Vanessa stood quietly, watching as a female rich customer from the high-class society continued abusing her verbally. She had done all she could to pacify the lady. However, the woman entirely ignored her, and to worsen matters, her date encouraged her behavior.
The lady just kept screaming and demanding to see the manager, according to her, a fine establishment like this should have better staff.
Vanessa Clarkson was a college student who was working part-time at a five-star restaurant to pay of some of her expenses, as she wasn't really from a rich background and her family could only afford to pay her school fees and rent. She had to work 5 hours every night after classes to cover the rest expenses.
In her Freshman year, she was able to get this job based on someone's recommendation She noticed how much she needed financial help.
It wasn't a full 8-hour shift as government laws restrict students to only working 5 hours a day, she was paid less than the other waitresses but the pay and generous tips she received were providing sufficient support to alleviate the strain on her family.
During her two years of work here, she has faced numerous challenging situations.
Customers acted rudely and abused her verbally for silly reasons because they felt that since they had the means to dine there they could do whatever pleased them and expect the waiters to be able to miraculously read their minds to know if they have some allergies or preferences they failed to mention when placing their orders.
Tonight, much like every other night, a stunning couple graced the scene: an elegant woman exuding an air of affluence at first glance, her neck had ornate jewelry on them which glittered and screamed lots of money! She was accompanied by her date who was clad in expensive and famous designer attire.
Their clothing indicated affluence, consequently contributing to the oppression of those less fortunate, much like herself.
Immediately they arrived at the restaurant, the couple was ushered to their pre-booked table, and then Vanessa was assigned to serve them as the table was one of the tables under her care.
Vanessa struggled to take their orders as the lady insisted on using the French menu despite her limited command of the language, even though an English menu was available.
"I would love to have the soupe à l'oignon," she ordered,( that's onion soup in French pronouncing it wrongly.) smiling at her date with a blush on her cheeks.
"And for you, sir?" Vanessa asked professionally, jotting down their orders in a small booklet.
"I'll have the same as my date," the man replied.
After collecting their orders, she served them their first course, which was soup. However, the lady made things difficult by rejecting the soup, claiming it wasn't hot enough, much to Vanessa's dismay.
She noticed that what she was served was steaming hot, evident from the rising steam, but the lady insisted on getting another plate.
Vanessa didn't want to argue with the lady as the customer was always right, so she took the plate and brought a hotter one for the affluent couple but then the lady complained it was too hot and was poorly cooked.
Why would Vanessa serve her something like this?
She started creating a ruckus and drawing everyone's attention to the table.
She stood up from her seat abruptly and started yelling, throwing questions at Vanessa,
"How can you serve me an uncooked soup? Is that how you guys work here? Take a look at how the onions are flowing at the top of the soup! Do you expect me to eat this nuisance," The Lady barked pointing her neatly polished nails in the direction of the soup that was placed on the table.
She complained that the soup had chopped onions which she didn't like and that they shouldn't have added the onions to it, but it was impossible to prepare onion soup without onions and the lady didn't specify she didn't want chopped onion in her soup.
If she had said so then maybe Vanessa would have informed the chef who prepared the soup not to chop the onions but instead blended them.
Despite Vanessa not being responsible for preparing the soup, she endured continuous insults from the lady and her date also supported her.
How was Vanessa to blame in this situation? Even Vanessa felt wrong but she couldn't argue.
Vanessa even offered that the restaurant would give the lady another plate that meets her preferences on the house, but no! The lady won't have it that way. What made it most infuriating was that the lady's affluent boyfriend from the high-class kind of novel was worsening the situation.
Despite Vanessa's attempts to reason with the lady, she refused to accept her onion soup and demanded to see the manager, claiming that the staff was unprofessional. The manager arrived to resolve the situation and offered to have a new bowl of onion soup made to the lady's liking.
"I apologize for the inconvenience caused. We will make sure the new soup meets your preferences," the manager reassured the lady, who was still angry. However, her date was more understanding and accepted the manager's offer of compensation.
But suddenly, things took a turn for the worse. The lady became even more agitated and demanded that Vanessa be fired from the restaurant. In the heat of the moment, she poured the hot soup on Vanessa's head, scalding her, and then slapped her across the face.
Vanessa couldn't take the injustice and returned the slap with so much force that the lady fell on the ground and fainted. So, in summary, Vanessa got fired because the restaurant had to pay the couple for damages. After all, they threatened to sue, and she was thrown out of the establishment without being given a chance to wash off the soup or change her clothes.
After the entire episode, Vanessa felt wrong about everything. As she reflected on everything that transpired she couldn't see anything wrong in how she reacted. Why did the lady slap her, she wasn't in the wrong at all, and now she is jobless. " How can some people be so unreasonable?" She grunted.
She was walking down a busy street to her little apartment, she could observe people giving her funny looks because of her appearance, she was covered in soup and had onions, shrimp, and other ingredients stuck in her hair.
"Rich people are so annoying, especially the ones from the high society, they are so pompous and full of themselves. I really can't believe a plate of soup that is pricier than my previous pay got dumped on me. What a day." She huffed as she was soliloquizing.
"Now I need to find another job, and I don't know of any openings. Would anyone even want to employ me if they found out the reason I lost my previous job was because I slapped a customer?"Vanessa asked no one but herself
"No one would believe my side of the story. After all, the customer is always right." Vanessa sniffed as she fought back the tears that threatened to fall out of her eyes.
She felt like crying, but she couldn't do that in the middle of the road. The people she walked past on the street were already staring at her because of her appearance. It was already making her uncomfortable, she was unable to cry and make things worse.
She got to a rundown shabby-looking apartment building where she was able to rent a very cheap, comfortable self-contained apartment with her roommate who was also a student like her at the same level.
She climbed the stairs to get to her apartment on the first floor. Vanessa absent-mindedly pushed the door only to realize it was locked. She sighed at the fact that her reckless roommate was not around, she hoped her roommate didn't forget to pay the water bill and stock up on food supplies.
Vanessa searched her handbag, which always seemed like a bottomless pit whenever she needed to get her keys.
After searching for the keys for what felt like forever, she was trying to hurry up, as she would rather not let any of her neighbors see her in this miserable state.
Vanessa felt a wave of joy when she heard the keys jingle in her bag, she grabbed it hurriedly opened the door, and closed it behind her.
She was a little happy that her roommate Cynthia wasn't in to tease her about her state or how she lost her job. Now all she needs to do is shower, have dinner or a night snack as she hasn't had anything since in the afternoon at school and finally have a good night's sleep, then tomorrow after classes she will think of a way to solve her problems.
At the thought of food, her stomach grumbled, reminding her of how much she was starving.
She dropped her bag on her bed as her apartment had two beds on adjacent walls with drawers, cupboards, studying tables chairs, and other furniture in pairs because it was intended for two occupants with a little space in the middle where there was a pink rug which Vanessa dreaded because she wasn't fond of the color but her roommate had loved it and tricked her to pay part of the purchasing price.
She pulled off her dirty clothes and then wrapped a towel around her body before heading to the bathroom, where she dumped the clothes in the laundry basket.
She gazed at her disheveled reflection in the mirror and began picking out the soup ingredients stuck in her hair. Afterward, she unwrapped the towel and stepped into the shower, only to find that there was no water. Frustrated, she checked all the water supplies in the apartment, but there wasn't a drop to be found.
In exasperation, she called out, "Cynthiaaaaaa!" Her roommate had forgotten to pay the water bill, leaving her without a way to clean up her sticky, dirty body. It was shaping up to be a terrible night.
To make matters worse, she searched the fridge and every cupboard in the kitchen, only to find that there was no food or water in the entire apartment. She had given all her spare money to Cynthia that morning to pay the water bill and restock supplies, which they were now out of. She felt utterly helpless.
Overwhelmed with emotion, she couldn't hold back her tears. With a heavy heart, she had to tie up her dirty hair and put on her nightgown before going to bed on an empty stomach, ignoring the protests of her growling and rumbling stomach.
Despite feeling extremely hungry, the day's stress eventually took a toll, and she drifted to sleep.