Monday November 5 2012

[i]

Waking up at 11:12 a.m.

Strawberry Toaster Pastries. Orange Juice.

All day shift at China Wok.

It’s slow for business in the afternoon.

Munching on a Starfruit and reflecting on last night’s cognitive realizations.

Two Hard Boiled Eggs. Five Guys French Fries with Ketchup. Honey Oolong Tea.

Chatting with Aysena on VK.

Aysena:

“I feel you getting cold to me

I’m scared you can leave me

because everybody leaves me eventually”

Robert:

“dont be scared. we will always be friends no matter what happens. i wont leave you.”

Aysena:

“ok I understand”

The day drags and drags and drags. The tips are a rollercoaster of highs and lows.

Snacking on one of the muffins I made last night.

Towards the end of the night I get an order out to a hotel at the oceanfront. I took down the guy’s order over the phone and delivered it successfully. But when I get back to the restaurant he calls complaining he ordered a shrimp egg foo young rather than the shrimp lo mein he got. I specifically remember him saying shrimp lo mein but whatever. I offer to make him what he wants and bring it to him but he’s adamant about returning the whole $24 order and getting his money back. Cecily, already peeved that I have to return his money shouts out before I leave, “Make sure you check it,” meaning to check to make sure all the food is still there and that he didn’t eat a significant amount. I call him back on my phone to convince him otherwise but he’s not having it.

I retrieve the food and return the money. Now I’m back at the restaurant. Cecily checks the bag and points out that he ate over half of the sweet & sour chicken and picked out all the chicken from the chicken lo mein. However, nothing else was touched. She’s upset, and with good reason.

“You pay!” she yells in absoluteness.

“What? I’m not paying for this!” I refuse.

She’s convinced this guy was a scam, which isn’t far from the truth. But why should I have to pay for the loss. I already drove out there twice and without a tip to show for. Debating on and on – she rants in her broken English the best she can supporting her points and I, rant on attempting to simplify my words so we can both understand each other. I took the time while I was alone in the car to prepare my stance in a calm manner. I’m nervous and notice my hands shaking a little bit. This is the exact kind of situation that got the other drivers fired, trifling scenarios just like this one. But I try to stay confident and coolheaded. She can be very stubborn and quite the hothead. But I realized if I just kept an attitude of reason it might rub off on her. It seems to work.

“Next time. You check.” she overstates like a thousand times.

I don’t have to pay for it and everything’s cool between us.

Back home. Jes, an old friend from Durham, NC I used to know from my travels shows up.

Me: “Hold on! I have to put on my decompression suit.”

Then, Kevin and Richie walk in. We dig into a political debate that leads into a venting dialogue about our delivery stories and annoyances on the job. Jes brought over these Golden Monkey beers with a whopping 9.5% alcohol content, which is a lot for one bottle of beer.

“Guys, I’ve had two bottles of 9.5 percent. That means I’m at 19%!”

It feels good to break loose a little bit after such a tense evening at work. DC Talk’s Free At Last record is booming on the stereo. Entertaining ourselves with bad lip reading political videos on Youtube.

Settling down in my room around 4 a.m. and drifting off to sleep.

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[i] Bengal Illustration (with Epictetus Philo).