Chapter 3: First Day Part 2
Harry's very first customers of his job walked through the door. It was a guy with messy black hair and a girl with blond hair. The girl was pushing a stroller. They seemed to be in the middle of a conversation. The guy seemed to be talking animatedly. Harry couldn't really hear what they were saying and didn't want to eavesdrop but he thought he heard something about "the mist" and, "angry dachshunds".
"I'm going to run to the restroom really quick, okay?" The girl said. "Don't go anywhere." She walked off and the guy started perusing the menu. He seemed satisfied with his decision long before the girl got back. Harry made himself acquainted with the menu as well to get an idea of when the customers were looking one way, which items they were likely to be ordering. The cheeseburger section seemed the area of interest to the young man.
Jon appeared behind Harry right before the girl came back.
"These guys are regulars here." Jon said gesturing to the couple who were discussing the options picked out. "The dude's name is Percy and the girl's name is Annabeth. They come in here about this time once a week."
The couple walked up to the counter and smiled once they saw Jon.
"What's up brother?" Jon said smiling and giving Percy a hearty handshake. Percy seemed used to the big guy's enthusiasm.
"Nice to see you, Jon!" Percy said. Annabeth smiled and nodded politely. She pushed the stroller up to the counter and pulled out several cut-out coupons.
"What can I get for you two lovebirds today?" Jon asked leaned against the counter. Jon almost seemed to forget that Harry was there. It was just his friendliness. Harry didn't seem to mind as much. He could learn from watching just fine.
"Could we get 20 double cheeseburgers and 4 large Cokes?" Percy said as Annabeth slid the appropriate coupons over the counter. It happened to be a lot of BOGO coupons. (Buy one, get one.) Jon seemed undaunted by the onslaught and expertly handled the transaction. Harry was impressed. This guy certainly knew what he was doing. Jon was so close to Harry that he could nearly see the threads in his shirt. He could also smell something on him. Cologne? Harry didn't know exactly.
"Is this the new guy?" Percy asked gesturing to Harry thankfully interrupting the embarrassing thought.
"Yep," Jon said clapping Harry on the shoulder. "This here is Harry, it's his first day here!"
"Nice to meet you, Harry!" Percy said offering his fist for a fist bump. Harry accepted. Percy had strangely smooth hands for someone his age. He also smelled faintly of the ocean.
"That's a cute kid you got there. Is he yours?" Jon asked the couple. Harry had nearly forgotten that they had brought a stroller in. Annabeth blushed.
"He isn't ours. He is my nephew. His parents are, er, out of town right now." Percy explained for her. Harry looked into the stroller. There was a hefty baby boy in there. Something seemed kind of weird though. If Harry stared at him too long then the baby's face seemed to blur, making the features hard to make out. It started to hurt Harry's eyes, so he looked away.
"Will that be all for you today?" Jon asked putting the items into the order. With all the coupons, the price didn't turn out too bad.
"Yeah, that'll be it. And we're going to take it to go, we have several errands we need to run afterwards." Annabeth said pulling out a wallet and setting several bills on the counter. The change was exact. They must have calculated this before coming in.
"We've got hard workers in the back," Jon said to Percy and Annabeth, "it shouldn't take to get your food for you. Besides, it's supposed to be a pretty slow day. Several accidents are really congesting the traffic. There shouldn't be anybody else for a while."
Harry handed the receipt to Annabeth who put it into her wallet where the bills once were. They went over to a booth to the side of the counter and sat down to wait for their food. Annabeth had started talking excitedly about some sort of architecture she was working on. She seemed pretty into it and Percy was trying his best to be involved in the conversation.
From what Harry overheard, she was the one in charge of remodeling a place called Olympus. Sounded like an exotic restaurant of some sort. Harry didn't want to feel like he was eavesdropping on purpose so he decided to find Jon, who had gone to the back, so he could teach him some more things about the job.
Harry found Jon in the back putting bags of cola syrup on the top shelves. He seemed to do it easily. He had some pretty solid muscles. Guess that's what happens when you work the job for a long time. You get really good at it.
"Need some help brother?" Jon said after he hefted a fifth box clear above his head.
"I was wondering if you could show me around some more. Help me get acquainted with the workspace and all that." Harry said.
"Sure!" Jon said walking over to Harry. The walked back to the front where they were to start.
"Ok," Jon exclaimed, "I'm going to introduce you to the other employees that you'll be working with here." He gestured to the front counter.
"You'll mainly be working at the front with George, who isn't here because he's sick. He's a pretty cool guy. A bit forward with the ladies though." Jon explained. They walked into the main work area. There were two guys with headsets on. They looked about the same age excepting the lean, Hispanic guy on the right was taller than Jon and the guy on the left was shorter and looked more like Jon.
"That there is Benton," Jon said pointing to the taller boy, "he's a pretty chill dude but also works hard." Jon then walked up to the shorter one and picked him up in a bear hug. Once he let him back down, he turned to Harry.
"This is my little bro, Dave," Jon said with a big smile. "he's really rad. He works really hard. He's only 17 but if I didn't know any better, I'd say he's the hardest working one here!" Dave looked a bit bewildered by the surprise hug but managed to give Harry a polite nod. Dave looked just like Jon apart from the short buzz cut that Dave.
"Age doesn't necessarily coincide with one's work ethics." Dave said crisply. He then mentioned that he had an order on the headset and turned away to focus on the customer. He certainly was focused on his work.
"Nice to meet you man," Benton said offering for a handshake. He had a scruffy bit of a beard and a casual smile. Harry held out his hand and Benton shook it. It wasn't as firm as Jon's had been but the sincereness was there.
"Yep," Jon said, hands on his hips, "these two fine fellows take the orders from the drive-thru and give the food out the window. Come on, there's a few more people for you to meet.
Harry followed Jon back near the office over to the back window.
"This is Lisa," Jon said to Harry, "she mainly works the first window where she takes the money and gives them receipts." Lisa was a lean, young, blonde whose hair fell to about the bottom of her shoulder blades. She looked tired, but that could've just been what she usually looked like.
"Thanks Captain Obvious," Lisa snorted in a bored voice, "as if he couldn't see that already." Jon chuckled.
"Don't worry man, she's just like this when she hasn't had a smoke in a while." Jon assured Harry. Harry looked at Lisa. She didn't really seem like a smoker. But he felt as if he couldn't just assume something like that.
"Yeah," Lisa sighed, rolling her eyes, "I know I don't look it, but for some reason the only effect that smoking has on me is that I'm just generally tired. Don't know if it's a gift or a curse though."
"Lisa is George's sister," Jon told Harry, "When he comes to work next, I'll introduce you to him." Lisa huffed.
"George can be such a lazy ass sometimes." Lisa muttered, "he's probably just milking that fever so he can watch his shows or something."
"Let's keep a positive outlook Lisa," Jon said smiling big, "he'll be back to work and remember that hanging around us is just as fun as some television program!" Lisa rolled her eyes again and got back to work as a car pulled up to the window.
Jon pulled open the door to the office. "Over here is the office, where you'll find paperwork, the safe, and one of the most important members of our crew, Tina!"
Tina was a Hispanic lady who was a few inches shorter than Harry. She had black hair that was pulled into a neat little bun at the back of her head. She wore a bright blue, pinstriped, button-up shirt typical of the managers who worked there. She gave a start when Jon opened the door and motioned to him that she was on a phone call. Jon saluted and closed the door to leave her to the call.
"Yeah," Jon said breathing deep, "most of the time she seems to be on some sort of phone call, although sometimes I think she just wants the peace and quiet of the office to herself. She also gets to sit in a comfy chair, so I guess there's that."
"Ok," said Harry, trying to fill in for how little he had spoken for the last while. He glanced down at his watch and noticed it was nearly time for his shift to be up. Jon noticed this and winked.
"Don't worry man," Jon said, "it's been an easy day today, just the kind of first day one needs to learn the lay of the land. Don't sweat it if you feel you didn't meet your personal work quota. Easy days are a pleasure to come by. You've got to enjoy them before they disappear."
Jon had a point. Harry pondered. Work hard when needed but don't work too hard that you're stressed all the time when you don't need to be. It seemed to be how Jon surfed the waves of life.
Jon taught Harry how to clock out and clock back into the schedule machine, how to find out when he worked next, and what to expect to do when he came back.
"You know what?" Jon exclaimed, clapping Harry on the shoulder again, (Harry's arm was starting to get sore from it,) "I'll get you an ice-cream. For a hard day's work." He got the ice-cream cones out and pressed the buttons. A pitiful grinding noise responded.
"Darn," Jon said, "the ice-cream machine's broken."