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The Chill Line
Two // The Jitters
On my first day working at Subhero, I dropped an entire tray of cookies. They were the good kind, too – the kind that my manager made (her name was Judith) early in the mornings when people were rushing around to get their breakfast subs made. Hers were chewy and soft, even hours after leaving the oven.
And I dropped them. In all of their moist, tasty goodness, I had opened one of the drawer trays to get a macadamia nut cookie for a customer, and I lost my grip, letting the whole thing land on the counter.
Okay, so they weren’t totally destroyed. We didn’t have to throw them out, since they landed on the paper that they wrap the subs in, but it made for a few good laughs after the customer rush had died down. Judith wasn’t even mad, if you can believe it. (I can.)
They stuck me on the register on my second day as I worked from noon to four. I had no clue how to navigate it and instead kept relying on one of my coworkers (that day, she was a tall girl with plugs named Stevie) to tell me what to do. I couldn’t help but feel like I was just being annoying, having to call out, “How do I ring this up?” every thirty seconds as someone was ready to pay.
So either Judith or Stevie would swoop in to save the day, press a few buttons, and then the register would open, cuing me to take their money and count out the change. After a few tries I was able to press the right buttons.
Then this one guy ordered a twelve-inch buffalo chicken sub combo, and I accidentally rung him up for a chicken teriyaki sub. God, it was horrible. I didn’t know what I had done until long after he left the store in a disgruntled shuffle, his furrowed eyebrows wrinkling up in the middle of his forehead just like when I told him his total.
“It’s usually lower than that,” he grimaced.
I just turned into a fish for about ten seconds, unable to come up with any words. The sounds of the rush were getting to me and swimming around in my head, and both of the people I was working with were too absorbed in making other subs that I was afraid to call them over and ask what was wrong with my ring-up.
Finally, he just got annoyed, handed me his debit card, and after I swiped it, I told him to have a good day and he mumbled something inaudible back at me.
It probably could’ve been worse. I just still have his face burned into my memory – my first major screw-up at Subhero. I had kind of inferred that he was a regular from the way he memorized the price of his usual sub, but after that day, I never saw him again. I’ll always carry it with me, I think.
And I dropped them. In all of their moist, tasty goodness, I had opened one of the drawer trays to get a macadamia nut cookie for a customer, and I lost my grip, letting the whole thing land on the counter.
Okay, so they weren’t totally destroyed. We didn’t have to throw them out, since they landed on the paper that they wrap the subs in, but it made for a few good laughs after the customer rush had died down. Judith wasn’t even mad, if you can believe it. (I can.)
They stuck me on the register on my second day as I worked from noon to four. I had no clue how to navigate it and instead kept relying on one of my coworkers (that day, she was a tall girl with plugs named Stevie) to tell me what to do. I couldn’t help but feel like I was just being annoying, having to call out, “How do I ring this up?” every thirty seconds as someone was ready to pay.
So either Judith or Stevie would swoop in to save the day, press a few buttons, and then the register would open, cuing me to take their money and count out the change. After a few tries I was able to press the right buttons.
Then this one guy ordered a twelve-inch buffalo chicken sub combo, and I accidentally rung him up for a chicken teriyaki sub. God, it was horrible. I didn’t know what I had done until long after he left the store in a disgruntled shuffle, his furrowed eyebrows wrinkling up in the middle of his forehead just like when I told him his total.
“It’s usually lower than that,” he grimaced.
I just turned into a fish for about ten seconds, unable to come up with any words. The sounds of the rush were getting to me and swimming around in my head, and both of the people I was working with were too absorbed in making other subs that I was afraid to call them over and ask what was wrong with my ring-up.
Finally, he just got annoyed, handed me his debit card, and after I swiped it, I told him to have a good day and he mumbled something inaudible back at me.
It probably could’ve been worse. I just still have his face burned into my memory – my first major screw-up at Subhero. I had kind of inferred that he was a regular from the way he memorized the price of his usual sub, but after that day, I never saw him again. I’ll always carry it with me, I think.