Archive of Our Own ^beta

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I’m 18 and have never had a proper job before so I thought this summer would be a great opportunity to get a little job experience, as well as money, before I go to university next year.

I drove around town and gave a few places my CV, filled out job applications, and hoped for one of them to call me back. Thankfully I did get a call back from a restaurant in the local mall called “Pizza Hat”.

Through the phone, a woman’s voice told me to go in for a job interview that weekend and so I did. To my surprise it went really well. I talked about my experiences working as a volunteer and why they should hire me, and I got the job!

Later on I found out that the pay was only €4 an hour but that’s okay, I’m mainly doing it for the experience and I’m just happy someone hired me even though I don’t have any previous work experience.

The manager (who I had the job interview with) seemed nice and helpful, telling me that because this is my first job he doesn’t want to push me too much and that I will only be working a total of 100 hours in the month of July, and 200 hours in August once I get the hang of it which sounded generous of him. I was grateful they took that into consideration and tried making me feel as comfortable as possible. I was excited to go in the following week and start working.

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I look at myself in the mirror and cringe slightly at the way the uniform looks. It’s rather bland and boring. The back of my shirt has a red triangle on it which I think is supposed to symbolise a slice of pizza but it just looks like the Youtube play button. The material is really uncomfortable; the type that is made of plastic and you start sweating in the moment you put it on.

Oh well, at least I have a job.

When I arrive at the restaurant a young girl introduces herself to me and it is clear that we will become work besties because we are the same age and the only people here who aren’t over 30. 

She spends the rest of the day showing me around and telling me how to do the job and so on. I was shown how to use the register and the password for it is 420.

Ha, 420, weed number. Must be a coincidence though, maybe the manager’s birthday is April 20th?

I find it a bit strange that I am not receiving any sort of training and just kind of being put in the middle of the restaurant but I guess I’ll learn along the way? Still, I would’ve preferred it if the manager, Joe, told me what’s important to know as a waitress or something like that.

The rest of my colleagues introduce themselves to me and they seem fine, not overly friendly or welcoming but they also aren’t rude so all in all my first day was fine. However, my legs hurt by the end of it from all the walking. Work bestie told me that she counted her steps with a watch once and she walked 25km in one day in Pizza Hat.

I’ll definitely be fit by the end of August.

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During my first week, I got to experience my first ever kids birthday party as a waitress, and let me tell you; nothing could’ve prepared me for how loud and out of tune those kids sang “happy birthday”.

At first I hated the birthday parties because kids make a mess and always leave pieces of cake on the floor and on the sofas but after working there for a while, I realised that it’s actually better than having several different tables to serve because it’s not as much running around, you typically only had to speak to the parents and that’s it, but the cleaning part was annoying. They also sometimes left untouched cake behind so we would take it to the kitchen and all the staff would have a piece from it. Eating free cake during my 10 hour shifts is the only thing that kept me going sometimes.

After one of my shifts, my manager, Joe, handed me a take away menu which was in Greek (even though he knows I don’t speak greek) and told me to use my phone to translate it.

Bitch- you could’ve literally given me an English menu wtf is this.

”Thank you!” I replied with a tone that I hoped sounded sincere enough. I ain’t wasting my time translating some Pizza Hat menu?? 

That evening when I came home, I dug into my bag and found the menu, throwing it straight into the bin.

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“Have you learnt the menu yet?” Joe asks me one day.

Ohhh, that’s why he gave me a menu??? I thought he just wanted me to have one in case I wanna order from Pizza Hat. Fuck, I feel really stupid right now.

”Not yet,” I say. I almost laugh at myself.

Bro I’m actually so stupid.

“That’s okay, I’ll give you another week,” he responds.

Phew.

During our lunch breaks, work bestie and I have gotten closer and she’s been telling me some of the Pizza Hat gossip. Today however, she told me something I wasn’t expecting in all fairness. 

She told me that when she started this job, she was 16 and Joe kept making weird suggestions to her, saying things like, “I like big age gaps…” and “I should put you in a short skirt, make-up and get you to stand in front of the restaurant as a hostess to attract more customers”. During this time, Joe was 32, now he’s 33. I found that shocking and it caught me off guard because he didn’t seem like a weird man to be honest, but she also told me about how his current fiancée was 17 and he was 26 when they started dating. 

Work bestie also told me that he is a drug addict who smokes weed almost every day. Sometimes he even comes into work high and smashes plates to the floor whenever someone makes him angry. That makes a lot of sense actually because the computer in his office has marijuana leaves as the background.

I guess the “420” password wasn’t a coincidence after all? The pieces are starting to come together now.

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Everyone was called into work at 10am today to deep clean the kitchen before the boss shows up.

We had to scrub all the grime off the drinks dispenser, clean underneath the fridge, scratch gum off from under the tables and clean things that have not been clean in… A WHILE.

Long story short, I saw things I do not wish to see again. And to make things worse, we had to use the same cloths to deep clean as the ones we use to wipe the tables. The water was dark brown whenever I rinsed them out.

Never eating at Pizza Hat again.

Obviously to save up money, the kitchen hardly has any cleaning supplies so we used water to clean most of it. Joe also handed me some mould killer to use on the fridge.

”Don’t get this on your clothes otherwise they’ll be as orange as your hair,” he said to me as he handed me the bottle.

Speechless. Did he really just say that to me? What is wrong with him? That’s just so rude and unnecessary. 

After we finished deep cleaning (BRO THE SMELL- EWWW) the boss called Joe telling him he won’t be coming today, which means we’ll have to go through this entire fucking process again next week. 

Would it really have been THAT hard to show up for 5 minutes? At this point I don’t even know who’s worse; the boss or Joe?

My shift ended up being from 10am-10pm that day. 12 hours with only one half an hour break. We’re also not allowed to sit down because that is viewed as “unprofessional”. First of all, I’m pretty sure that’s illegal, and second of all, so much to “not pushing me too much since it’s my first job” and “only 100 hours in July” my ass.

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During our SECOND time deep cleaning, Joe decided to check the register after years of not checking it and compared the income to the money in the cash till and realised that it is in €-400. As in, negative numbers.  

So, what does this considerate bastard do? He decides that he will take our tips away from us and we won’t have tips anymore. 

How the hell do you expect people to live off of €4 an hour without tips? I’m also pretttyyy sure that’s illegal. I fucking hate this guy.

I don’t know, there’s just something about the way he slammed open the door, strutted up to us and yelled, “NO ONE is getting tips anymore,” and then left which made my blood boil with anger.

But don’t worry, all of us have secretly still been taking the tips without Joe knowing. We simply do it behind his back and if he asks, then we just haven’t gotten tips that day from the customers. 

Rude managers make sneaky employees.

There’s a man working in the kitchen who I find really weird, because after I told him my age (he is clearly over 30) he started looking me up and down while wiggling his eyebrows and smirking at me and it’s gotten to the point where one of the kitchen ladies told him to stop. 

But I wish the weirdness stopped there. One day an old man asked me for the wifi password and I told him that it’s ‘ilovepizzahat’ and he grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him while saying, “Do you?” he didn't let go of me, “Do you really love Pizza Hat?” he smirked. 

No, of course I don’t, and I also don’t love you so I would appreciate it if you let go of me.

I smiled politely and snatched my arm back, reminding him that it’s my property and not his, and made my way to the kitchen where I washed my arm because

ew. Old man germs…

These types of things happened almost every day because men view waitresses as toys that are there to be played with, or as something that is supposed to provide them with entertainment.

Why are there so many creeps in this place?

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When starting this job, I knew there would be some rude customers I would have to face. However, I was not prepared for all of them to be rude, which is why it catches me off guard when one of them asks me how I am.

“Hi! How are you?” asked a lady with a British accent.

Uhm I- uh- Fine? No, I’m actually not fine because working in this shithole made me lose most of my brain cells.

“Good, you?” I smiled at her.

That was one of the few nice interactions I had with a customer. Usually it’s them strutting up to the register demanding “I want pizza” while also ignoring the “Please wait here to be seated” sign at the front.

For example, today an old lady, who I had never seen before in my ENTIRE life, walked up to me while my hands were full of plates and told me that she would, “kick me if I forgot to put her pizza in the oven”.

Ma’am, first of all, hello to you too. Second of all, who are you? I didn’t even take your order so why the fuck are you threatening ME? Third of all, do I LOOK like I’M the one who puts pizzas in the oven??? And fourth of all, my arms are about to rip off under the weight of all these plates, so please let me pass or else I swear to god-

I ignore her and walk past while making eye contact as if I didn’t hear her. Otherwise I may scream.

When the customers aren’t being rude, they’re often times stupid. It’s one of the two.

A tall man walked up to me one day and asked me if we sell pizzas. I looked him dead in the eyes and nodded.

I want to cry.

“Where is my pizza? I ordered it 5 minutes ago,” said a woman to me once.

HOW LONG DO YOU THINK A PIZZA TAKES TO MAKE? DO YOU THINK WE HAVE THEM READY AND JUST REHEAT THEM WHEN YOU ORDER ONE?

I took a deep breathe. I asked her what she ordered so I can ask the kitchen how long it’s gonna take.

“Pizza,” she said confidently.

I took another deep breathe.

“Which pizza? What size? What toppings?” I asked her as calmly as I could.

“Regular,” she said, once again, confidently.

I can’t take this anymore. I give up.

I had no idea which pizza she ordered because we don’t sell “regular” pizzas but I was so done at that point that I walked into the kitchen, stood there for a minute, did some stretches, counted the ceiling tiles due to boredom, and walked out again.

“It’ll be ready in 7 minutes,” I said with a smile.

I made that number up, I don’t fucking know how long your pizza is gonna take bro.

She did not look pleased.

Later on, turns out she ordered a large pepperoni with olives.

How on earth is that a “regular” pizza in her head?? Some people need help.

Chapter Text

One of my coworkers has autism which simply means you have to be a bit more gentle with her because she is more sensitive than others. She is one of the kindest colleagues I have.

Today, she accidentally took the wrong pizza to a table because the kitchen staff gave her the wrong ticket. The tickets say the number of the table. So it wasn’t even her fault really.

Joe however, did not see it that way. He started yelling at her as loud as he could, cussing her out, swearing and calling her names, to the point where she broke down and started crying. Yet, he kept going.

Dude stop, it’s literally just a pizza. It’s not the end of the world. Please.

“It’s not even her fault, we got given the wrong ticket from the kitchen,” I told Joe, but he was NOT having it.

He pointed a finger at me, “you foking stay out of this,” he yelled.

Just shut the fuck up already, you’re annoying as shit.

He had the audacity to act all innocent and ask her “WHY ARE YOU CRYING??” as if she didn’t have every right to.

She couldn’t stop crying after that cause he kept making remarks about the mistake and she ended up having to serve the customers while literally sobbing. It was so fucked up.

Joe seemed to be in a bad mood after that because during my break, I was sitting in the restaurant and heard everyone gasping and looking towards the kitchen. At first I didn’t even realise that Joe was yelling again because of how used to it I am by now.

He was shouting so loud that the whole restaurant could hear him. Some people were even starting to film it. I sat there smiling internally.

This doesn’t look too good for you, Joe.

“YOU BASTARDS. YOU USELESS FOKING WANKERS-“ the sound of several plates smashing to the floor echoed through the restaurant.

Damn. I’m glad I’m on break and not inside the kitchen right now.

Chapter Text

After 3 weeks of working here, I was finally given a name badge.

“Here you go, Dora the explorer,” said Joe as he was handing it over to me.

Fucking original.

“Thanks…”

I turned around ready to leave this flavourless conversation but as I turned, Joe grabbed my shoulders from the back and pulled me closer to him. He started talking to the person in front of me about something that really did not require me to be there. I tried moving away and leaving the kitchen but he didn’t let go of me.

Dude, ew. I’m not your property. Let go.

I felt disgusting being this close to him. I hated this man.

This time I yanked my shoulders out of his grip and left the kitchen with a disgusted look on my face. I bloody hope he saw my expression.

I was a bit bored of eating pizzas every day so I decided to go to KFC in the mall and order some food there. I got discounts all around the food court because anyone who works in the mall gets food for cheaper.

I told the guy working there my name in order for him to give me a discount.

“Ah, Dora, like Dora the explorer!” he said excitedly.

“HA! Never heard that one before!” I replied in a sarcastic tone.

“Oh really? It’s a cartoon about this Portuguese girl with a backpack who explores planets,” he explains.

Sir, first of all, she is Spanish, not Portuguese. And second of all, she does not explore planets??? Where did he get that information from? 

“Yes, I know, I was being sarcastic,” I tell him.

His shoulders visibly deflated and he look a little offended.

What is wrong with people working in the mall? Everyone seems to be missing a few thousand brain cells here.

Chapter Text

Another day in this shit hole. It’s fine. I got this.

“Good morning, Dora the explorer!” greets no other than Joe himself.

I sigh. This joke’s getting old.

“Hello!” I say in a sugarcoated voice.

“The dishwasher broke so you guys will be cleaning the dishes today,” he says as if it’s as simple as that.

And what will you be doing? I’m guessing either a) scratch your balls in front of the customers like you do every day or b) sit on your ass in front of your computer with the marijuana background.

“Okay!” I reply with false happiness. It’s only 11am, I still have the whole day in front of me to get mad about something else.

And I do.

An elderly couple asked me where the bathroom is in Pizza Hat and I told them we don’t have one and they’ll have to use the general ones in the mall. They both started getting up without a word and I told them they’d either have to pay, leave a bag or passport behind which ensures their return or one of them would have to stay while the other goes to the bathroom.

Both of them got so offended and defensive, my god.

“But my wife just had knee surgery! She needs the bathroom!” the man exclaimed angrily.

To this day I am not sure what that had to do with anything but whatever.

“That’s alright, you can both leave if you pay,” I said.

“But she needs her bag!”

“She can take her bag with her if you pay first.”

“But we’re coming back!”

“That’s fine, we won’t clean your table if you don’t want us to, but before you leave you will have to pay.”

This kept going on for about 5 minutes. The man finally agreed to pay.

Damn right, what was he expecting? Free food?

I scoff at the thought and tell the others to not clean their table because they will be back to finish their food. The man made it very clear before leaving that they will be back for the food.

2 hours later, they did not, in fact, return. There were flies on their food at this point so we decide to call it a day and clean their table.

They never did return.

In the middle of the day we had built towers and mountains of dirty plates to the point where I couldn’t reach the top of the stack anymore. We ran out of clean ones and washing them by hand takes a lot longer than with the dishwasher, so Joe opted to taking Pizza hats dirty dishes to the restaurants next door, Wagapapa and Tavernaki, so that they can clean them with a working dishwasher.

However, this whole process obviously took time so we were out of clean cutlery, plates, kitchen tools and pans for a while which led to us having to shut the restaurant for about half an hour.

All the waitresses and kitchen staff had to wash the dishes for that half an hour till we had at least SOMETHING to work with.

We opened back up again after that.

We were SO close to going home early… so close...

After my shift ended at 10pm, the remaking staff had to clean everything for the next day. We all stood in the boiling kitchen (Joe doesn’t want to turn the A/C on in the kitchen because it costs money…) and scrubbed the dirty plates. 2 of us washing, 2 drying, and 1 putting them back to their place. At least work bestie was there so it could’ve been worse. There was also a guy who makes pizzas whose name is Justin. He’s about 30 years old.

Sweat was dripping into our eyes and we couldn’t see. We were soaked in our own sweat and the water from the dishes.

What a time to be alive… This is NOT what I signed up for.

It took about a week of us having to wash the dirty dishes for the dishwasher to get fixed. Long story short; t’was not a fun experience.

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A few days ago I ordered food from the restaurant next door, Wagapapa, and had to tell the waiter my name in order to get a discount. It was a quick exchange.

”Your name?” he asked.

”Dora,” I answered.

He gave me my receipt and I walked out of the restaurant. The first thing I noticed about him was how big his nose was. I did not find him attractive in the slightest.

Because the exchange was so fast, it catches me off guard when, the next time I order food from Wagapapa, he remembers my name. 

“Your name is Dora, right?” he asked.

How does he remember that?

The next interaction we have is when I am cleaning the tables outside in the morning. He comes out onto the balcony space which connects Wagapapa and Pizza Hat. He waves at me and says good morning.

”Hello!” I reply, a bit confused though.

Okay I might be getting the wrong idea, he might just be a nice guy who said good morning.

I was unfortunately wrong though. A few days later, work bestie tells me, “you know, a guy from wagapapa came over earlier today and asked me if you’re working today. He seems interested.”

Ugh. I can’t be arsed with this right now. I don’t have the energy to deal with him.

The next day, he comes over to Pizza Hat and asks me how I am while I’m literally busy carrying food to a table right now.

You’re in my way.

“One second,” I tell him while looking back and forth between the food in my hand and him, trying to hint at him that he should move. 

He does not move.

I walk around him and internally roll my eyes. When I walk back towards the kitchen, he’s in my way again. 

“Would you like to swap food with me?” he asks in his weird accent.

Wagapapa and Pizza Hat employees have a range of meals we can choose from. For Pizza Hat, we get deducted €30 a month from our pay check and each day we can choose between a small pizza (with up to 2 toppings), spaghetti bolognese, or a salad. Wagapapa employees obviously have a different menu to choose from. But anyone would get tired from eating the same food every day so we often swap food with Wagapapa employees for free. 

Wagapapa has way better food than Pizza Hat.

”Yeah sure, what would you like?” I guide him to the register and tap the ‘Staff’ meals so he can see the options. He chooses a small pizza.

He begins asking me questions about where I’m from and how old I am. I find out he's 20.

The wrinkles on his forehead made me think he’s older. Sorry.

He finally leaves Pizza Hat. 

I’m not exaggerating when I say not even 2 minutes later, he shows up again.

”My manager is in a bad mood today,” he tells me.

Lol ok I don’t care.

I nod. He is still standing there. The silence bothers me. I want him to leave.

”I don’t even know where my manager is right now, he kinda just disappeared at some point this morning,” I say. 

Is he satisfied that I said something? Can he please go now?

”Your manager is Joe, right?” 

I nod.

”Joe is a family friend. My sisters best friends dogs neighbour is his fiancée,” he informs me. Or something like that, I wasn’t really listening.

”Joe is a great guy!” he adds.

IGHT THAT’S IT. I do NOT trust people who call Joe, the drug addict racist sexist cruel pervert, a great guy.

I walk away which may be rude but after all, I’m supposed to be working right now and so is he.

A few minutes later, he comes over to me while I’m on my break and asks me how my food is.

Go away. Go away, go away, go away. GO AWAY.

”Good thanks,” I say without making eye contact.

A few forced sentences later he leaves again. 

I hate working here.

Chapter Text

When the new weekly schedule is put up on the wall, I notice a new name under mine: “Gabriella”.

Hmm new colleague, could be fun? Maybe a new friend?

Boy was I naïve.

After spending only a day with Gabriella, I already dislike her. Work bestie told me that Gabriella used to work here about a year ago but she got fired because all the employees, including the manager, found her very annoying. 

“Do you enjoy this job?” she asked me during our first few conversations.

”I mean… there’s not a lot to enjoy about it,” I answered honestly.

”Trust me, this is one of the best jobs you will ever have. I’ve worked in many different places over the past year and none of them were as good as this,” she said.

I would rather eat my own shit, throw it up, and eat it again than come back here WILLINGLY. But you do you I guess.

There was a point during that day where both Gabriella and I were in the kitchen and she stood in front of me and yelled, “look at her! She’s a baby!” in my face, in front of all the kitchen staff. 

Alright, I don’t like you.

Before she left on her first day (back), she told me, “okay, listen to me, Justin is in the kitchen, and Joe is here if you have any questions. Don’t worry, you will be fine without me!”

Uhmmm, I know, I’ve literally been working here for 4 weeks without you??? Fuck off. 

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It does not take long for me to completely DESPISE Gabriella. Or as Joe likes to call her, GaBbY. 

She is very bossy, treats her coworkers like they’re her personal slaves, acts as if she is the owner of the restaurant, and has a very, very irritating voice.

“Dora, go to table 5 with the card machine right now,” boss GaBbY demands.

”You’re yelling. Stop yelling,” a man’s voice sounds from behind me.

”I am not yelling. This is my natural voice,” Gabby clarifies.

”Your voice is annoying,” says the man. “I would like to pay please.”

Sir I love you so much.

The card machine is already in my hand so I just hold it towards him with a smile on my face.

”She’s yelling, isn’t she?” he asks me in a low voice, as if we are exchanging secrets.

”I know, my ears are bleeding,” I reply, starting to laugh.

If I could tip customers then I would give my life’s earnings to this man right here.

Throughout the day, work bestie comes to inform me that the guy from Wagapapa asked Joe to send him my schedule so he knows when I’m free.

What a fucking creep???

Luckily, and to my surprise, Joe didn’t give him my schedule.

During my break, Justin, one of the kitchen staff who makes pizzas, sits with me because all the other tables are taken by customers. I prefer sitting alone during my breaks but it is what it is. He starts talking to me about books and poetry. I remember work bestie once told me about him being a sexist, racist, desperate man who has in the past said, “my type is underage girls,” so I don’t trust the man sitting in front of me. I must admit, he’s good at putting on a facade though. Could’ve almost fooled me.

After Justin leaves, the guy from wagapapa sits in front of me. 

Not this again.

I want to make it very clear to him that I am in no way interested, so the moment he sits down, I go on my phone and don’t look up. He starts talking and I don’t listen, only contribute the occasional “mhm” so I at least don’t completely ignore him like a bitch.

He gets up.

Yes, finally. Go.

He turns around and looks at me.

Nooo, please go. 

“What time do you finish work today?”

I finish at 6pm. “10pm,” I lie.

“Hmm shame. Would you like to go out with me on a day when you don’t finish that late?” he inevitably asks.

”Uhm, I don’t even know your name,” I laugh awkwardly.

”Martini,” he stretches his arm out.

I shake his clammy hand.

”It’s REALLY nice to meet you. No honestly, it’s so nice to meet you,” he says.

Okayyy.

”To be honest I’m not looking for a boyfriend right now so no,” I say, hoping that’ll be enough.

It obviously isn’t enough for him.

”Oh really? Why?” he has the audacity to ask.

”Uhm,” I think of a lie, “my last relationship didn’t end well…”

”When did it end?”

Bruh. Read the room.

”…a month ago…” I try my best to look upset. If I were pinocchio my nose would be growing from all the lies right now.

”Ohh okay so your wound is still fresh… Let me know when you are ready because I would REALLY like to go out with you.”

I don’t.

”Mhm,” I go back on my phone.

2 fucking minutes later, Martini comes back to Pizza Hat to harass me some more.

”Let’s go out as friends,” he suggests.

I’m in the middle of work again and I’m currently holding up a high chair to bring to a table that has a child with them. I push Martini aside with the chair.

“No, I don’t really want to do that,” I tell him when I get back from the table.

”Why not?” 

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

”Why not?” 

“I just don’t want to.”

”Why not?”

“Because you obviously see me as more than just a friend so it would be weird.”

”Why?”

”Uhm…”

”Tell me when you’re free next week and we’ll see, okay?” he stretches his arm out again.

There’s no other way to make him leave. I look at the ceiling.

Lord forgive me.

”Maybe,” I say and shake his hand. I am NOT giving this guy a “yes”.

He FINALLY leaves. That was so awkward. He had to do that right in the middle of the whole restaurant. I look around and see Gabby witnessed the whole thing.

My 2 least favourite people.