The worst thing about the job was that Roxanne had to help open the restaurant.
A morning person she was not.
The early hours didn't even make sense for this business. They didn't have a breakfast menu to speak of and the earliest they had customers was after noon. Yet here Roxanne Swank had to be, as early as the cooks and management, to help turn everything on.
"Turn, you stupid thing!" This morning in particular had Roxanne struggling with her junker of a car as she blazed through a red light. A cream Volkswagen Beatle, classic model, that had seen better days. She thought the style of car was cute but didn't have the money for a new model or a proper restoration. The handling left a lot to be desired.
"Same to you, bud!!" Roxanne returned the less than friendly gesture to the guy that cut her off (actually her cutting him off) at the turn into the parking lot for Gerbert Gerbil's & the Cosmic Crew. She parked right by the entrance, space reserved for customers. Eventually the boss would have to tell her to move but Roxanne hoped to be persuasive.
The main problem was that Roxanne's job bridged the divide of cast and crew. She worked as a hostess, of course, but she was also a few of the characters. Usually the alien costume of Bellixie but also two different narrators and sometimes she did puppet shows as well. It wasn't the best start for the aspiring actress. Yet Roxanne was a true thespian, able to keep up her false small for an entire day of guiding patrons, hosting parties and entertaining children.
This pretty much left her pissed any time she wasn't in character.
Already her reputation at work proceeded her, the other mid morning workers avoiding Roxanne as she stomped through the doors. Any newcomer gawkers soon learned that the busty bombshell had a horrid personality. Roxanne was a true stunner, a leggy wide framed hourglass with hefty breasts, vivid dull red hair and a beauty mark under one eye. She liked to pamper herself, bathed in fragrances from a new shampoo or perfume and dressed more fashionable that her paycheck from Gerbert's would suggest.
In other words, a total knockout. She gathered plenty of attention from the male sex regardless of age. From a string of hanger on boyfriends, to being the first crush of some of the young patrons or causing dads, uncles or grandfathers to hold their gaze for too long. As for her fellow coworkers, they knew Roxanne to be as witchy as they come.
"Who used up all the instant coffee?" she yelled from an empty cupboard, breasts swaying from the sudden turn. She got even crankier without the morning caffeine.
"Umm...we're out," mouthed the hip heavy Jessica who paused by the door to the employee's lounge. What the Gerbert's baker didn't say was that she had confiscated the rest of it for some special coffee cake. "But why not use the Decaff machine? That always has java reserves."
"I don't want a cup of joe from...it." Roxanne's issue was not with the Decaff machine. The term was a misnomer as it wasn't only for decaffeinated coffee. It could make regular, decaf, cappuccino and supposedly iced coffee. It had this shape, though, that was off. Somebody had desired to make a coffee machine have some personality with its design. It didn't quite mesh with the designs of the other animatronics in the restaurant, even with the space theme. To Roxanne the sanctuary of the employee's lounge should not have these connections to the rest of the establishment.
"I think it's cute," Jessica said, hitting a switch on the Decaff machine before Roxanne could protest. The vessel within the machine boiled to life. The unit raised up on a set of treads, a robotic arm twisting around to serve the dispensed cup.
Roxanne shuddered. The costumed animatronics were one thing. The Decaff machine both was and wasn't anthropomorphized. It had no true face, although those dials on either side of the 'nose' to the machine that held the coffee pot looked too much like eyes for Roxanne's tastes.
Jessica wisely fled before Roxanne could unload into her. As much as she hated the machine the disgruntled hostess admitted it was a good cup of coffee. Just enough to get her ready for the day.
And what a day it was going to be.
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author
