Hadaka Shitsuji - Coffee Shop

Coffee Shop

Ah. Time is moving so slowly...

In my reverie, the five glasses on my tray fell to the floor and shattered.

Customer: Yikes! What are you doing!

Tomoaki: I'm terrible sorry! Did anything get on your clothes or belongings?

Customer: I'm fine, but that's entirely beside the point! What would you do if I had gotten soaked?! Well?

Customer: Seriously! Such a horrible young waiter.

Tomoaki: ...I'm terribly sorry! I'll clean up this mess immediately!

It happened so fast, but I had managed to turn away from the table as the glasses fell.

So, while I avoided spilling water on anyone, I have the sneaking suspicion that those old ladies are going to keep harping on it.

They've been sitting there for hours and haven't ordered a damn thing and now they'll be demanding compensation. Goddamnit.

I picked the tray up off the ground and tried to disappear.

Sayaka: Jeez! What a newbie mistake!

The second I picked up a mop, my coworker, Sayaka, deliberately walked over to berate me so everyone could hear.

Sayaka is a childhood friend of mine. She came in for an interview a week after I started working here.

Regardless of how long we've known each other, technically speaking, I'm her superior here.

She'd get pissed off if I mentioned it though.

At any rate, I only dropped the glasses because the customers kept grabbing them off my tray and threw it off balance.

It wasn't my fault. Just thinking about it makes me more upset.

I'm almost pissed off enough to take this out on Sayaka...

Sayaka: Okay. I think I've yelled at you enough now, the old ladies should be satisfied. I'll take care of the clean up, the spill's right next to their table and it'd be annoying if they started complaining again.

Sayaka said softly, smiled and took the mop from me.

Oh, I see. In hindsight, I gues she was covering for me.

If I think about it calmly, she's saved my ass a bunch of times so far. I guess it's her way of showing she cares.

Tomoaki: ...Thanks. My bad.

Sayaka: No problem, don't worry about it. You must be tired. We've still got some time before the dinner rush, so you should take a break. It'll be a serious pain if I have to clean up more of your messes.

Of course she couldn't resist tacking on some snark. That's so not cute. She'd be quite a catch if it weren't for that.

I shot Sayaka a look of gratiture as I headed back to the break room. At which point I was pulled aside by the manager.

Manager: Nice job, Maede. I think breaking five glasses at once is a new record for this restaurant.

Tomoaki: I'm really sorry for what happened... I've been really off my game today.

I dunno if "unlucky days" are really a thing, but today sure feels like one. Everything's going wrong.

I guess I'm in a funk. I feel really out of it.

I feel out of bed; stubbed my toe on the dresser; ran out of paper while taking a dump; got cut in line at the convenience store; the train was late; and I've got no food, no money, no dreams or ambition.

I sighed heavily.

Manager: A restaurant's reputation lives or dies on small details. You know that, don't you?

Man. The break Sayaka went out of her way to get me had abruptly turned into a lecture.

Manager: The hospitality industry is a risky business. It has a high turnover rate and you're not guaranteed to make a profit. It is important you understand that as soon as possible. In other words...

Well there's no way I can stop him now.The manager just wants to show off his business theories.

He's not even remotely interested in chastising me for my mistake.

At some point while I was ignoring his business talk, the conversation turned to his troubles from when he was in school.

Any feelings of guilt I had over breaking the cups completely vanished and as usual, the manager was not sparing any details as he spoke.

It was starting to get on my nerves. I just wanna get out of here.

Sayaka: How long are you planning to be on break! Get back to work!

Sayaka yelled, throwing the door open without even bothering to knock.

I'm saved! I looked at the clock: ten minutes had passed already.

Tomoaki: I'm sorry! I'll get back to work!


I cut the manager off and returned to the floor. "Break", my ass. I felt even more tired...