The Worst

Today was absolutely the worst day of my working career. At 12:30, just as our lunch rush was coming in, every single computer in the restaurant freezes. Can't take orders, can't run credit cards. Nothing. We did the best we could.

For a solid 3 hours, I had a line of customers, each yelling at me for one reason or another. My boss was frustrated with the entire situation and was making comments like "I'm shutting down To-Go (my section) forever. I can't deal with this crap." and "I'm so tired of To-Go..." How was I supposed to take that? I was certain she was going to fire me.

After being yelled at by a line of customers, To-Go was shut down. I did my best to clean up and organize everything, closed as many checks as I could (we ended up giving away a lot of free food) and went to face the music. My hands shook and my eyes couldn't lift themselves above the floor. I braced myself for the inevitable words: "You're fired."

My boss told me, in as calm a manner that she could, that she was too frustrated to speak to me today and that we'll have to discuss this tomorrow. Great. Now I get to go home and fester on my imminent doom all night long. I couldn't take it, I just started to cry. I did my best to tell her that I was sorry and that I did the best I could. I told her that I understood that she didn't really want to talk about it right now but I'm just so afraid that she was going to fire me, I couldn't take it. So I stood there and sobbed.

My boss took me by the shoulders and explained that she wasn't going to fire me. I took a deep breath. But, she went on, we were still going to have a talk tomorrow.

On my way home from work, I stood at the bus stop in a daze. If I wasn't crying, I was staring down the street, adding up the money left in my checking account, savings account, and the cash in my wallet (a whomping $89.42 by the way.) I reached into my pocket for my phone to call my mother and tell her that I give up and I'm moving back home with her where money doesn't exist for me and I just live on the couch and wither away but inside my pocket, I pull out $4.92....all the tip money I made that day. To make matters worse, I still needed 8 cents to make it home...

Luckily, I had hidden an extra $5 in my bag for just such an occasion. When my bus came, I paid the fair and picked a seat. My iPod was probably too loud and I'm certain that everyone on the bus could tell I had just spent the last half hour sobbing but I didn't care. All I wanted to do was disappear. I was so distracted that I got off my bus a good 4 blocks early. When I realized it, the bus had pulled away; I looked down the street and said "Well, I might as well walk. What else could go wrong?"

I didn't even notice the walk, to be honest. My mind was delightfully blank and before I knew it, I was standing at my stop in the middle of downtown, watching the corner for the bus. A woman with wild, kinky black hair waved a caramel colored hand in front of my face, forcing my mind to focus.

"Excuse me, do you have a dollar?" she says, plastering a fake, but hopeful smile.

I reached into my bag where I kept my money and pulled out $2. I flip back one of the bills and put it back in my bag and hand her the dollar.

"God bless you. Thank you " she says and walks away.




The only thing I can focus on is....why didn't I give her both dollars?