Novel Bin Chapter 104 – A Test
Chapter 104 – A Test
“That’s right, we’re currently looking for a wait staff. We haven’t found anyone suitable as yet, you said you have some restaurant experience?” Mike smiled and nodded. He was considering the very same thing that Amy voiced out. However, he had no intention of just hiring this person, the restaurant could not afford to hire useless beauties or feed people who couldn’t pull their own weight.
“Yes, I’ve worked with my mother in the kitchens ever since I was nine, she died when I was twelve and I’ve been working at that place until a few days ago...” Abbé Mia nodded cautiously, Mike’s question made her heart race in nervous anticipation, but somehow her mood became heavier the more she spoke.
“You seemed to have quite a lot of experience with kitchen work, but, the kind of staff I want will face even more challenges. You must be able to welcome customers, take their orders, serve up food, clear tables quickly once the customers left and finally, a general clean up once the business hours have ended. Do you think you can do this?” Mike did not bother to mince words and just looked at Abbé Mia as he listed out his requirements.
“Welcome customers?” a trace of panic contorted Abbé Mia’s face, but it soon passed. A certain sense of anticipation began to build up inside her. All this while she had been confined to the kitchens, hidden from the eyes of the customers like some sort of deadly curse that could not be revealed.
Once, she had been ordered by the chef to serve up food, which she did so very carefully. Unfortunately, the boss had seen her in the dining room. The man was so angry that he had hit her with a kitchen spoon so hard that a hole appeared on her head and blood flowed all over the place. From that time onwards, she never dared to set even half a foot outside the kitchen.
She also wished to wear clean and pretty outfits, smile at customers as she set food on their table, wave good bye as they leave and clear tables in front of other customers like a normal person. However, these were things that beyond the reach of a half dragon, there was no way a proper restaurant would even consider hiring a half dragon as part of their wait staff.
“I have never serve customers before, also, some guests might not be happy to have me serve their meals...” Abbé Mia said a little anxiously.
“If you’re concerned about what the customers might think of you working out here, that’s not a a problem for my restaurant. I use Amy’s image for this restaurant’s logo, and she’s my greatest pride and joy. In my eyes, your social standing is no different from Amy’s. Therefore your identity is not a burden for this restaurant.” Mike said with a smile as he retrieved one of the [Juicy Burger] paper bags and lightly placed it on the table.
Looking at this girl’s inferiority complex reminded Mike of those early days with Amy. However, Abbé Mia had been living with this kind of discrimination much longer and had suffered quite a lot, which touched his heart a little.
Abbé Mia looked at Mike with her mouth gaped open, this was the first time she had heard these words. The first time someone told her, a half dragon, that her identity would not trouble them.
Her eyes fell upon the bag on the table. It was clearly a silhouette of a half elf child. The sweet and cute child was now sitting in front of her, to think that Mike would actually use this to represent his restaurant, how daring and reckless was this man?
Two years ago in Aden Square, a drunk demon person had trashed the restaurant that had hired a half orc waiter. The restaurant was completely destroyed and the owner beaten half to death. A short time later, the owner died for real, and just like that a once busy and lively restaurant shut its doors.
Though that demon was later punished by the Grey Temple and was now undergoing rehabilitation in their prison, everyone blamed the half-orc for bringing trouble to the restaurant.
Almost overnight, almost all of the mixed blood people working as wait staffs found themselves unemployed. Even those who never saw the dining room, people like her, had their salary cut by half and often found themselves barely getting by on pitiful amount of money.
To think that Mike would actually use the silhouette of his half elf daughter as this restaurant’s logo. Even now, he was saying things like how her identity did not matter to his business. Just how deep was his fatherly love for Amy that he would actually esteemed other mixed bloods as actual people?
To mixed bloods liker her, being treated as an equal was even more precious than being pitied.
“Well then, I’ll need to test you to see whether you have the ability, as well as the courage, to do this job.” Mike continued.
Abbé Mia hesitated for a moment, but then she gathered all of her shredded confidence and nodded decisively, “If it’s at all possible, please let me try it.”
“That’s the way, daddy dearest is very easy to talk to, so Sister Mia please don’t be afraid,” Amy waved Little Ugly Duckling’s paws at her encouragingly, her little face brimming with expectations. If Sister Mia started working here, she will have someone else to play with in the future.
“En, en,” Abbé Mia nodded. Ever since her mother’s death, this was the first time someone spoke words of encouragement to her, it made her felt really warm inside.
“Very good,” Mike also smiled at them. He had no intention of hiring her out of charity, what he wanted was for her to strive for a job she could do properly and with dignity. This would not only encourage her happiness, but also her self confidence.
“Then, let’s start, ba. There will be lots of people coming here during our working hours, so, in order to maximise efficiency, you must remember every customers’ orders as well as any other basic requests they might have. Naturally, if you know how to read and write, you can use a memo pad to keep track. My current goal is to reduce the time lag between cooking and ordering.” Mike said to Abbé Mia.
“Mother taught me my letters when I was little, and my memory is pretty good. If it’s only memorizing each customers’ orders, I’ll have no problem with it.” Abbé Mia said, after thinking a bit.
“Alright then, let’s test it out.” Mike really had no idea that she would actually be so confident. However, this was not enough for him to confirm her employment. Instead, he made his way towards the counter table, picked up a small note book, and tore out four pages which he further tore into 16 pieces of papers. He numbered each piece of paper sequentially, and filled each paper with two or three requests. Next, he randomly placed a piece of paper on each of the 16 tables.
“The table closest to the door is Table 1, the table next to that is Table 2, that’s Table 3 and so on... the customers’ requests are written according to their sequence of order. You have 10 minutes, it’s up to you how you wish to memorize the orders, but please make sure you remember them.” Mike kept his eyes on the clock. “Start now.”
Abbé Mia looked at the piece of paper on her table, then, she left to look at the papers on other tables, not bothering to write down anything.
Five minutes later, she stood confidently in front of Mike, “I’m ready.”
“Very well, please recite the orders according to their sequence.” what an unexpected development, Mike thought, but he did not collect the papers either. He had once won prizes in his past life at junior high school memory skills contests and could clearly remember things he had written down.
“Table 3 ordered 2 [Juicy Burgers]...” Abbé Mia looked at Mike and calmly recited each order, she faltered slightly in the middle, but then quickly picked up pace again. Finally she recited the entire order for all 16 tables.
“Daddy dearest, is it all correct?” Amy looked up at Mike curiously.
Abbé Mia also looked at Mike with barely suppressed excitement, this was a test. It was the first test she had been given as a proper as a proper respectable person.