Hopeless Waiters | Teen Ink

Hopeless Waiters

September 11, 2023
By Anonymous

Two teens, complete strangers, accidentally bumped into each other. “OH, IM SO SORRY” the guy said. The girl seems shy and looks down. “Wait...are you here for the job too?” The guy got interrupted by someone, the chef of the restaurant. “Both here for the job??” He says in a thick accent. They both nod. “Well of course! More children in the kitchen! Why not? Wonderful!” He says sarcastically. The guy jumps in joy while the girl just nods with a smile. After the adrenaline passes there is an awkward silence. “WELL, START WORKING UH YOU GUYS!?” The guy and girl say their names. “Zeyn” “Marina.” “MARINA AND ZEYN! START WORKING! BECAUSE YOU MAKE ME MAD ONCE AND YOU WON'T MAKE ME MAD AGAIN BECAUSE YOU WONT BE SEEN HERE AGAIN!” The chef starts stomping back to the kitchen in a hurry before he stops and turns back to the teens. “Name is Wyziakuza. Chef Wyziakuza” he says with a smile before he frowns and gets back to the kitchen to yell. “A bit bipolar, don’t you think?” Zeyn says with a friendly smile. “Get back to work, jokester. Or else you won’t be going back with a check, and you will not have internet to search “how to not overshare”” she says pointing at the cameras thinking the chef will hear what he said. “Oh, she speaks” Zeyn teases. Marina rolls her eyes and throws a towel at Zeyn so he can start working. Just then, some guy enters the restaurant and sits down. Marina, trying to prove she can speak more, confidently walks towards the customer. “What would you like to order, sir?” She speaks. “Oh well if it isn't the newbie. All right, how about 5 main dishes and a date with you, sweetheart” the guy says. The gentleman notices Marina’s badge and awkwardly laughs. “Yes! Yes! Did I hear my name? Camilo is on its way to work, alright! I'm just going to go back to the kitchen and well you know, work it work it!” he says nervously and goes into the kitchen. “Weird...” Marina mutters. Just then, a couple arguing enters the restaurant. Zeyn decides to attend the couple since he sees Marina is still flabbergasted at the previous events. Zeyn tries to interrupt the couple, but they keep arguing. “WHY ARE WE HERE THEN?” the girl shouts at his boyfriend. “Because you said you were thirsty?” the guy says. The girl mocks his boyfriends until Zeyn cuts the off. “What would you guys like to order?” “Can I get the usual?” the girl says to Zeyn. “Sorry madam, but I’m new” Zeyn says in an apologetic tone. “So am I! Read the menu newbie!” She sounds annoying, but she is right. She shows the menu to Zeyn and surprisingly there is a drink called “The Usual.” Zeyn takes their orders. After a few minutes, the couple's argument just kept getting worse. When Zeyn comes back with their drinks, the girl does not hesitate and grabs the cup to throw the drink at his boyfriend. That along, she wets the floor and table. “Yikes! Um, we'll be right back-” Zeyn trips. “I swear he can’t do anything right” Marina mutters under her breath and gets a mop to clean the mess but she also trips and falls on top of Zeyn. The girl turns to see the position Marina and Zeyn are in and takes it personally. “SEE! WHY CAN’T WE HAVE WHAT THEY HAVE!” The girl starts running out of the restaurant crying. The guy catches up to her and they both exit. “No, no, no, no! We got to keep this cryptic, or else HE’LL fir HE’LL fire us.us. Cmon, hurry up and help me clean this mess!” Marina tries to stand up by gripping on the table, but that causes the plates on the table to domino all over the floor and makes a whole lot of noise. “Oh, no, no, no...” out of desperation, Marina tries to pick up the glass, but just ends up cutting herself. “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow” just then the kitchen door opens. “WHAT THE ACTUAL HECK IS GOING ON HERE?!?!” The chef gasps as soon as he says that it is due to the mess he has just seen. “F-f-...f-fi-...FIRED!” The chef says with fury and goes back to the kitchen groaning. Marina and Zeyn awkwardly walk outside of the restaurant. They both sit down outside of the restaurant's sidewalk. There's silence for moment until Zeyn speaks “In the positive, the chef was really strict, one way or another he was going to fire us soon.” Shyly, Zeyn tries to comfort Marina by placing a hand on her shoulder, but Marina slaps it away. “No! What is wrong with you? Do you not have any experience in working or anything? WE JUST GOT FIRED!” Marina groans. Zeyn thinks. “Well, like you said. WE caused trouble. We got fired. WE got the punishment for what we did. You’re making it look like it was all my fault” Zeyn says a bit defensively. “No, no, no. Your parody hands weren’t careful. And that’s why you didn’t prevent the accident” Marina says defensively. “Ok. I admit. Yes, I was stupid, but let's not forget that YOU were the one who broke all the plates. And look, let's just take this incident like civilized people, and move on. I'm sure there's more jobs out there waiting for us and we're still young. Its all trifling” “NO. It's not just one big deal you naïve boy. This will be in our records, you know that? Getting fired the same day you got your job? That’s an important thing on a resume” Marina says about to burst out of anger. “Yes, but we're young, Marina. And I don’t get it. Why are you so intense about getting a job right now? What's the urgency?” Zeyn says sarcastically. “I NEED TO PAY HOSPITALL BILLS, OK?” There's a moment of silence when Marina says that. “Hospital bills...But why?” Zeyn tries to sound softer. “My mom she...she got shot a week ago, unknown person, police are on to search “Mr.K”” Marina says hopeless. “I'm sorry to hear that Marina...but what do you mean by Mr.K?” “Its the only clue about the person who did it” “So by guessing...that's the first letter of his name, right?” Marina nods. Just then, the guy from earlier, Camilo, goes out the restaurant. He has headphones and seems to sing some rock n roll. Just then, a card falls out of his pocket. “Hey, Camilo, you dropped something” Marina goes and picks it up, its an id card. “Camilo, your id-” Marina starts reading it. “His name is Camilo...but with the K...” “So you mean...Kamilo?” Zeyn is a bit confused saying that. Marina nods and says “You think?-. I mean I don't want to assume anything, but-” Zeyn interrupts “Its possible”. Later that day, the both of them investigate Kamilo’s life. They found out that he in fact does have a criminal record, and he was in the same place where Marina’s mom got shot last week, a bar. Marina and Zeyn went to the bar and asked for a list of the people who were there that day. Turns out, he was the only person with first name letter K. That night, they went to the police and reported all the evidence. Police went after Kamilo and he confessed the truth. “It was an accident” he said. “What really happened was that me and my friends decided to play a little prank, and it went too far. The woman started saying something. I overheard her keep saying the word, marina, and daughter, so that’s why when I was at the restaurant last morning, I feared, my crime, would follow me forever, I'm sorry”. The Chef heard of this the following morning and thanked Marina and Zeyn for getting a criminal out of his restaurant. “Please, as a show of gratitude, let me rehire you guys”. Zeyn and Marina look at each other and back at the chef. They both nod.


The author's comments:

This short story is actually a summarized play that I've been writing since last year.


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