Manager at a restaurant in a hotel pt. 1

     In 2018, Carla was two years out of undergrad, living in a two-bedroom she could barely afford, working two part-time jobs, and babysitting on Saturday mornings. Her student loan debt had been deferred more times than she could remember, there was a leak in her bathroom that her landlord had been promising to fix for the past 6 weeks and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d gotten a good night's sleep. Yet despite all of this, 2018 had managed to turn itself into the best year of her life. Carla worked the morning shift at a bank on the lower west side, which was located across the street from a hotel, and inside was a restaurant. Occasionally, she would stop by for a cup of coffee, a sandwich, or a small pastry, depending on what her bank account would allow. She was familiar with the staff and a few regulars, but on this day she had seen a new face. 

“Hi, welcome, I’m Thomas. Sit anywhere you’d like and someone will be right with you.” Thomas had an inviting smile, and his voice was very authoritative but not intimidating. He seemed confident and kind but she could tell he was about his business. He was dressed in all black from head to toe, which contrasted against the rest of the employees who had on white shirts, and black slacks. His sleeves were rolled up as well, so that let her know he wasn’t just there to manage but he was there to help. Carla took a seat at the end of the bar, and she already knew what she wanted, so as she waited she watched Thomas go back and forth from customer to kitchen, all while smiling and treating everyone like they were the most important person in the room.

“Hey, Carla! It’s been a while, how’s it going?” Connie who was one of the waitresses there, and had met Carla a few times before, had emerged from the kitchen ready to take her order.

“Hey, Connie. I’m good, I just finished up at the bank and now I’m getting ready to head back to Brooklyn for job number two.” She smiled weakly with exhaustion, but still smiled nonetheless. Connie let out a light laugh as she dried the dishes behind the counter. 

“Well what can I get for you?” she asked.

“Can I just have a small coffee and a ham and cheese croissant?” 

Carla glanced back over at Thomas, who happened to be looking in her direction also. But was he looking at her? Or Connie? Or just observing their interaction overall? I mean yeah, he’s the manager, so of course he’s interested in the way his employees treat the customers. Right?

“No problem, I’ll put that in for you right now.” Connie smiled before walking away and disappearing into the kitchen. As she walked away, Carla also checked to see if Thomas was still there, but he had vanished as well. She sat there scrolling through her phone, checking emails and social media, texts she had no intention of responding to, and countless other notifications that popped up on her phone at random. 

“What even is all of this? How do I have so much junk on here?” She said quietly to herself. “Delete, delete, delete. Who is this? Delete…” Her attention was broken when she heard a deep voice call her name. 

“Order for Carla?” 

She looked up, slightly startled but a smile came over her face when she saw Thomas walking towards the end of the counter with her order. 

“Yes, that’s me” she responded. He put her bag down and began to engage.

“How you doing today, Carla?” Thomas opened the bag to fill it with a few sugars, creamers, and some extra napkins from under the counter. 

“I’m doing fine. Just a little tired, but on my way to my second job.” She smiled and nodded.

“Oh yeah, Connie was telling me. That’s gotta be tough.”

Connie told him about me? He asked about me? 

“You asked Connie about me?” she asked tilting her head in disbelief.

Thomas started to blush as he slowly tied up her to-go bag.

“Um,” he laughed “so yeah, I told her to upgrade you to a large coffee. A small isn’t enough to get you through the rest of the day,” he said. 

Carla looked at him, still being shy but she smiled and said thank you and handed him her card.

“So where is job number two?” he continued, as he ran it through the system. 

“In Brooklyn. Yeah the commute isn’t bad and it’s not far from my place, so after that one, I get to head straight home and relax.” She let out a big sigh, signaling that she had been ready for bed the minute she left her house this morning. 

“Oh, that’s nice. At least you don’t have a long way home at the end of the day.” Thomas finished up on the computer and handed Carla her food, her card, and her receipt. 

“You have a great rest of your day, Ms. Carla. Hope to see you again real soon.” He watched as she collected her belongings and headed towards the door. 

“You have a good one, too.” It wasn’t until she got outside and checked the receipt that she realized he had only charged her for a small coffee. She turned around in shock, but all she saw through the window was him busy tending to the rest of the customers, with the same kindness he had given her.