Chapter 3

Few days later, Astrid was working a double shift at Queens. It was Saturday and since she'd nowhere else to go, she decided to work double shift and earn more cash for herself.

However, working the second shift, something unexpected happened. Astrid had just served a couple and their son, who should be no less than twelve and no more than fourteen, when the boy started yelling at her, she'd given him the wrong order.

"Are you deaf or you have problem understanding English?" He'd scolded her, raising his voice at her,

"I asked for medium cooked steak and this rubbish overcooked steak you've served me."

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't fucking apologize! Rectify it. I want my steak half cooked." He insisted, glaring daggers at Astrid.

His parents weren't helping matters too, they kept complaining and pushing the blame to her, but Astrid was very sure. The boy had ordered and overcooked steak, after he said something about not being a carnivorous animal, to be eating raw or half cooked meat. She couldn't understand why they were doing that.

"What are you still standing here for, Ms?" He queried her,

"Go get my orders. Where's the manager around here?

I need to speak to your manager." He queried her, acting like an uncivilized spoiled brat.

His tantrum attracted the attention of the other customers in the restaurant, disrupting the serenity of the place.

Most of them began to murmur, Astrid didn't know if they were siding with the boy or her, but she feared it was the former. After all, it's widely believed the customers are always right.

"I can't believe you're still here, go get him what he'd ordered for?" The boy's mother scolded her,

"Calm down sweetie," she consoled her son, reaching for his pudgy arms,

"She's gonna get you a new order." She assured the boy, caressing him, but he pushed her hand away rudely,

"No! I want it now." He screamed, banging his hand on the table, Astrid reverberated with shock.

What the hell?

Thank God nothing had broken when he did that.

"What's happening here?" An octave voice asked and hearing the familiar voice, her shock was replaced with fear.

"Are you the manager here?" The boy asked, after turning to the owner of the voice.

"Yes." Came the stock reply from Mrs White, walking towards them,

"Well, I need you to have this lady fired." He refuted, not mincing his words.

"I ordered a medium cooked steak, but she's served me and overcooked steak and is refusing to take it back to give me what I'd actually ordered for." He relayed to.the older woman.

"Ma'am, I..."

"You don't get to say anything, Ms Jones." The woman shushed her immediately and the boy smiled,

"My apologies son, I'll have you orders sent to you with immediate effect." She assured the boy and then turned to Astrid, her facial expression hardened,

"Take the steak away and have the chef prepare another one for him." He ordered her and without saying anything, she reached for the plate of steak to take it away.

"I demand an apology from her too." The boy demands boldly, staring disdainfully at Astrid, who'd carried the plate from the table.

"Yes, my son deserves an apology." His mother seconded, glaring at Astrid too.

"I'm sorry and promise this won't repeat itself again." She apologized to the boy,not waiting for Mrs White to ask her to.

"I think I'll accept that." He snorted, followed by a derisive chuckle.

"Off you then." Mrs White shooed her away and she left, head hung low in embarrassment and eyes brimming with tears. So far, she wasn't worried about being accused wrongly by the boy and his parents or having a minor deduction in her salary, but the fear of losing her job what actually what made her want to cry.

She'd really stressed to get this job and there was almost no way she could get another good paying job like this one, again.

It was almost impossible. The chances were from zero to two, very slim and not worth hoping on.

She carried the plate into the kitchen and told the chef to prepare another steak.

"Medium cooked steak." She added emphatically, almost choking on her own voice.

"Is there any problem?" The cook, an older Mexican man they call Flames, asked her, but she shook her head, giving a negative reply.

"You sure?" He asked her, 

"Yeah. I'd made a mistake. He said he wanted them half cooked." She said to him, wiping away the tears that'd formed in her eyes.

"You don't have to worry kill yourself bout that. Everyone makes mistakes. What's more important is rectifying them and learning from them."

Astrid wanted to scream to the man that she hadn't made any mistake. The kid had been very clear and she'd heard well,but that wasn't important to her now. What she was more worried about was not losing her job.

It scared the shit outta her.

   Meanwhile, Robin and Cole were seated a few tables away from the couple and their son and they witnessed everything that'd happened.

Cole was quite uninterested in the whole hullabaloo, but to Robin, it felt very wrong.

Of course, he didn't know if the child had been right or the waitress was, but what he was sure of was that, the child's attitude was very wrong and uncalled for.

He'd acted like a spoiled wimp and his parents had done nothing to prevent that, they'd even made it worst.

He looked over to the kid again and he was sipping his juice and was smiling at something his mother was telling him.

Spoiled brat.

He mused inwardly, wanting to stand up from his seat and go smack the boy across the face.

He's no saint himself, but what the kid did was very wrong.

How come no one had seen that?

He looked away from the kid, putting a lid on his anger and he saw the waitress, returning with the boy's steak.

He looked closely at her and noticed she'd been crying.

He felt sympathetic towards her, but what could he do?

He watched her keep the boy's steak and was almost leaving, when the boy started choking on something he'd take.

He was coughing and wheezing, the lady sprang into action even before his mother could.

She snatched the glass of water on the table and gave him to take a sip from, after forcing him to take the sip, she'd him raise his head up and made him stay that way for several seconds, pinching his nose closed with her fingers.

And like magic, the boy stopped coughing. She let go of his nose and made him level his head. Even the boy was surprised how fast she'd saved him from choking and so was he.

He'd expected she'll leave him to choke, after he'd humiliated door in front of everyone, almost costing her her job.

She's really a kind hearted person, one of a kind.

The boy and his parents were very appreciative towards her, they couldn't stop saying thanks. Especially his mother.

"No worries ma'am, I was just doing my job." She'd replied the woman with a warm smile, before leaving to continue her work.

Robin was astounded and speechless.

What could he say? She'd outdone their expectations and really deserved an award for the most selfless and kindhearted waitress in town.

     Astrid didn't know what had prompted her to help the boy, but she knew she couldn't just leave him to choke, not even after what he'd done to her.

People might call it being vulnerable, but it wasn't just in her nature to watch people suffer, no matter how bad they'd been.

She believes everyone deserves a chance at kindness.

She kept the tray on the kitchen sink and was coming out of the kitchen, when she met Mrs White outside the kitchen.

"Mrs Whi---"

"To my office." The woman ordered in a stern, monosyllabic tone and immediately, her heart fell down to her stomach.

She's going to fire her.

She's lost her job already. She cried within herself, watching the woman march towards her office.

Astrid Jones, you're officially jobless from now on.

She sighed to herself, going after the woman.

"Mrs White,"Astrid began immediately they were in the woman's office, " my apologies abut what'd happened earlier. I must've heard wrongly and I promise such mistake won't ever repeat itself again." She apologized to the woman.

"Please, do not lay me off work." She began to beg,

"I'll be very careful with the customer's orders from now on, but please, don't fire me.."

"I wasn't gonna do that." The woman finally said something and hearing her, Astrid sighed with deep relief.

It was as if an heavy weight have been lifted off her shoulder.

She wasn't gonna be losing her job.

"However, I was to penalize you for letting the issue drag that long, but then, watching what you did for that kid made me realize that, people aren't over mistakes, but what matters mostly is rectifying them and you've rectified yours in the best way possible." She said to Astrid,

"So, it'll be very inconsiderate and inhumane of me, to still punish you when you've rectified your mistake. 

You did very well and I'm very proud of you." The woman mouthed to her, smiling warmly at her.

"Thanks a lot, Mrs White." 

"Now you can go back to your duties. I'm not paying you to lounge around." 

The old Mrs White is back.

Astrid nodded and left immediately, before the woman changes her mind.

"Astrid, someone wanted to see you." Stacey, her colleague informed her immediately she joined them outside.

"Who's that?" She asked with knitted brows,

"The gentleman on table ten." The girl relayed to her,

"He left not too long ago, so you can still meet him outside.

But then, he'd asked me to give you this." The girl dug her hand into her skirt pocket and fished out a folded paper and a complimentary card.

"Here you go." She handed the card and the paper to Astrid who collected it with hesitation.

"Thanks Stace." She mouthed to the girl, staring at the card.

"Girl, I think you've just attracted to yourself, a big fish. That guy is money and a whole lot of it. You hold into him, you're in for the jolly ride." The girl said to her, gleefully.

Astrid only nodded, thanked the girl again and left, shoving the items into her pocket.