A/N Hello everyone. How are you guys. So for those of you who don't know, I watch a lot of cooking shows. Mystery Diners has always been a show I loved. I started thinking and my mind started twisting the Hunger Games together with Mystery Diners and the idea of this story was born. My mind works in mysterious ways and I'm not even sure what created this story but it happened and now I'm writing this. I'm am going to make the restaurant the games as related as possible. Before I start. I'm going to need to use Cecelia and Raquel in this story to work. Those are names I have given actual tributes. If you've read some of my previous stories (Heaven For the Fallen Tributes, A Young Heart...), you'll know that Raquel is the female tribute from District three and Cecelia is the female from four.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games, any of the characters, Mystery Diners, or anything else you recognize.
Mystery Diners
Seneca: My name is Seneca Crane and I am the General Manager of The Hunger Games, a restaurant in The Capitol, Panem. Unlike a usual restaurant, we assign names to everyone who comes through the door. I am the Head Gamemaker, the waiters and waitresses are tributes, my Head Waiter and Waitress we call Victors, the customers are sponsors, and roles are assigned accordingly. The problem started recently when we brought three new girls onto the shift. Our oldest standing three girls claim to be having problems with those girls and calling them lazy. The boys on the shift claim to be oblivious to everything that's happening so I need to know if my long standing waitresses are trying to get the girls fired or if there's a real problem.
Plutarch Heavensbee walked the street next to a blonde teenager. The reached the Hunger Games and went inside. Seneca met them just inside.
"Seneca Crane?" Plutarch asked.
"Yes. Welcome to the Hunger Games," Seneca greeted.
"I'm Plutarch Heavensbee. This is Madge, one of our Mystery Diners," Plutarch introduced.
Seneca shook hands with both Plutarch and Madge.
"So what seems to be the the problem?" Plutarch asked.
"Well I recently brought three new waitresses in and my three waitresses that were here before seem to have problems with them. The boys I have on the shift seem to know nothing but I feel like there's more to the story. My standing waitresses, Katniss, Foxface, and Clove, say that my new waitresses, Glimmer, Raquel, and Cecelia, are doing nothing while the the new hires are saying that they are just being targeted by the girls," Seneca explained. "I honestly don't know who to believe."
"Alright Seneca. So here's what we do. We come in and wire your restaurant with hidden cameras. We also send in mystery diners to see first hand what everyone else is seeing," Plutarch explained.
"I can go in as a new waitress to see what the staff sees happening," Madge said.
"We're also going to send in a couple other diners to play the role of customers," Plutarch said.
"Plutarch, whatever is happening in my restaurant needs to be dealt with. I'm had my long standing waitresses threatening to quit if I don't do anything and I need to see what is happening," Seneca said.
To carry out the sting, cameras have been placed in key locations around the Hunger Games. Cameras 1, 2, 3, and 4 have been set up in the kitchen and storage. Cameras 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 have been placed in the main dining room to give an overall perspective of the restaurant. And cameras 10 and 11 have been set up in the employee lounge.
In addition to Madge, who with by going in as a waitress-in-training, Gale, Finnick, and Thresh will pose as customers.
The sting with focus on Katniss, Clove, and Foxface, along with Glimmer, Raquel, and Cecelia, six waitresses who seem to have beef with each other.
Plutarch lead Seneca into a building next to The Hunger Games. They walked into a room and Seneca saw the set up.
"Wow. You better be leaving this set up when you leave," Seneca laughed.
The two sat in chairs.
"So who are those two working in the book before the restaurant opened?" Plutarch asked.
"Those are Clove and Foxface. They are two of my waitresses that are complaining about the new hires," Seneca explained.
"What are they up to?" Plutarch asked.
"They are writing up yesterday's payment report. They do that every night before they leave and they like to double check every morning."
"Are they the head waitresses?"
"No. Katniss is one of them. There is a guy on this shift named Peeta who is the head waiter."
"Shouldn't they be doing that?"
"No. I have Katniss and Peeta doing other things in the morning. But I am confused about where Glimmer, Raquel, and Cecelia are. They are supposed to be learning the books," Seneca said.
"Yo Clove!" a blonde boy yelled.
"Who's that?" Plutarch asked.
"Cato. He's one of the three waiters on this shift," Seneca explained. "The other two are Peeta and Marvel."
"What it is?" Clove yelled.
"Are we ready to open?" Cato yelled.
"Give me and Foxy a minute to put the books away and then we are. Is Marvel here yet?"
"Ya. He's in the lounge," Cato yelled back.
"Glimmer, Raquel, and Cecelia?"
"Nope," Cato yelled.
"Wait, what? Everyone else on this shift is here," Seneca stated. "Where are those girls?"
Foxface collected the books and walked to the back. She ran into a girl with her hair in a braid.
"Hey. Do we know where Glimmer, Raquel, and Cecelia are?" Katniss asked.
"No. My bet is they will be a half hour late again," Foxface said.
"God damn it. Can you give those books to Peeta and help me set up the counter?" Katniss asked. "I already had Marvel and Cato set the tables."
"Well it seems like Katniss knows how to deal with the restaurant. And it seems like the rest of your staff are use to the new hires being late," Plutarch said.
*Half Hour Later*
"Are those Glimmer, Raquel, and Cecelia walking in right now?" Plutarch asked pointing to the door.
"Yes. They are half and hour late," Seneca sighed.
"You three are late," Katniss said. "Again."
"Ya. Ya. Whatever," Glimmer said.
The three girls walked to the employee lounge and put their stuff in their lockers. They then sat on the couch.
"So they came in half an hour late and now they are taking a break?" Seneca asked himself. "That's ridiculous!"
Peeta came into the lounge.
"There you three are. There are people in your sections," he told them.
"Really? Sorry. We were just taking a five minute break. We've been working so hard," Cecelia said.
"No problem," Peeta said before walking out of the lounge.
"They just lied to Peeta and he had no clue," Plutarch said.
"That's ridiculous!" Seneca yelled.
"Alright. I think it's time to send Madge in," Plutarch said.
Seneca nodded.
"Alright Madge, head in," Plutarch instructed into a speaker system.
Madge: Seneca is suspicious of fighting among the female staff. It's my job to see the situation from the staff point of view.
Madge walked into the restaurant and up to the counter.
"Hi. I'm Madge. Are you Katniss?" she asked Clove.
"No. I'm Clove. I can get Katniss for you," she offered.
"Yes please," Madge said.
Clove turned and walked into the kitchen.
"Hey Kat. There's a blonde girl named Madge here to see you," she called.
"Okay," Katniss said.
Katniss came out with Clove. Clove pointed to Madge then walked off to serve a table.
"Hi. I'm Katniss. You must be Madge. Seneca told me you would be coming in today," Katniss said. "I'm supposed to get you to study under one of my girls. I can just grab Clove and you can follow her today."
"Madge, ask to be trained under Glimmer, Raquel, or Cecelia," Plutarch instructed.
"What about those three? They seem to have some time on their hands," Madge said.
"Trust me. You won't learn much, if anything, from them," Katniss whispered.
"Woah!" Seneca said.
"Oh. Okay," Madge said hesitantly.
Katniss lead Madge over to Clove.
"Clove, this is Madge which I assume you already know. She's going to be following you around today," Katniss told Clove.
"Sweet," Clove replied.
Katniss walked away.
"Madge, ask Clove about what Katniss said," Plutarch instructed.
"Clove, can I ask you something?" Madge asked.
"Of course. Anything," Clove replied.
"What's up with those three servers who are just sitting around?"
"Uh, they are Glimmer, Raquel, and Cecelia. They are three semi-new hires. They are so lazy. They literally come in thirty minutes late every day and then just hang out. We've lost so many customers just because of the service in their sections. They will maybe serve one table a day if it's a cute guy," Clove explained.
"What?" Seneca asked.
"This may be the perfect time to send in mystery diners Finnick and Thresh. We can have them both sent in Glimmer, Raquel, and Cecelia's shared area. My bet is that if Clove's predictions are true, Finnick with get served but Thresh will be ignored. We can also send Gale into Clove, Katniss, and Foxface's area. Without a doubt, if the girls are who they seem to be, someone will be there serving him within a minute," Plutarch said.
"Do it," Seneca growled.
"Boys, head on in. Finnick and Thresh to Glimmer, Raquel, and Cecelia. Gale to Katniss, Clove, and Foxface," Plutarch said into the mic.
The three boys walked in and were seated by a girl with curly hair.
"Who was the girl with curly hair?" Plutarch asked.
"Flint. She is purely a greeter. She stays at the front and only goes into the main area to sit customers. She literally would know nothing," Seneca explained.
Flint sat the boys then walked away. Almost immediately after being seated, Gale saw Katniss walked in his direction.
"Hi. My name is Katniss and I will be your server. Can I get you anything to drink?" Katniss asked as she sat a menu down on the table.
"Wow. Gale was pretty much just seated and Katniss was there to serve him," Plutarch pointed out.
"That's why I keep her, Clove, and Foxface on the busiest shift. They all have always been like that," Seneca said.
"Look at that. Glimmer just looked into the area and saw Finnick.
"Oh my God. He's hot," she whispered to Cecelia and Raquel. "Hand me a menu, Cecelia."
Cecelia handed Glimmer a menu. She stood up and walked over to Finnick.
"Hi there. I'm Glimmer and I will be serving you. Can I get you anything right off the bat?" she asked.
"That's interesting. There have been people sitting there for close to half an hour and she went straight for Finnick," Plutarch pointed out.
*Half an hour later*
"Katniss, we got your order!" one of the chefs yelled.
Katniss went and picked up Gale's order and brought it to him. Plutarch and Seneca looked at Glimmer, Raquel, and Cecelia's area.
"You know what I see there. Many people have already left. The girls have given all their attention to Finnick and Thresh still hasn't even been brought a menu," Plutarch said.
Seneca put his head in his hands. It pained him to see what happened.
"You know what Thresh, you've been sitting there for an hour with no service. Get out of there," Plutarch told Thresh.
Thresh nodded and pushed his chair back. He walked out of the restaurant.
Thresh: I just saw what a typical customer in Glimmer, Raquel, and Cecelia's section saw and if I was a real customer, I wouldn't be coming back any time soon.
"You know what I want to test? I want to see if the guys have no idea about the fighting. Let's send Madge to talk to each of the boys," Plutarch suggested.
"Do it. I need to know if my boys are just playing dumb or if they truly don't know about the fighting," Seneca sighed.
"Madge, go ask the boys about the fighting," Plutarch instructed.
Madge nodded. She walked over to the first boy she saw, Marvel.
"Hi. Marvel is it?" she asked.
"Yes it is. You must be Madge," Marvel laughed.
"Yes I am. Can I ask you about the fighting among the girls?" Madge asked.
"What? The girls are fighting?" Marvel asked.
"So you don't know about it?" Madge asked.
"This is the first I'm hearing about any fighting," Marvel admitted.
Madge nodded. She walked away and over to Peeta. She tapped his shoulder.
"Hi!" Peeta said. "You must be Madge."
"Absolutely," Madge laughed. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course," Peeta said.
"What's with the girls?" she asked. "Why are they fighting?"
"This is a joke, right? Katniss would have said something to me if the girls were fighting," Peeta said.
Madge nodded. Peeta turned his attention to a customers and Madge walked over to Cato.
"Hi Cato," she said.
"Hey Madge. What's up?" he asked.
"What's up with the girls fighting?" she questioned.
"I only know what Clove told me," he admitted.
"What?" Seneca asked. "He said that he didn't know about any fighting!"
"What's Clove told you?" Madge asked.
"She says that Glimmer, Raquel, and Cecelia are doing nothing and she's pissed off," Cato explained.
"Are Cato and Clove really close friends?" Plutarch asked Seneca.
"Yes. They're both from district two and they've know each other since they were little," Seneca said.
"So why has Cato been lying to you?"
"I'm assuming he just doesn't want to be involved so I think his only option was to lie."
"So you knew about it?" Madge asked.
"Yes but I don't really want to get involved so whenever Seneca asks about it, I play dumb," Cato explained.
Glimmer, Raquel, and Cecelia were still hanging out by the counter. Katniss saw them and shook her head.
"You three, I need to talk to," Katniss hissed to the girls.
The three got up and walked to the back lounge. Clove approached Katniss.
"Are you talking to them again?" she asked.
Katniss nodded. She walked back to the lounge.
"What the hell is wrong with you three?" Katniss yelled.
"What was that?" Seneca asked. "Katniss shouldn't be yelling and she should have Peeta with her. They should be putting strict rules on those three and if they can't follow them, then they both come talk to me and I deal with them. Katniss yelling won't accomplish anything but getting them to do less work."
"Whatever," Cecelia growled.
The three girls walked away from Katniss. While walking by Foxface, Raquel hit the tray out of her hands knocked the food and drinks onto herself.
"What the fuck?" Foxface yelled.
Katniss came out of the lounge and approached the girls.
"What happened?" she asked Foxface.
"Raquel just knocked the tray out of my hands," Foxface said.
Clove ran up to the girls.
"What the hell?" she asked.
It wasn't long until a full-fledged yelling fight broke out between the girls.
"Plutarch, I've seen enough," Seneca said.
"You know what, go break that up and bring all six girls back here," Plutarch instructed.
Seneca got up and walked from the room.
Seneca: I'm surprised how serious this is. I've learned that no one is innocent but I need to deal with this.
Seneca marched into the restaurant and up to the six girls.
"You six follow me," he barked.
"Oh my God. Seneca-" Glimmer was cut off by her boss.
"Shut your mouth and follow me."
The six girls followed Seneca up to the room where the setup was.
"What is this?" Katniss asked.
"Girls, my name is Plutarch Heavensbee and I run a company called Mystery called my company because he's had issues with you six fighting and it was hurting the business. We set up hidden cameras and send in undercover Mystery Diners to see what is happening when Seneca wasn't there. What we saw was pretty shocking," Plutarch explained.
"So you've been spying on us?" Clove asked.
"Yes but rightfully so," Seneca said. "What I saw was a disgrace. I see that Katniss, Clove, and Foxface were not feeding me lies. You three were are slacking off!" Seneca yelled.
"We're not!" Raquel argued.
"Really? We've been watching you guys all day. Everything you did, or in your case, didn't, do is recorded," Plutarch explained. "See this girl? Madge? She works for me. She saw exactly what someone on the staff sees."
The girls looked at the board.
"And these boys," Plutarch added. "They also work for me. Katniss, you did a good job and help Gale almost instantly but Glimmer, Raquel, and Cecelia, you guys only helped Finnick because he's a pretty boy. Thresh sat there for thirty minutes, no service."
Glimmer opened her mouth but no words came out.
"Clove, Foxface, you handled the situation poorly but I can't let you go. You are some of the best servers on the shift. If you guys can promise no more drama, you can keep your jobs and you can get out of here," Seneca offered.
Clove and Foxface nodded. Seneca nodded and the two walked from the room.
Clove and Foxface: I'm shocked that this happened but I'm so glad to keep my job. A really hope Glimmer, Raquel, and Cecelia get what's coming to them.
"Glimmer, Raquel, and Cecelia, you three are done. You've done nothing and I can't keep you three if you'll be doing nothing and not helping anyone. You're fired," Seneca said.
The three girls walked out.
Glimmer: This is ridiculous.
Raquel: We've done nothing wrong.
Cecelia: We don't deserve this.
"And Katniss, that leaves you. You handled this situation so poorly. You should have talked to Peeta about this and talked to the girls in private and if they still didn't listen, you two should have came and talked to me together," Seneca said.
"I know. I'm so sorry," Katniss whispered.
"You're so damn lucky you are an amazing waitress. You still have a job and you can stay as my head waitress," Seneca told her.
"Thank you," Katniss whispered before walking from the room.
Katniss: I'm so glad everything worked out and I really hope I never have to see those three again.
"Well Plutarch, thank you so much for everything," Seneca said.
"No problem. I really hope everything works out," Plutarch stated.
*Four Months Later*
Since being fired, Glimmer, Raquel, and Cecelia, have all found jobs elsewhere. Katniss has gotten Peeta more involved with issues in the business and Seneca is happy to report that peace and harmony has been restored at The Hunger Games.
So that just happened. My love of cooking shows, Mystery Diners specifically, in a one-shot. Please review and favorite.