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 Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 8:50 pm
First, Elegancia was forced to wait a massive fifteen and a half minutes for a table, even though she had reservations. Second, Elegancia's Father had to call dinner for two off-- he was just too busy, apparently. Third, Elegancia had been sitting at the table, alone and unattended, for the past two minutes or so.
Was it too much to ask for prompt service?!
The brunette snapped her fingers in the direction of whichever employee was in her sights-- and she happened upon an oafish, giant slob of a young woman (if one could call her that).
"You," she started, "yes, you." Elegancia sighed, and continued, "are you going to do your job, or am I going to have to go to your superior for some service?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 9:07 pm
Gloria didn't even know why she was working here; it wasn't like a job was particularly necessary. This was ridiculous. It had been a last-minute deal between her grandfather and her after an argument with her father, and how could she say no to his weathered hand-- like worn sandpaper-- on her own and a quiet plea of 'por favor, mamita.' Exercising her people skills her a**. She could work a crowd. What the hell did table busing have to do with working with her people skills anyway?
You!
Gloria's eyes flicked in Elegancia's direction, her brow sliding into an all too easy 'what do you want?' arch. The expression fizzled and faded when she caught her manager's hawk-like gaze from across the ritzy restaurant.
Yes, you.
So much for trying to remain unnoticed. The immaculate white dress-shirt and black slacks must have been a dead giveaway. The corners of her mouth pinched just so, and with a fluttering breath (it'd been desperate to release itself as a sigh, not be sucked back in), Gloria adopted a wane smile and crossed the floor to young woman's table.
"I'm sorry." Not really. "It's been a busy day." So much for hiding near the kitchens. "What can I get for you?"
Her smile felt stiffer than Wednesday Addam's.
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Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 9:33 pm
"Yeah, you'd better be sorry..." Elegancia paused, as if she were finished, and then thoughtfully added, "if you'd like to get paid, of course."
What kind of employers did this girl have who hired someone such as her? It spoke volumes for the restaurant. Elegancia made sure not to come here ever again.
"Yes, I'll taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake.... The coq au vin," she said, then added, "and just a glass of water. No ice. Is that simple enough for you?"
Elegancia folded her menu shut haughtily and waited for Gloria to take it.
"So how does it feel," she started, "to get paid for being useless?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 10:06 pm
Gloria's sucked her glossed lips into her mouth, a habit her mother had taught her when she was little that kept her -- or tried, anyway -- from flying off the handle. A difficult task, all things considered. She cracked open the legal pad and uncapped her pen, and when she released her lips, they'd been forced red.
"Coq au vin," she parroted, writing it across the slip (that was tattooed painstakingly with games of tic-tac-toe and a tiny Godzilla stomping across the order's letterhead). "And water, no ice. Sounds simple enough." A smile.
Except for when the girl had motioned to her like a dog, Gloria had been adamant about not making eye contact after approaching her. However, just when she had been poised to introduce herself- 'Hello, I'm Gloria, by the way, and I'll be your server!' - The Girl's words stuck to her pride like a shard of glass. Her eyes cut to Elegancia's.
For a beat of three seconds, 10, 9, 8.... , Gloria stared at her with all the stillness of a junkyard dog assessing another's approach. She wouldn't dare step any farther than she had already, would she? Because if she did, hi, my name is Gloria, let me introduce your face to the table--
7, 6...
Temper, temper-- it'd been a long day at an unnecessary job in a pair of pumps that she hadn't broken in yet and she's what? Two feet tall and no pounds soaking wet? I could just as well throw her into the wine display behind the counter.
5, 4...
You need some real world experience, abuelito had told her. This b***h needed a real world a**-whoopin'.
3, 2...
Gloria finally blinked, lips tucking back into her mouth. She took a deep breath-- you're stronger than this-- pressed the order to her stomach, hard.
1.
She reached for the menu, keeping her mouth sealed shut tight and arms locked as to not send her fist flying into Elegancia's mouth.
"Wonderful," she said, humoring her. "Your order will be out soon. I'll make sure of it."
The quicker, the better.
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Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 10:38 pm
Elegancia didn't like-- what was her name? Had her waitress really stomped off without giving her a name? Great. She was stuck with an ugly waitress who didn't answer questions and didn't give names.
Just because she could, and just because she was in a particularly foul mood, Elegancia called after the frumpy girl, "excuse me, but I believe I didn't get a name." With a haughty crossing of her arms, Elegancia continued, "I suppose I can't expect manners, or a high level of intelligence, from someone meant for monkey tasks. Like fetching food and taking orders."
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 12:28 pm
Gloria couldn't even pretend to reign her temper as she whirled around, incensed by her words. She had collected a hundred little scabs today, so to speak, and it just wasn't the day to start picking at them. She grabbed a chair from Ele's table, spun it around, and sat down at the girl's elbow.
"Look," she said, tossing the order onto the table. It landed with a smack!. "Are you serious? I don't know where you get off on this holier-than-thou bullshit, but I'm at the point of my day where, you know, I just don't care-- " she paused, stretched her lips in a humorless smile, and spread her hands with a shrug " -- so if you want to keep your pretty little face in tact and spit out of your food, then I don't know, have a little respect, capice?" She made an a-okay sign with her fore and thumb.
Gloria reached for the menu and order and made to get up.
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 12:35 pm
Well, Elegancia certainly had to give this girl points for not being a spineless, opinion-less brick in the wall, but at the same time, she did not have to be so... What was the word-- oh, yes-- ghetto. Elegancia did not like girls like that, especially not ones who served her food she ordered.
"While that may all be fine and dandy," Elegancia started as Gloria turned her back, "I still don't know your name." This girl must have been some kind of stupid, though, threatening to spit in her food and whatnot. Now Elegancia was going to keep a watchful eye on her, and if the slightest hint of anything was awry, she would call foul on her waitress.
Which is now exactly why Elegancia needed her name.
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 12:47 pm
It was probably unwarranted.
No, it was unwarranted.
...okay, maybe she deserved it.
Gloria wasn't thinking any of this through when instead of grabbing the menu, she impulsively grabbed a fistful of Elegancia's pretty, glossy hair instead (she just couldn't resist any longer-- the girl could have been asking for a new napkin and she still probably would have done it), sending her face down into the expensive tablecloth and, subsequently the table with a sound akin to a gavel-strike.
Guilty!
She never claimed to have clarity of vision.
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 12:59 pm
If Elegancia weren't a lady, she would have said something like "oh, you bleeping BLEEP," but as it stood, she was a lady.
As Gloria attempted to throw her face down a second time, like a meteor plummeting towards Earth, Elegancia's quick (sailor soldier?) reflexes kicked in. Throwing her hands before her face, there was no thunk or severe pain to be had this time.
The restaurant watched in awe.
When the buffoonette's tirade of violence was finished, Elegancia picked herself up, wiped the blood from her nose, and demanded to see her manager. No insults this time-- Elegancia didn't want to be subject to another act of random violence.
She wondered, though: what had she done to deserve this?!
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 1:21 pm
To say that the manager was out there faster than Elegancia's face had met the table would have been the understatement of the century. It was like he had some sort of spider sense, knowing precisely when his ritzy restaurant was going to lose money.
Despite the storming of loafered feet on the approach, Gloria stood with a kind of unfolding grace. There was a small smile on her face, because everything was good in the world again. Oh yes, there was a God. Who needed anger management when you had a job in the food business and plenty of stuck-up girls to smack around?
He couldn't possibly take Elegancia's side. After all, the manager knew her grandfather, went way back...
One look at her pleased-as-a-kitten's face, another at Elegancia's blood-smeared nose and--
"What happened?!"
Gloria pointed at Elegancia.
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 1:27 pm
Mouth agape when Gloria pointed at her, Elegancia felt incredulous that she had the nerve to do so. Well, not really, since after she was attacked by this obviously deranged girl, nothing surprised her.
"Oh, I'll tell you what happened and what is going to happen," Elegancia told the manager, "either you fire this awful girl or I file a lawsuit against your restaurant." Well, she wouldn't be doing the suing, but she had plenty of able-minded lawyers who would love to make a paycheck from the d'Strella family.
"I was ruthlessly attacked with little provocation on her part," she said, starting to tear up, "all because she wouldn't tell me her name-- it's all I asked for, you know!!"
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 2:00 pm
The older gentleman cleared his throat and looked around the restaurant, furtive as a mouse. It was difficult to remain wholly professional when the threat of a lawsuit could fold a lifetime's amount of work. He held his hands out to Elegancia as if to placate her.
"Consider it done--"
"DuPont!" Gloria shouted, dumbfounded. He couldn't possibly believe her! "That's so not what happened. She called me a monkey... and useless. I'm definitely not either--"
DuPont looked at her as if to say, maybe not a monkey, but that useless bit... and cut her off with a large hand, "No, Gloria. The customer's always right, you know this. In your line of business you should know that you do what the guests want. Right?"
"That's not the--"
"It is the point. I won't call your father, but I want you to leave. Now."
Gloria stunned, pride stung, and anger swelling, could only open and shut her mouth in a silent fury. She swallowed it all down with a tight smile.
"Fine, whatever, but I quit," she said like she saw in the movies, sweeping the air with her forefingers as if this was all some sort of nonchalant business. Who needed this restaurant anyway. "I didn't want to work here no-how!"
She kicked off her ugly, uncomfortable pumps and turned around, storming towards the door. She only stopped to point at one of the guest's meals, and they flinched beneath her jabbing finger.
"By the way," she said loudly. "Make sure to tip waiters big and praise the chef, 'cause that man spits in y'all's food otherwise."
A pause.
"And it's not even real French cuisine. Escargot my a**. More like escaga'o. Enjoy your fake-a** French food. Deuces!"
She stomped off, bare feet slapping hard against the wooden floors, pausing once more only to compliment a woman's manicure on her way out.
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 2:35 pm
Uhm. Wow. That was kind of awkward-- Elegancia gathered her purse, her cell, flipped her hair, then nodded at the manager.
"Well, uhm. Thank you. I'll be sure to come here more often now that she's... Gone." Elegancia left a tip out of obligation, even though she had never received her food. She wondered if her order was even placed at all.
It was alright, though, since she had lost her appetite. Elegancia strutted back to her limousine, sat in silence the entire drive back home, and made her way into bed after a steamy shower.
... Unfortunately, her stomach gurgled as she tried to fall asleep. She was hungry again.
Damn that girl!! And you know what? She never found out what her name was.
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