," I said as nine 'o'clock approached, turning around with a meal in my hand to see Jade holding a stacked pile of napkins taller than herself. Scooting around her, I quickly opened the window to hand the customer their food and cleared the order form the screen before asking her, "Do you need any help?"

"That'd be great," she said, her voice muffled.

Taking a few of the napkin bunches from her arms, I helped her stack them in the overhead storage compartment, making quick work of it before I passed her my headset and got ready to leave.

"Hey," I said, turning to my boss, "is there anything else you need before I clock out?"

She pointed to the order screen, which was mostly clear except for one new order. "Can you make the smoothies for the front counter before you go?"

"Sure thing."

Pressing the button on the machine for two medium strawberry banana smoothies, I waited until the whirring stopped and poured the mixture into two glasses, capping them off to hand to the customers.

"Yo, Emma, our team is falling behind."

My eyes widened as I turned my head towards Malik, who was coming up from downstairs with kitchen supplies in his arms.

"What?!"

And then, suddenly, everything happened at once.

My grip tightened on both smoothies, popping the tops off and surprising me enough that I accidentally spilled them both down the front of my clothes. And, of course, as I scrambled to find a napkin, I knocked the blender off its wash station in the middle of its cycle, causing water to spray everywhere.

Creating quite the messy spectacle.