|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 12:01 am
Mommy had heard about this place from work and suggested it for Yvette's birthday celebration. It was affordable, and it had pie. Two excellent things combined into one gathering. It was a fun evening enjoying the company of both of her parents. The food had been good, and now everything was wrapping up.
When a gentleman made his rounds to their table and asked about dessert, the birthday girl peered out shyly. At first she glanced to Daddy, as if silently asking him to ask the question for her. However, instead of succumbing to his little pumpkin's silent pleas, he simply encouraged her with a "Go ahead, sweetie!"
"Um... I was wondering... um... what sort of pies do you have here?"
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 5:25 pm
Noah was happily busy, now that he'd fixed his bar and could reopen (again), he had been immensely flattered that a family was celebrating here and had done his best to stay on top of things, in spite of lacking most of his waitstaff.
So when the birthday girl at the table asked about the pies, he was half tempted to throw the busing tray in his hands into the kitchen like a basketball so he could make a better presentation.
Luckily he had the common sense not to do that, but he did set it on the table of an empty booth so he could dig in his waist-apron's pockets and read his written down list.
"Well! Let's see," He said with a good natured grin. "Lemon meringue, southern pecan, chocolate silk, blueberry, strawberry, banana cream.." He was sure they had more than that and he ended up pausing there so he could make a face and frantically flip through the pages in the little notebook trying to find the rest of the list.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 5:42 pm
If there was a way to ruin the party, this man had managed to find a way. The moment one of the pies got mentioned, the large man's brow fell, the elder of the women (evidently the mother) looked to the youngest of the group in a sympathetic manner, and the youngest looked as if she was about to cry.
It was probably not the reaction Noah had been looking for.
Being the more diplomatic of the parents, Natasha spoke up on the behalf of her daughter. Her voice was quiet, but it still seemed to demand the respect of the kindest of all kindergarten teachers. "I do not mean to be nosy, but I am curious... how well do you sanitize your pie pans and serving utensils?"
Alan wasn't exactly being nearly as polite as his wife, for he was now glaring daggers at the waiter. Of course they had to have strawberry pies! Was it too much to ask that his daughter have a drama free birthday for one year?!
Yvette really had been hoping for some sort of delicious pie, but now those hopes seemed to be cut in half by the mention of strawberries. She now felt absolutely scared, almost terrified, of the thought of eating any of the pies now. Too ashamed to actually confess such aloud, she buried her face into her Daddy's thick arm. "...w-we... we don't have to get pie..." she managed to finally get out in a nearly heartbroken tone.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 6:30 pm
Noah paused his frantic page flipping when the tone in the air suddenly shifted with a dramatic whiplash. His expression completely dropped, and he looked on with utter confusion. The mom was comforting enough but he seemed to have drawn the ire of the dad, and considering Noah was a skinny punk in comparison, that made him very nervous.
"W-well, um," He gulped down a mouthful of air. "Reasonably. I mean everything's sanitized. There's the occasional mix up of a server, though, I mean... heh." What'd he do? What'd he do?! It was hard to grovel when he wasn't quite sure what just happened.
"Um... is there a problem?" he asked, trying to maintain his polite demeanor from earlier and not seem so nervous.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 7:40 pm
Where as her husband seemed to permit and encourage her daughter's childish behavior, Natasha did not seem too pleased by it. Yet, she bit her tongue for now about it. It wasn't very becoming of a young lady turning 20.
In her polite, quiet voice, the woman then addressed their nervous server. "I apologize for my daughter. It is just that she is drastically allergic to strawberries, and unfortunately last year about this time she was accidentally given strawberries in a drink at a fast food place. She ended up spending her birthday in the hospital last year, recovering from anaphalactic shock." The woman nodded to her daughter who had managed to peek out slightly.
The man that Yvette was using as a mask interjected with a slightly gruff "We'd like to avoid such this year." If Natasha had been seated closer to him, she might have pinched his stomach. Alan was grateful for small favors.
"R-really... i-it's okay... we... we don't need to have pie..." the girl insisted from her spot, still not able to muster up a very convincing tone.
Mommy once again spoke in the same quiet, yet soothing tone she was known for. "Yvette, it would be easier if we did not have to go to two separate places just so you can get dessert. I am certain our server would be willing to make reasonable accommodations to ensure a safe dessert for you."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 8:28 pm
"Oh."
Now Noah was panicking, on the inside. On the outside he probably still looked uncomfortable and panicky. He made sure his kitchen stuff was sanitized to regulation but he had never been in a situation where his lack of cleanliness could kill someone.
"O-okay, no problem," He said with hand motions like he was trying to calm a crowd down. Except he seemed like the only one who needed calming down. He skittered into the kitchen, only to come back, grab the busing tray he left, and vanish again.
Some yelling between him and his cook could be heard behind the doors and he was gone for several minutes before he came back out, waiter smile plastered on his face. "Um, if you'd be kind enough to place your dessert orders, an allergy safe solution can be whipped up right away," He said awkwardly, hoping they'd bite.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 8:46 pm
After the server had vanished off to the kitchen and created a very noticeable racket, Natasha had some of her own issues to sort out. She scooted closer to her daughter and leaned in, whispering into her ears a gentle scolding for how she was behaving. It was the sort of reprimand that worked for the young lady. Perhaps both of her parents spoiled her, with her Daddy's spoiling and her Mommy's gentle ways. Yet, she seemed to at least respond to their ways, rather than shutting down, which tended to happen if anything more harsh occurred.
By the time the server had returned, Yvette was no longer hiding her face behind Daddy's arm. She sat half an Yvette away from him, leaving him plenty of room. She was a 20 year old today. She was an adult now (well, she had been for two years, but it didn't feel like it until today), so now she needed to act like it.
"Um..." Despite her attempts, things got pretty awkward pretty fast. "...I didn't get to hear about all of the types of pies..." Her face was quite pink.
Natasha, being a bit on the wary side at the moment also added "Might I ask what accommodations are being made?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 4:17 pm
Noah just about fell over when Yvette brought up the unfinished pie selection. He dug out the notebook again but ended up answering the mother's question before he could continue looking through it.
"We'll be remaking any possibly contaminated pies with fresh equipment that we can definitively say haven't come in any contact with the strawberries. There'll be no chance whatsoever of cross contamination, I've alerted the kitchen staff just to be sure." The kitchen staff being one guy. But still, that should be enough, right? He was looking at his audience with a smile plastered over the fear they'd rip him apart and maybe file a complaint to boot.
He turned his eyes down to the notebook and flipped through two more pages until he found the last bit of the pie list. Which was a little smaller than he originally thought.
"And cherry."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 5:46 pm
The man of the group looked rather skeptical, but the two young ladies seemed quite content with the response their server gave them. The younger of the women bobbed her head up and down and almost seemed to sigh in relief, though if she did sigh, the sound was pretty much inaudible.
Once the list of pies was completed (though it was shocking he went through all that fuss over 1 pie), the girl crossed her eyes a bit as she thought. Cherry pie sounded good, but chocolate silk also sounded absolutely heavenly. Deciding to go the safe route, the girl eventually squeaked out in a polite, tiny voice "Could I please have a slice of chocolate silk pie...please?" Slight pause.
"Um... th-thank you very much..." She might have been quiet, but at least she had manners.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 5:37 pm
"That's going to take about 45 minutes," Noah warned, even though he instantly regretted having to with the displeased looking man right there. He DID have to do everything over safely, after all, and chocolate silk needed to be chilled. Forty-five minutes was even an optimistic estimate, though he had something of a plan in mind to speed up the process.
Badly as he wanted to flounce off into the kitchen and try to salvage this, he did make sure to politely ask the two parental figures if they were ordering dessert and offered a free appetizer if they wanted a snack while they waited.
But it was all an obvious delay to him, indicated by suddenly wound up stance as he went through the motions. He had some wriggling out of painted corners to do if he wanted any sort of satisfaction from these customers, he figured, since this was a business where a diner could demand a refund for the wrong number of fries on their plate and he'd gone and inadvertently caused a health risk.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 8:05 pm
If it was possible for Alan's brow to fall even further down his forehead, it had just happened with the mention of the wait. He looked to his wife and began with a less-than-subtle "We could go to another place and get dessert in half the..."
Fortunately for the owner of the establishment, Natasha knew how to work with her husband. She merely lifted a hand and the man stopped with his hissed complaint. The woman didn't say a word, but she glanced to their daughter. The meaning was quite obvious.
It wasn't his decision as to whether they stayed or went tonight. Tonight was about Yvette, and she had already made her decision.
The server's offer did seem rather well appreciated, seeming to even soften the man's gruff expression. "Well, Yvette... what did you want?"
The girl had been awkwardly trying to not watch her parents in that strange exchange they had, and shyly had been watching their waiter, who seemed a bit on edge. She could understand why he was nervous. In such a lawsuit-ready society, many people found the stupidest reasons to sue people in the effort of gaining some extra cash. Yvette was not one of those people.
She wanted to reassure the man that she wasn't out to make money over her health. However, she knew it'd sound stupid coming from her.
"Oh... um..." She lost her train of thought the moment Daddy spoke up. "...I... don't want to spoil myself... I won't have room for pie if I eat anymore..." Her cheeks did manage to gain quite a bit of color in confessing such. "...could I just have some more of that sweet lemonade?"
Mommy then nodded towards her husband. "It looks like you can pick then."
The man seemed to beam slightly before he placed the order for onion rings.
"...you are going to have bad breath, Alan..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 9:08 pm
Noah was off as soon as it was socially appropriate, attempting to bicker in more hushed words about the 45 minute chocolate pie that his cook was insisting was an impossibility.
But in a flash he whooshed right back out with a generous basket of onion rings and a fresh lemonade and replaced his load with used dishes and vanished again to puzzle out the pie issue.
The pie was easy enough, he just had to figure out how to get it the right consistency without several hours of cooling time in the fridge. In the end, after a few experiments that depleted the pot of chocolate filling his cook had thrown together, he removed a small pie from the freezer and gently prodded at it with a fork before nodding to himself. It likely didn't taste like their usual recipe, mostly because he'd gotten it to set up faster (Or give it the illusion of setting up) by folding in cold marshmallow creme. But hopefully she'd be happy with it. He topped it off with the usual fresh whipped cream and chocolate curls and rushed his a** right back out, cringing at the time he'd taken.
It wasn't a slice, it was more of a personal sized pie, in his attempt to cut down on the time he was taking. He was mostly just warily watching for her reaction as he approached with his offering and set it down on the table.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 10:13 pm
Only one person ate the onion rings, and by the time the personal-pan pie had come out, his wife had scooted further away so she didn't have to smell his stinky breath.
Yvette had only managed to finally deplete her glass of lemonade as the man came out with her dessert. It wasn't a slice of pie, but that didn't seem to be a bad thing. Her eyes almost seemed to sparkle in admiration of the cute little dessert. However, she kept her lips tightly pursed on the edge of her straw as she watched her dessert approach.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
