Work Text:
Teto is having a no-good, very bad day.
Scratch that, she’s been having a bad week. No, it’s been hell since she was promoted to manager at her minimum wage job.
It’s been so bad she’s currently sprinting out of the building, chaos in the building, and feeling freer than she felt in years.
Let’s rewind, shall we?
MONDAY
“Hi, how can I help you?” Teto recites to yet another customer. It’s only when she takes a lot more orders that their cashier, Rei, shows up to do their job, so Teto shuffles to the kitchen to check on Miku.
Miku has dropped a burger patty on the stove and is attempting to pick it up with a spatula.
“Just use your hands-”
Too late.
Miku has flipped up the patty (INSTEAD OF JUST PICKING IT UP) and flung it up, making it stick to the ceiling by its sauce.
Teto can feel her veins popping, but she keeps smiling.
Later, when she calls their janitor, Rin, to clean up the mess, not only does the janitor take fifteen minutes to get there, Rin also knocks over the mop bucket, spilling water everywhere, tripping Teto and soaking her.
“What a great start to the week…”
Rin sweats as Teto pulls herself up.
Teto stumbles into the storage room to get more cleaning supplies, soaking wet and miserable, and instead of seeing the mop in its correct designated area, she sees it between an employee's legs as they pose as a witch; Zundamon, her brain helpfully supplies.
Even worse, the yellow one (she can’t be bothered to memorize ALL of their names) is right there with her. Except, instead of reprimanding her as her senior, she’s snapping pictures of Zundamon. Great.
Teto pulls at her hair in frustration, and it isn’t the first time, nor does she think it’ll be the last time.
Teto reprimands them both, and if she weren’t soaked right now, she would feel pity for Zundamon.
TUESDAY
“What would you like to order?” Teto finds herself at the cash register again, this time with some complications.
A very hungry-looking woman is demanding a human meat burger, and of course, Teto is the one having to, very concerned, explain to her that no, we don’t have anything like that.
But when she starts to raise her voice, leaning over the counter and yelling, Teto starts to fear for her life.
She thinks she’s going to have a panic attack.
She does end up sorting it out. With a little bit of convincing that a chicken burger was human meat, she successfully ended up getting her out of the situation. Phew. She’s just not going to question it.
She doesn’t get her out of the problem with customer service in general, though.
“Please understand, we don’t have any joyful meals. This is a Huge Burger.” She forces out through a strained customer-service smile.
The children’s cries and whines grate on her already fraying nerves.
Then, their mother pulls them closer against her legs, muffling their cries, but her relief is cut short as the mother gives her a dirty look.
Teto’s doing the best she can!
WEDNESDAY
Teto’s working overtime because someone called out.
A part-timer has already spilled coffee on her shirt, so the day isn’t looking great.
She’s leaned over the counter, multitasking, checking the clock for when her shift will end and frying the fries. One of her employees calls out for her, making her jump enough to let go of the deep fryer basket.
The resulting splash of hot oil is high enough to burn her, and soon she’s panicking. She’s flailing around, and the same employee has the genius idea to splash cold water on her, soaking her the second time this week, and not even helping the burn that much.
As she stares at the employee in question, the yellow one, she contemplates the pros and cons of firing her.
They slap a cold, wet paper towel on the burn, and Teto finally addresses why the employee called for her in the first place.
“So, why did you call for me?”
“The same reason why I poured water on you when you got burnt.” She says, grabbing the back of their neck sheepishly.
“Because you’re an idiot?”
“...Ouch.”
“Is that not it?”
“No, we ran out of ice.”
“...How?” She says with an incredulous tone.
The employee shrugs, and Teto stands up to continue her job. Work waits for no one.
Something else had to happen to make everything worse.
Teto is shuffling across the building to the drive-thru window, bags under her eyes, coffee stains on her shirt, and burns on her arms, when the lights go out.
She can’t take it anymore.
THURSDAY
She finds Rei sleeping in the storage room and kicks her awake before the orders can pile up.
She feels strangely vindicated when Rei goes to man the register with the grumpiest expression she’s seen on someone other than the mirror.
The shit hit the fan.
It’s the end of her and she’s counting the money in the safe, but it doesn’t add up. Some money is missing from the safe.
She desperately shuffles through the money, counting and recounting it.
The math isn't mathing
The math isn't mathing
The math isn't mathing
The math isn't mathing
The math isn't mathing
Her boss is calling the joint, and with shaking hands, she answers the call.
“
Corporate’s going to call the cops.”
Teto panics about how much trouble she’s going to be in, and she starts making a break for the windows, but then the police arrive.
When the cops arrived, she finally figured it out.
The cash in the safe was actually correct.
She can’t fucking count.
The lingering effects of her panic attack present; she explains the situation to cop KAITO and his partner.
FRIDAY
Teto finds herself cleaning the toilets… In the men’s bathroom.
She finds that you can feel textures while wearing gloves, and you can’t clean very well with your eyes closed.
Just get the janitor to do this!
Teto is giving a customer their order, customer service smile plastered on her face.
When they suddenly throw their drink at her.
What is with her and getting soaked on the job?
She can’t take more of this.
“Please repeat that?” Teto says for the millionth time.
She struggles to compute the vibrant girl’s very long and winding order. Give her a break, oh, wait, today she doesn’t get one.
“A big burger with extra pickles, without the buns , extra bacon, without lettuce, extra mustard, without ketchup, extra love, witho…”
Great. She’s already tuned her out.
“I want cold fries! These fries aren’t cold!”
Teto is currently being shaken back and forth by her collar.
She needs this woman to let her go; she’s out of sick days, so she can’t afford to break another bone.
Teto looks at the clock for when her shift ends, impatiently awaiting the weekend.
And sobs when the clock says her shift just started.
She’s reaching her limit. She feels her eyes twitching.
She tries to reminisce about the past few days for happy moments, but she fails miserably.
And something breaks.
Not physically, though Teto wishes it would, because that would at least make sense. No, what breaks is that last thread of sanity she's been hanging onto all week.
I’m not going to smile. Fuck the corporation!
All they’re going to do is take me for granted.
Teto crushes the drink in her hand and watches with glee as the liquid splats on the floor and a horrified look crosses the customer’s face.
She rips her manager badge off her shirt and pelts it at the yellow one, relishing in her yelp of alarm.
Riding on an adrenaline high, she makes her way to the cash register to see the ‘cold-fries’ girl still there. She puts on a customer service smile.
“Hi you %#$^&, you said you wanted *@&$ cold fries, yes?” She says in the sweetest tone she can manage.
A look of utter confusion and horror overcomes the customers and her employees alike.
“Coming right up!”
She marches up to the deep fryer and picks up the basket of fries, wielding it like a weapon, and makes her way over to the across the restaurant.
Past the confused customers.
Past Miku, who somehow managed to get ice cream on her hair.
Past Rin, the poor janitor who will probably have to clean up after her crash-out.
She relishes in the sizzling sound the freshly made, hot fries make when she chucks them into the ice cream machine’s cream storage.
It’s almost the end of her shift, and for once, she may want to stay.
It has been fun terrorizing her unruly employees and rude customers.
When she shoves a bag of Uber Eats to the floor, it normally would be ‘inappropriate behaviour’, but screw that!
Except, don’t screw that because this time she did it in front of her boss.
Oops.
As her boss's face changes from surprise to anger, she scribbles a ‘I QUIT’ resignation letter and bolts.
When she tumbles out the door, jostling the poor employee in the mascot costume, and hurriedly gets in her car, she looks in the rearview mirror and finds that she is smiling.