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- 5 years ago -
Madelyn was very excited, it was her first day on her new job as a waitress in a local diner.It was only her 2nd " real job", and was very curious about how this day was going to go. It was around 11:30 AM, and she was right on time. Despite being a tad messy, Maddie felt she was perfect for this job. As she chained up her bike to the bike stand outside of the front door, and noticed the manager sitting inside chatting with some of the other waitresses. The restaurant was still closed, and was to open at 12:00. She opened the door, and the bell on the door rang sweetly. " H-hello. I'm Madelyn, nice to meet you guys. This is my first day on the job, i'm really excited to start working with you all. " She said politely as she stepped in further. The restaurant itself was a gentle, family oriented diner, and she had eaten here before with a few friends. She enjoyed the decor, and the aroma coming form the kitchen was a very pleasant smell. The tables were shiny, and the floor was freshly mopped. The diner was ready to be opened. The manager said, " Welcome, I see.. Let me get you an apron and a name tag. Stay here, have a seat! " Maddie noticed 4 other waitresses, sitting and chatting at a larger booth. Maddie scooted herself in, and the 4 looked at her without saying a word. She said, " Hi guys, how're you this morning? Ready for this place to open? " She asked kindly. Two of them exchanged looks, and the other two sat silently. After a good 2, awkward minutes, one of them pipped up, " Hello, you're the new waitress, correct? Is this your first time as a waitress? " She asked Maddie. " Actually, yes! I'm eager to start, i've never done anything in the food industry before. Seems exciting, right? " They all fell silent, and no other words were spoken after that. 5 minutes later, the manager came back with a white, clean apron and a shiny new name tag. " Here you are, just pin that name tag on your apron once you've put it on. We've only got 10 minutes left until this place opens up, hurry everyone, get to the kitchen and begin preparing! I'm going to go start brewing some coffee. " The manager said, and with that all 5 of the waitresses went into the kitchen. Maddie had little to no idea about what she were to do, so she asked. " Uh, excuse me? What could I do to help prepare? " She asked one of the other waitresses. " Here, start pouring some cups of coffee. " Maddie nodded. " Alright, thanks. " She grabbed a large pitcher of coffee, and began to pour it into medium sized glass mugs. The manager rushed up front, and flipped the closed sign to open. Within 10 minutes, 2 families gathered up front, waiting to be seated. " I'll go seat them. " Said Maddie. She greeted the first family with a smile, and said " Follow me, right this way! " as she lead them to a medium sized booth. They all sat down, and took a menu. Maddie noticed they had a small infant with them, so she smiled at the baby. The baby smiled back, and then began to coo softly at her. Maddie thought to herself, " ah, this is going to be a great day, and this family seems nice. " She then asked them, " Can I get you started off with some drinks? " They ordered, and Maddie flew back to the kitchen to grab their drinks as soon as possible. Two waitresses snickered as they played their phones in the back of the kitchen, out of sight from the manager. Maddie asked them, " do you guys happen to know where they keep apple juice? I need some for the kids at table 6. " They ignored her, so Madelyn fumbled around the kitchen looking for it. After 10 minutes, she finally found some, but there were only 2 boxes of apple juice left, surely not enough for all of the children that were to come in today. She sighed, grabbed a box and rushed back to the table. She apologized for taking so long, and they all sat silently as she passed out the drinks to them. " I'll be right back, " Maddie said as she rushed to seat everyone else that had filled the waiting area by now. " Man, I guess this won't be as easy as I thought. " Maddie sighed. She did her best to seat everyone, and now almost all of the tables were full. The restaurant wasn't the biggest, and had 12 tables in total. So once the tables were full, they were left with multiple people sitting in the waiting area, growing impatient. Maddie returned to the kitchen to begin grabbing orders and delivering them to tables. The 2 waitresses were still in the back, while Maddie and the rest of the waitresses were hard at work. " Hey, could you guys help us out? We're really busy this morning. " They snickered, and said " Sure, why not? Why don't you carry this tray of coffee out to table 8? " They said, chuckling underneath their breath. " What's so funny? " Asked Madelyn, concerned that they weren't going to do their job at all. " Nothing. Now get on with it, go take this to table 8. " Maddie reluctantly nodded. She picked up the tray, and turned her head to look back at the two standing in the kitchen. What she didn't notice was probably the most important part. Suddenly, Maddie launched forward and stumbled, falling flat on her face and dropping the scorching hot coffee tray all of the manager, in front of everyone. The manager was mopping the floor again, as someone had spilled some water on the floor. Shattered glass scattered all over the floor, and she was soaked in coffee and mop water. The manager stood, furious and jumbling around, as the coffee burned his arm. " Are you kidding me? What's your problem! Don't you look where you're going? You're fired! get out of my restaurant, and don't come back! " The two waitresses were laughing and howling in the back of the kitchen, and Maddie had a tear welling up in her eye. She burst out of the diner, only to be greeted with a downpour of rain, thunder and lightning booming and crackling across the sky. She dug into her bad to pull out a medium sized umbrella, and attached it to her bike as she unchained it. She hopped on, and peddled as fast as she could away from there. Home is where she wanted to be right now. She cried, and the rain swallowed up her tears like a thirsty dog. She couldn't bare to think of it anymore, every plumerian makes mistakes, right? But why did this happen on the first day of all days. She didn't even get a single dollar for all her hard work. She remembered the cackling and snickering of the other waitresses, and it made her get goosebumps. " Did they set me up? " she wondered. She stopped at the corner of an intersection, as she needed to cross the road. She waited and waited, but NYC traffic is always out of control. The lights turned red on all sides, and she hopped on her bike and peddled fast across the road, until the light turned green again. She gasped, she turned around and a car had struck the back wheel of her bike, flattening and leaving dents in her bike. She sighed loudly, and shook her fist at the speedy driver who flew down the street. " Oh my gosh, what am I going to do now? " Her home was still at least a mile away, and she wasn't going to walk in the rain. She left her bike on the sidewalk, and continued to walk to the nearest bus stop with her umbrella. The street was covered in rain, and each step she took she had to avoid puddles. She sighed. " Could this day get any worse? " Of course it could. After 20 minutes of walking, she stopped under a building to check the time. It was already 6:00 PM. She continued walking again. She estimated that she would be at the bus stop within 10 minutes, so she picked up her pace a bit. She noticed how backed up the traffic was, so she would probably be home around 7:00, as you can barely get anywhere with traffic in NYC. She then saw the bus stop up ahead, and began to jog towards it. A car flew by, trying to get around traffic. The car drove through a puddle, and sent a massive wave of dirty street water towards Maddie. She was soaked, miserable and cold. She was so exhausted that she really didn't have energy to be angry or sad anymore, so she just dragged herself to the bus stop.
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She shivered as she boarded the bus, leaving a trail of water drippings behind her. The bus driver asked her, " Oh man, hun are you alright? You look miserable. Here, let me give you my coat. I'll drop you off at a coffee shop or something and i'll buy you a cup, my treat. Sound good? " Madelyn nodded, and thanked the bus driver silently. " T-thank you. Tod-Today's been pretty rough.. " She said quietly. They arrived at a little coffee shop, and Maddie and the driver got off of the bus. They sat and both ordered a cup of coffee, and Maddie described her day to the bus driver. She nodded, and told Maddie, " Yeah. I've had that job before, in the exact same place! You mentioned those two waitresses snickering? Yeah, they were there when I worked there too. They're always trying to get others in trouble, and I was fired on my 2nd day! I know how hard that is, i've been there too. But I promise you, it does get better! " The bus driver sipped on her coffee, and Maddie chugged her coffee. She was freezing, and the coffee tasted so good and it was so warm. They finished, and Maddie and the bus driver re-boarded the bus. Maddie thanked the bus driver again, and told her where her home was. Maddie fell asleep on the bus, and covered herself with the driver's coat. She woke up, and she was at her stop. She hugged the bus driver, and gave the coat back. " Thank you so much, you've really helped me.. " Maddie said, a tear running down her cheek. " No problem. I'm glad I could help ya, enjoy your night! Good luck getting a new job! " Said the driver as she closed the bus doors and drove away. As Maddie stepped towards her house, she noticed on a street post a flyer for a job. " Need a job? We've got the thing for you! Job openings for Journalism - call this number! " Read the flyer, and Maddie ripped the paper off of the pole and excitedly read it as she walked home. Even though this was one of the worst days on record for her, Maddie knew she needed to keep looking for new opportunities, and it looked like she'd just found one.