Arthur yawned into his arm and took one final sip of coffee before entering the corner coffee shop where he'd been working for close to two years now. He'd hoped his hard work had been paying off so he could obtain the management position. He opened the door and removed his sunglasses.
"Arthur, glad you're here." Came his manager's voice, "Come here, I have a job for you."
Excited about what was to come, Arthur threw on his apron and walked behind the counter to where his manager stood.
"This is Merlin," the manager said, motioning toward a boy of about Arthur's age behind him, "He's new and we're asking you to train him."
Disappointed and a little annoyed at his manager's newest task for him, Arthur rolled his eyes and said, "Well, come on then." to the young man.
"My name's Merlin, by the way," Merlin said, extending his hand to Arthur.
Arthur, who had been turned the other way, turned around with a judgmental look on his face. He looked down at Merlin's hand and said, "No."
Merlin, embarrassed, sheepishly put his hands back in his pockets. "So how long have you been working here?"
"What so you can pretend you're interested?" Arthur said as he thrust an apron and hat into Merlin's hands with the company logo.
"Well I-" Merlin began but was interrupted by Arthur touching his shoulder and talking to him in a hushed but irritated way.
"Merlin, let me tell you something. I've been working here for two years and have put a tremendous amount of effort into trying to become a manager. And I'm not going to have some idiotic trainee mess that up for me. So just watch what I do, don't bother me, and hopefully we'll get you off my arse in a short week." He smiled a fake and put-on smile, and harshly patted Merlin on the back. He turned and helped a customer.
Merlin let out an exasperated sigh and watched Arthur for a few prolonged seconds.