Damien sighed as he wiped down the front counter now in his family run bakery that was finally closed down for the day. The young black furred squirrel of 24 rubbed his pink nose to stifle off a sneeze before stretching his arms behind his back. It had been a busy Sunday, as usual, however he was surprised that the after-church rush kept up until only an hour before the businesses closing hour of 4:00 PM. Luckly he made fast work of cleaning up the small dining area that was decorated in old fashioned country attire, but knew full well he had quite a large kitchen to clean up in the back as his best friend, and coworker, Shelly had taken off early for the day.
"You better not have given me your bug Shell." Damien mumbled to his currently not present friend before looking up as the overly large bell on the glass front door gave out a jingle followed by a loud thump, due to the entryway not opening as it had already been locked. The young baker put his washrag back on the counter in front of him as he raised one of his eyebrows in confusion. The brown furred male squirrel on the outside of the door seemingly had tried to open the door and let his arm give way so his snot smashed right into the glass.
The well-built squirrel dressing in a dark blue button up work shirt, stitched name tag included, rubbed his nose for a minute as he seemingly cursed before pulling a large green tool bags strap higher up on his shoulder. He then started peering in the window and seeing the lone male cleaning up and then giving a bright smile and waving happily.
It was just at that moment that Damien recalled his mother saying that a repairman was supposed to show up near closing today, despite that fact it was a weekend, because they hadn't been able to make it to their location on Thursday or Friday. How the hell was this joker supposed to fix their broken convection microwave oven when he was incapable of reading a closed sign plastered right below where his face had just intersected with their entryway. At least he seemed to be in a pleasant mood, despite working on the weekend.
Damien let out a weak smile while making his way around the dark red tiled counter to open the door. Hopefully, this so-called mechanic would be done before the black furred squirrel was done cleaning up the kitchen area. Damien's smile slipped into somewhat of a frown as he got closer to the door and saw the somewhat grease covered blue jeans and worn-out brown boots. "Just don't break if more than it already is." He now prayed to the stranger who quickly made his way though the door once it was open.
"I'm sorry about dat." The brown furred male said in a rush unable to hide his thick southern draw even with so few words. "I talked ta Mrs. Jones not too long ago, and she said it was fine fer me ta come in a bit later, and dat she'd leave da door unlocked fer me." The repair man let off a small grin while shrugging his shoulders in an apologetic way. "I'd be more den happy ta clean muh nose print off yer door fer ya."
"Uh… n-no." Damien stammered a bit. "It's fine. I forgot to leave it unlocked, so I'll clean it up, but thank you."
The Brown furred squirrel smiled bigger and nodded in agreement happily. "Alright." He breathed out as if he were on cloud 9 despite being covered in gunk and working on a day, they'd been told the repair station, usually didn't operate. "Sorry it's taken me so long ta get here." The repairman said with seemingly honest regret. "We lost two guys ta da bigger company in town two weeks back, and now da three of us left have been pulling shifts nonstop ta catch up." The brown furred man kept talking as he walked behind the main counter and sat his tool bag on the floor before pulling out a metal paperwork logbook. "Heck, even the big boss has been going out to help make up. He's got a few guys lined up ta train soon though, so I swear dat dis won't be happening again pretty soon. Dat is if yer happy with muh work enough ta give up a ring again." The blue-collar workers looked up and smile a bit softer as Damien finally caught up with him behind the counter.
"Oh… ok."
"Randy!" The repair man spoke cheerfully as he held out his, surprisingly, clean hand despite the rest of his uniform.
"I Ah-" The baker blinked seemingly have gotten lost in some thought he now couldn't even recall. "Damien." He replied and then shook the slightly shorter squirrel's hand.
"Real nice ta meet ya, Damien." Randy continued to smile before opening his metal paperwork clipboard.
"It's his voice." The taller man realized in his head. It was strangely hypnotizing despite requiring a bit more effort to understand due to his accent.
"Ah! Here it is!" Randy said with delight after flipping through a few papers and then pulling the one out he was seemingly looking for. "So, were is dis TurboChef microwave oven dat is giving ya trouble?" The shorter male's green eyes seemed to shine with determination after meeting the taller man's dark brown irises.
"Oh…" Damien cleared his throat as he looked around the back counter for a moment missing the unit in question, before finally not overlooking the overprice unit for the 4th time. "Here." The current business employee repressive pointed out to the unplugged black TurboChef unit that was still seated next the old beat up Merry Chef unit that was now plugged into the lone electrical reciprocal on that part of the counter.
"It won't power on?" Randy looked at his customer while picking up the power cord and swinging it lightly around that was not plugged in.
A scoff came out of the young baker's mouth as his face twisted in a sneer. Who the hell was this guy to not show up two day in a row, and now show up late and act like his family were idiots. "It doesn't have power when it's plugged it." Damien now growled more than annoyed with this kitchen equipment repair worker. "We didn't pay all your insane fees to have you come out and disrespect me!" The black furred male now stomped his foot down in place where he was standing. "Just leave!"
"Hey!" Randy dropped the 220-power plug and put his hands up in defense. "I didn't mean it as an insult, but you'd be shocked how many times I've walked into a restaurant and found a unit wasn't plugged in." Randy looked down obviously embarrassed before glancing up again at his angry customer. "I didn't mean it as an insult, as I'm sure it wasn't da case, but I wanted ta make a dumb joke as we've let ya'll down so much already."
"Well, you failed!" Damien barked again now getting overly stressed knowing he had to be at his friends coffee shop, with some of the left overs, and work in a few more hours. "Maybe you should just leave. I have a lot to do, and I don't have time to babysit you."
"OH." Randy spoke very surprised. "I don't need ya ta babysit me. Dat is unless ya wanna learn how ta fix yer out of cal unit."
Damien now laughed not so nice anymore as the repairman already insulted him enough for the day. "As if you could fit it." He said just loud enough for the brown furred squirrel to hear as he stomped towards the kitchen.
"I already know what's wrong with it, but if ya want me ta leave, dats fine." Randy chuckled even before the young baker turned back to look at him questionably.
"I don't believe you." Damien said as he narrowed his eyes.
"Well, you don't gotta, but if I leave now yer still getting charged fer muh travel fee, and at least two hours of work. Ya are luckily ya don't have ta pay duh weekend crazy fees as my boss is just trying ta do right by all ya'll that we didn't make it to in time." Randy put his sheet of paper back in his metal logbook, and then threw it in his large fabric tool bag before looking back at the customer he'd just unintentionally pissed off.
"That's complete cr-" The black furred squirrel started.
"My time ain't free" Randy cut off the other man. "I know I'm very late, and I'm sorry ya were upset by me asking basic questions, but ta be fair ya don't know nothing 'bout muh job. And I don't know yers. I wouldn't tell ya how to bake a cake, but if I tried and it didn't turn out right I'd listen ta all ya had ta say. I just was hoping ya'd do da same fer me. And I again am sorry if ya thought I was being a prick. I really wasn't trying ta be. I leave that type of work ta my roommate."
Damien sighed as he watched Randy put his hand out for him to shake again.
"At least let me prove muh worth with the hours ya gotta pay for anyway. Please." Randy asked with a pleading frown that quickly turned into a relived smile after the young baker met his grip. "Thank ya." Randy sighed before clearing his throat at the other young man turned to go into the kitchen. "Uh sorry… but da fact you were so worried about me doing da job right." Randy now grinned as the other man slowly came back towards him with a confused look on his face. "Perhaps dis would be a good time ta show ya what I'm doing." Randy now nudged Damien with his shoulder with a shameless grin. "I'd hate ya ta think I'm billing ya fer nothing." Randy laughed lightly now causing his customer to let out a lone amused breath of defeat.
"Alright." The black furred squirrel now pushed his long-sleaved shirt cuffs up to his elbows , where he usually wore them, and then crossed his lean arms over his chest. "Show me what you got."